jkcohen626 said: "Adrienne would kill it. But, to me, Sally's naivete and lack of care come across much stronger and work better if she is white and it is her white privilege that affords her the ability to be naive and not to care. I think especially with the choice to make Cliff Black in this production, there is a strong contrast implied where the color of his skin makes it so he does not have the luxury of just standing by while she does.
I don't know if any of this has really been thought out by the creative team or if it's just my read. But, to the best of my knowledge, every Sally in this production has been white and every Cliff Black."
Okay. One more time. Even if Adrienne plays Sally, Sally will be white. Along with pretending to be a 30's English chanteuse in pre-WW2 Berlin, Adrienne will also be pretending to be white. That is what colorblind casting is (unless it's specifically referenced, such as in Encore's Light in the Piazza)! It's a person of color pretending to be white. These colorblind cast pieces tend to be historically set, where no person of color would ever be, or be able to do the things the plot requests of them. For some reason it is illiberal to mention this when talking about colorblind casting, but this is usually EXACTLY WHAT IT IS! Most every actor in Hamilton was pretending to be white, right? We seem to agree on that one because it makes a political point. I argue letting a person of color play a role that, up until recently, they would never have been able to play because the character is white, is also a political point!
Updated On: 7/4/23 at 12:13 PM