Jean Valjean-Lawrence Clayton Javert-Norm Lewis Fantine-Eleasha Gamble Madame Thenardier-Merle Dandridge Thenardier-Jessie L. Martin Enjolras-Derrick Baskin Marius-Cliffton Oliver Eponine-Nikki M. James Cosette-K.b. Hart
Jesse L Martin as Thenardier? Don't see it. At all.
I really hate specific all "anything" casts. I love a color blind cast....on just about any show...unless the show deals with race.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Can Laura Bell Bundy play Kim in the upcoming production of Miss Saigon in my basement?
Only if you promise to let her out when she's done
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
I agree....I don't see what the point is for a show like that...Its like the All Black Cast of Cat On A hot Tin Roof...JUST WRONG>>>>> Cat is a white story not a black one....Les Mis isn't a black story....And for the record...>Les Mis and pretty much with the exception of the OBC ALWAYS had a multi racial cast...
Sean, wouldn't an all-gay production of Show Boat get confusing with the character of Gay in the show, or was that what you were going for? A whole bunch of Gays running around and singing their love for each other? Vanity at its best.
I agree that Les Mis can easily be done color blind, like most operas have been done for almost a century. An all black Les Mis is retro to the point of an anachronism - a throwback to the Pearl Bailey Hello Dolly. It was wonderful that Pearl got to play Dolly of course, and she was amazing from every indication and record of the performance, but there was no reason to build an all black show around her even then, much less to do an all black version of a musical like it or Les Mis now.
There are certain plays and musicals where race is at issue - an all black (or all white for that matter) Show Boat or an all white (or all black, as in with no exceptions, for that matter) Raisin in the Sun makes absolutely no sense. For those in which race doesn't play an issue, there is generally (as with anything else of course there might be exceptions when doing so might not work) no reason that the theater can't take the same position that opera does with respect to casting people of a different race than the character would have been historically and or in the show's original cast. For example, Audra as Carrie in Carousel.
Why would this be necessary. There are always seems to be plenty of talented black people in the show already. My favorite Fantine EVER was black and she was so flawless in her performance.
