What do you think of an All-Black version of "Les Miserables"- Page 2
What do you think of an All-Black version of "Les Miserables"
yeah
Featured Actor Joined: 10/2/08
#25What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/19/11 at 10:40pmColor blind casting doesn't mean color blind casting. It means how can we give black people roles they may or may not deserve. Where was the white woman playing Celie in "The Color Purple" or the Asian Caroline in "Caroline, or Change"? Why was Ashanti headlining "The Wiz," considering she can't act and can't really sing? If it's truly "color blind," let's be "color blind"!
#26What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/19/11 at 11:22pm
Where was the white woman playing Celie in "The Color Purple" or the Asian Caroline in "Caroline, or Change"?
Oh... my god. Really? REALLY!?
>>Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story focuses on female black life during the 1930s in the Southern United States
>>The musical is set in 1963 in Lake Charles, Louisiana during the American civil rights movement, November–December 1963
Yeah, lets throw whitey up there.
For the discussion at hand, I demand Eddie Murphy play all the roles.
Updated On: 7/19/11 at 11:22 PM
#27What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/19/11 at 11:36pm
I somewhat agree with Yeah's philosophy, but at the end of the day I think we all know that "color blind casting" doesn't work that way. I think sometimes it's easier for an audience to see a black person playing a role usually inhabited by white folks, but musicals based SPECIFICALLY on black history and the struggle of African Americans through the centuries would make casting a white person preposterous and very offensive. However, casting a black person in roles like Fantine, Javert or Eponine yada yada can work very well.
However, in terms of THE WIZ, I think it's really only essential that Dorothy be black, and certainly some other roles as well. I think the ensemble could easily be a mix. I'm sure this has already been done and I know nothing of the La Jolla production.
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#28What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/19/11 at 11:40pm
What do I think?
I think it's racist.
#29What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/19/11 at 11:46pmIt very well might be. However, I think it's the only "color blind casting" we're able to wrap our ends around yet.
#30What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/19/11 at 11:48pm
And also, it all may seem racist, but I think if we were to put that foster chick 
in the role of Celie or Dorothy, she would appear miscast and we'd all turn angry about the decision on this board.
#31What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/19/11 at 11:54pm
Color blind casting doesn't mean color blind casting. It means how can we give black people roles they may or may not deserve. Where was the white woman playing Celie in "The Color Purple" or the Asian Caroline in "Caroline, or Change"? Why was Ashanti headlining "The Wiz," considering she can't act and can't really sing? If it's truly "color blind," let's be "color blind"!
Do you really not understand the difference, or are you using hyperbole to try and prove a point? Because the roles you listed must be played by African-Americans, or the shows don't work (with the possible exception of The Wiz). Celie is the story of an African-American woman's coming of age. Caroline or Change deals with (among other things) the ways one African-American woman handles societal racism.
Les Mis is ostensibly set in revolutionary France, but the show (which, for the record, I love) is filled with so many anachronisms, that the races of the characters really shouldn't matter (and don't).
#32What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 12:03amI'd like to see an all blind production of PETER PAN.
#33What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 12:13am
"Color blind casting doesn't mean color blind casting. It means how can we give black people roles they may or may not deserve."
That sounds very racist, I am just saying.
#34What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 12:20amcolor blind casting means casting of colors that are different from what was cast before with colors not the same as the colors being cast for a color blind cast.
#35What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 12:31am
That makes perfect sense, Jordan! Thanks for clarifying.
#36What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 5:39am
Someone please make the High School color blind casting of Aida stop. Its becoming an epidemic. Dont belive me... youtube it 
#37What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 8:59am
How about an All White Dreamgirls?
A Production of Ragtime where none of the roles are played with the appropriate athenic group?
This thread is in part hilarious and part talked about too much. I don't have a problem with color blind casting for the most part, but there are times when it really does work against the story- as someone mentioned Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. If someone has the talent give them the part- but these "all" castings do come off as too gimicky.
yeah
Featured Actor Joined: 10/2/08
#38What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 9:13am
Oh, please...give me a break. People are racists because they question the one-sidedness of "color blind casting." Get off your soap box.
Mama Rose, Gypsy Rose Louise were people who existed in real life, yet, people constantly want to suggest an all black cast. In "Chicago," we've seen Usher (who has no business being in ANY broadway show) play the part of a very wealthy, very popular lawyer. In the '20's, I'm not sure people would be clamoring for a black lawyer in such a fashion. I know, I know...you'll all throw out a billion excuses why these examples don't make sense, but, I don't buy it. Doesn't make anyone a racist, it's just not something that makes sense to me. WHY must Mama Morton ALWAYS be played by a black woman? I haven't seen "Chicago" in 15 years, so, I don't remember if there's a specific reason, or, if it's just more "we can't cast a white person in this role because it's a black womans role."
And, fine, Celie can't be white. However, there's not ONE white person in the entire "The Color Purple" cast. That seems odd to me. Also, "In the Heights" puts in their casting notices, "only looking for singer/dancers who are Black or Hispanic." Do white people NOT live in "the heights"? Again, it's all very one sided.
#39What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 10:07am
I love when people start acting like Madame Rose is a historical figure like Marie Antoinette or Eleanor Roosevelt.
Let me ask this: If you didn't KNOW a woman named Rose Hovick actually lived, would you still have a problem seeing a woman of color in the part? Since race has nothing to do with the story? At all?
Incidentally, many white women have played Mama Morton, starting with Mary McCarty.
#40What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 10:11am
WHY must Mama Morton ALWAYS be played by a black woman?
She's not. The revival's original Mama Morton, Marcia Lewis, was white. Additionally, off the top of my head, the likes of Alix Korey, Michele Pawk, Debbie Gravitte, Anne Nathan, Camille Saviola, Mary Testa, Sofia Vergara, and Aida Turturro have all played the role.
However, there's not ONE white person in the entire "The Color Purple" cast. That seems odd to me.
What's odd about that? The show is about a very specific group of people at a very specific time in history. For the record, there are a few minor white characters in both the film and novel, though.
Updated On: 7/20/11 at 10:11 AM
yeah
Featured Actor Joined: 10/2/08
#41What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 10:16am
Ah, then I stand corrected on that one.
#42What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 10:17am
And as to Billy Flynn, I'm not sure anyone in the 1920s (or 2010s, for that matter) would be clamoring for a lawyer who can sing and dance.
You can suspend that disbelief but you can't wrap your mind around a black attorney?
#43What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 10:21amColor blind casting is racist, but the kind of racist that people are allowed to openly enjoy.
#45What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 10:42amRacism is a big part of color blind casting when the casting of colors is blind not to be color blind but blind to be blind to the colors of the cast.
#46What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 11:12amJordan always phrases these things best.
yeah
Featured Actor Joined: 10/2/08
#47What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 11:18amI love when "suspending reality" gets called into play. So, by that standard, suspend reality and let a white woman play Celie in "The Color Purple." Oh, that makes no sense because it's about a BLACK WOMAN. But, she as well as Billy Flynn, breaks out into song and dance...so, why not suspend reality? One sided...yet again...
#48What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 11:23am
No, they're different. There are all kinds of plays/musicals where things happen to a characters because of race: "King and I," "Color Purple," "West Side Story," etc.
I'm just saying that I don't count "Chicago," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Les Miz," or "The Wiz" among them.
As far as I can tell the race of any of the characters in "Chicago" simply doesn't factor into the storyline. And given that they sing and dance, it's not a matter of trying to create as nearly as possible the illusion that you're seeing real people in a real situation in the 1920s.
So that, for me, is where suspension of disbelief does come into the conversation.
#49What do you think of an All-Black version of 'Les Miserables'
Posted: 7/20/11 at 11:24am
And as to Billy Flynn, I'm not sure anyone in the 1920s (or 2010s, for that matter) would be clamoring for a lawyer who can sing and dance.
Maybe you're not. I require all of my lawyers be able to do at least a time step.
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