When is blind casting okay? — Page 2

I think the first posters on this thread hit the nail on the head. Color-blind casting is justified when (a) it gives opportunities to more actors and/or (b) it tells us something we wouldn't otherwise know from traditional casting, WITHOUT (c) causing more confusion than clarity.

Personally I don't mind if we shrink the historical boundaries of Jim Crow segregation a little in order to make a more interesting cast.

For example, when I was at Columbia U. I directed a production of VANITIES. For reasons of fairness, I couldn't do the play if women of color were to be excluded. So I did a little research and found that some Texas high schools were newly integrated in 1963 (Act I). So I cast a black woman as Kathy and we played her as a black kid who acted "white" in order to fit in with the popular kids, including the other cheerleaders.

But the casting really paid off in Act III, when Kathy is highly alienated from her friends and even from her own identity and life. By giving her a close-croppsed Afro in that act (and without changing a word), we gave Act III a political subtext that most found very moving.

So it was win-win: I provided work for a talented black actress AND I added something to an already excellent play. (In contrast, I would not have cast "Southern belle" Joanne as black. The character's racial ignorance would have only been confusing.)

I'm sure the OP will produce an anecdote about that soon.

Just out of curiosity which roles in Cabaret is he color blind casting?

Well, there goes my idea for a blackface SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BRUTHAS.

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Henrikegerman, I'm with you when you say: That's not "blind" casting (casting whom one wants without any regard for the person's race and or gender, etc.) That's demographic-specific casting, the very opposite. It's also a resetting.

Colorblind or sex-blind casting, in my opinion, works in two circumstances: The first is where it doesn't matter what characteristics the character has. As an example, "Whose Life is it Anyway" cast a male (Richard Dreyfuss) in the movie, but at least one female (Mary Tyler Moore) played the role on Broadway. The second is where the character is played by a person with particular characteristics, but everyone knows that he or she is playing someone of another characteristic. I doubt we're ready for sex-blind casting yet, especially in musicals, where songs are written for a certain range. However, race-blind casting of someone to play an individual of another color is becoming common, especially when the actor is minority and the character is not. (The reason is obvious: It's tacky to limit the casting opportunities for minority actors because of the relative dearth of minority roles). As I've said several times on this board, Norm Lewis is African-American, but the Phantom cannot be anything but white, or the story changes. The same with Henry Higgins, Eliza Doolittle, Tevye,and Thomas Jefferson. If Norm Lewis plays Henry Higgins, Henry Higgins is still white and everyone is likely to understand that.

The third situation is where I think that blind casting does not work: confusion. This is where appearance is key to the story. As an example, casting an African-American actor to play the African-American plaintiff in Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court's infamous 19th Century segregation decision would be confusing because Plessy (or was it Ferguson) was what people nastily used to call an "octoroon." No amount of make-up can solve the confusion that is likely to arise because the whole point of the story is that the character looked white and wanted to ride a railroad car with white people. The Supreme Court not only approved segregation, but said that the law and not an individual could decide someone's race, and the person's appearance didn't matter.

One final word: I think appearing in "white face" is perfectly ok, but "blackface," because of its shameful history and because of the dearth of roles for black actors, is not.

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@AHLiebross
"As I've said several times on this board, Norm Lewis is African-American, but the Phantom cannot be anything but white, or the story changes"

How does the story change if the Phantom isn't white?

The comment about Phantom is just not true. The phantom can be African American or any ethnicity for that matter because racial relations are not a central part of the show. It's the same with Les Mis, there are no major racial themes in the plot that requires an all white cast, even though most of the people in the real world would have been Caucasian.

Because a show about a deformed guy living in the depths of the Paris Opera and wreaking havoc should really be cast based on historical realism, right? I mean, that was such a common occurrence at the time.

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Is gender blind casting where you change the gender of the character to fit the actor, or is it when you get the actor to play the opposite gender in order to play the character.

For example, Eva Peron played as a man, by a man, or Eva Peron played as a woman, by a man.

I think most roles are too hard to cast gender blind where you alter the character's gender because as others have said, it changes the relationships in the story too much. You would have to partially rewrite the story to make it plausible.

I actually remember a college professor once telling me that an interesting way to study how genders are played on stage is to change the sexes of the characters and see if the story still works.

"(audience ignores race)"

That's not entirely true. A lot of people have talked on here about a cast member being a certain race, and how it doesn't work in the part. I recall someone commenting several times on the grandson of Edward Bloom (Big Fish) and how inconceivable it was that he was a white kid.

This thread is hysterical!!!!

I have yet to see a white Leading Player in "Pippin." I've also yet to see a white Dorothy in "The Wiz."

Forget about a black or Asian or white Elphaba ... that bitch is always green.

I would like to see a production of Cabaret with a female Emcee.

I'd love to see a female Sweeney. I think it'd be fun.