Where is BLACK BROADWAY these days?- Page 3

[whateverman]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:09pm

so u are dismissing this whole serious factual issue. i posted a statment based on the FACT. only a couple people have taken it seriously. the rest have joked and been dismissive. regardless of the past posts look at this one and tell me if its not true. you dont wanna deal with it cuz for some reason u dont wanna accept that is it problem. Race is a tough topic with folks. most people feel uncomfortable and defensive when it comes to the issue. but its real. and its on broadway whether u like it or not. funny how personally some people take it. possibly because it makes them reflect on themselves.


Updated On: 12/19/06 at 05:09 PM

[whateverman]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:09pm

Updated On: 12/19/06 at 05:09 PM

[TimeSuckage]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:16pm

Where are the black playwrights? Who is going to assume the mantle of the late, great August Wilson? Where are the other writers like Suzan-Lori Parks and Lynn Nottage?

And isn't the Porgy and Bess revival coming across the pond?

[whateverman]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:25pm

i know alot of black playwrights that would LOVE to have there works on broadway. where is the funding? where are the producers? where is the support? they all speak of how very few want to take the black story on. sad.

[leon1489]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:25pm

To clarify why everybody keeps bringing up Lion King... nobody is suggesting that black people are animals. However, Lion King has had a historically black cast. I think it's actually contractually done that way.

[Stitch_Stalker]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:26pm

First off, can I just say how annoying it is when someone posts with the intent purpose to simply annoy people, unwilling to take into consideration both sides of the arguement and debate intelligently? I feel sorry for those on here who have taken the time to respond so eloquently to someone who won't even listen...

Secondly, I contest the point that "The Lion King" is not a "black" show. Whateverman, you argue that it is not because they are dressed as animals, and thus take it as an offensive statement. However, if you view the musical as an allegory (Hamlet right? I'm getting my Shakespeare mixed up...), then it is much more regal than that. I always enjoyed the quote by Julie Taymore "Broadway the American Musical" when she explains that Lion King is "all about race and not about race"-it is inclusive, yet at the same time it is powerful, because if an African American boy sits in the audience, what he sees is a king who is black... I always liked that explanation...

[tourboi]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:27pm

Actually I was referenceing the material (the additional moments in the score, not the Elton John stuff, such as "One By One", and many other songs and chants) as pointing to it being an african influenced show, but the cast is another point. True.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:28pm

Money is what talks. Producers aren't racist, they just want to get rich. Apparently the producers who are fronting the bucks don't feel there is enough of an audience for "black shows" to put down the dough to produce them....either that or there aren't enough good quality "black shows" being pitched to them. Neither of these screams inherent racism.

And what EXACTLY are you concerned about? Are you looking for shows that tell the story of the black experience, or are you more interested in employing black performers. Because, as has already been brough up, the latter problem has been largely improved upon since the era you're touting as "black Broadway". Broadway was a much more segregated community, to get work as a black performer (unless you were a major name) you were usually relegated to black shows. Many of these walls are gone and shows are becoming multi-cultural and integrated communities. Norm Lewis playing a role like Javert speaks heavily to that.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:33pm

Exactly how many shows with all-Black cast do you want to be on Broadway simultaneously to satisfy you? I mean, I'm not trying to say as though Blacks shouldn't be on Broadway. But what I'm trying to say is, of the shows you've listed, it's not like they were all on Broadway at the same time. So, I don't think there are less roles open to African Americans on Broadway now than there used to be.

[TimeSuckage]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:36pm

i know alot of black playwrights that would LOVE to have there works on broadway. where is the funding? where are the producers? where is the support? they all speak of how very few want to take the black story on. sad.

Are they seeing their works produced at all? Is there interest from off Bway or even smaller NY theaters? From regional theaters? Not everything needs to be on Broadway in order to find an audience, or be appreciated by critics, altho I realize the point you are making is about Broadway. In all fairness, I'm sure there are a lot of gifted white, Latino, and Asian playwrights who will never get their work produced on Bway. Hopefully talent will rise above racial lines and find a way to be seen/heard, but I know this is wishful thinking.

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:37pm

Guys, forget it.

Whateverman will not be satisfied. Nor will he admit that he is also ozone20. He has to create multiple aliases to show that his arguement has support, which it doesn't.

[Danielm]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:49pm

Actually, there were never that many black shows on Broadway at one time. You're pulling shows from 2 decades. Generally if there is a hit there will be more shows like it. Several of the shows you mentioned were reviews that happened, I think, after Ain't Misbehavin' became a hit. Broadway is not a place where theatre that seems risky happens. The trouble with Parks and some of the other writers you mentioned is that they don't write mainstream type plays. They may one day not seem so risky--but August Wilson's last few plays were not cash cows.

But, on the other hand casts are more integrated now than they were in the 70s and 80s. You see black actors in rolls they never would have been considered for back then.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:57pm

THE COLOR PURPLE does appear to be the "token" Black show on Broadway now, although there is a certain amount of color-blind casting in the theatre today. I went to THE COLOR PURPLE recently not expecting the impact that it had on me because of certain negative things that have been said on this board over several months. I was very impressed with the entire production--I found it engaging, moving, professional and theatrical with a very talented cast of actor/singers.

I'm afraid that some of the posters on this thread do reflect a certain amount of racism even if they don't see themselves that way.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 6:10pm

Actually, people are just past the all-black thing, it smacks of "separate but equal" but the reality is that separate has proven to be unequal time and time again, so what we are instead seeing are black actors in roles traditionally held by white actors.

It's called integration, it started a long time ago, but Broadway is a long long street, apparently, and it seems that this news travels slowly for some.

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 6:14pm

Having seen The Wiz in La Jolla, Sister Act in pasadena and Color Purple on Broadway, i can assure you that black audiences will come out in big numbers to see a show that has African-American characters and African-American themes. Hopefully Oprah or other black entertainment moguls realize that there is a huge untapped potential for black themed entertainment on Broadway.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 6:31pm

Some people just love to audition for the role of victim.

You want a serious discussion? Here.

Black Broadway of three decades ago was a direct result of the Civil Rights movement of the 60s and 70s. That ephemeral thing called "Black Pride" became, through the miracle of capitalism and wntrepreneurship, a merchandising tool, which, granted, gave us some pretty cool shows like THE WIZ. It also gave us the all-black HELLO DOLLY, which some people, myself included, found a little distasteful because it was *imposing* a black sensibility on a work. If you think that's no big deal, imagine an August Wilson piece with an all-white cast and tell me it would have any where near the same feeling.

But face it: shows like THE WIZ and EUBIE and AINT MISBEHAVING were little more than late-20th-century versions of minstrel shows, comfortable, safe, easily digested. And after a while their "necessity", if indeed there was one, was eliminated when productions became more and more colour blind in their casting.

Probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but that's how it goes.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 6:31pm

Unfortunately BroadwayBaby, those are all productions based on preexisting material (or as the case with The Wiz, not only is it based on one of the most famous stories in American culture but has also been around for 30 years) and have been able to develop a huge following with multiracial audiences before even hitting the stage, giving these productions the crossover potential necessary to succeed. I question whether a new, original production would be capable of having such life.

Updated On: 12/19/06 at 06:31 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 6:32pm

it's insulting for you to consider LION KING a black show. they are effing ANIMALS for christs sake. think about your statement for a moment. The Wiz is NOT on broadway. im not talkin about a transfer in limbo that is uncertain to happen. im talkin about whats happening now and the serious decline in relation to the past.

If THE LION KING is not a black show then can you please explain to me why white people are only allowed to audition for Scar, Timone and Pumbu? the bad guy and the fat one???

Posted: 12/19/06 at 6:51pm

The latest issue of Equity News says that 6.2% of membership is African American with 2477 total members working production contract jobs during the 05-06 season. 6.2% of 2477 people equals 153.574 people. If the number of African Americans employed on production contract is equal to or greater than that, then all is fair.

I work with accountants, this is how I think.
I don't know what job they'll find for that .574 person. Is there any production contract job where only .574 of one's body actually appears on stage? Hmm...

[EugLoven]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 7:37pm

Dare I say... The Lion King?

Posted: 12/19/06 at 7:39pm

There! Then we're covered! Or, they're covered.

Posted: 12/19/06 at 8:09pm

A quick check on some show sites including Lion King, Tarzan, Wicked, Hairspray, Mary Poppins, Rent, Chicago, Mamma Mia, The Wedding Singer, A Chorus Line, Spelling Bee, Drowsy Chaperone, Avenue Q, Spring Awakening, and Jersey Boys puts the number of African American employees on Broadway production contracts at 135 (even though some sites don't have pics of the swings or ensemble and therefore I couldn't count them). This is not counting Grinch, Les Miz, Company, Fame Becomes Me, The Apple Tree, Phantom, The Producers, Grey Gardens, Beauty & the Beast, any plays, or any production contract tours, so the 153.574 is more than covered.

Now everyone can sleep knowing that the math checks out and all is fair.

[umgeoboy]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 8:22pm

I normally do not get into discussions like this but as a scientist and someone who deals with "facts" on a daily basis I would like to point out a comment that was made.

"so u are dismissing this whole serious factual issue. i posted a statment based on the FACT"

You have not yet given one fact but so far everything you have described is your opinion and your theory.

[umgeoboy]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 8:24pm

From wikipedia (not the most reliable source):

a fact is an objective and verifiable observation, in contrast with a theory, which is a explanation of or interpretation of facts

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 8:37pm

Rather than argue about percentages, I would like to note that there's a multi-million dollar industry of live black theatre that is simply ignored by the mainstream press.

Tyler Perry (Diary of a Mad Black Woman) has been staging several plays over the years and those have toured all over the country in big auditoriums. Shows such as "Beauty Shop" and "Your Arms Are too Short to Box with God" have also toured all over in large venues.

There is a well attended bi-annual black theatre festival in North Carolina with visitors from all over the world. There are black theatre companies in every major American cities. While Broadway may neglect these audiences, you can find black theatre in whatever city you are in- just do a google search for African American theatre....