white Broadway — Page 6

BTW, when I was a kid, I saw the all-black cast of "Hello Dolly" with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway. I remember the audience loved it. Long standing ovations. And later on I saw the all-african American version of "Guys and Dolls" with Robert Guillaume. You haven't lived until you hear Ken Page do "Sit Down. The show was done to a drivingfunk beat. But let's face it both shows were gimmicks. And I think there are other examples.

Getting back to this excellent conversation, maybe it would be better if we made a few general assumptions and gave Broadway a pass or two. !) Most of the stories we tell are historical. I'd bet more than half of all musicals are set in period. And save for the last 40 years, this country was pretty much seperated. When I was a kid, I had NO interaction with anyone who wasn't white. And I'd bet that was the same for far more than half the population. So what stories are there left to tell that involve racially diverse characters? It just isn't our history, sad as that is, before 1950.

And yet Broadway, I truly believe, has more than done its share to chage that. I think this is a valid conversation, but it should be directed more at dance, classical music, art and the movies and television. It seems that only theater and perhaps book publishing had any significant minority participation prior to 1950.

So let's congradulate the theater on the trailblazing work in the past and hope to encourage more and more in the future.

I've seen productions of musicals in other, more progressive countries and after a minute or two of surprise, (with italics) if the material is good and the cast is talented, you forget the color of skin and just see the character. (end italics).

Let's head in that direction. Personally, I'd love to see Audra McDonald playing Julie, not Carrie....

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Minorities. Who needs them?

And the Finnish cast of Miss Saigon was entirely white.

You know, there's this thing called "ethnic diversity." It doesn't really exist in most of the countries you mentioned...

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Updated On: 3/1/06 at 03:52 AM

i saw a production of my fair lady in mogadishu in swahili using animals as stand-ins for several of the characters. now are you trying to tell me that they cast animals and africans simply because there was no white actors? that's just ridiculous to say about such a racially diverse nation as somalia. they obviously understand theatre in places like that and those mentioned by allofmylife in a way that we here in the evil united states never will. i for one will be happy when this ridiculous notion of broadway, with its antiquated casting, as the center of the theatre world comes to an end thus closing that ugly chapter on american theatre imperialism.

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Why not cast Kristin Chenoweth as Tracey in Hairspray? Why not cast Donna Murphy as Clara in Piazza? Why not cast Michael Arden as Tevya in Fiddler? These are all talented performers who can play other than themselves. If we can suspend our disbelief in some situations, why not in others?

Apparently the Spectator doesn't publish letters to the editor on their web version.

Because I'd like to see if any responses to this opinion piece made it in.

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funny, i always heard that nome was homo north.

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I was thinking about this and I was wondering: has there ever been a Mimi that was not Latino? I know that in RENT minorities are celebrated, but I always wondered if it was strictly written just for a a person of Hispanic culture.

I am sure this was mention, but Eden Espinosa is latin, not white, she just has light skin. Big deal, I am latin and have light skin as does a lot in my family!

Drtheatre

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good grief.....some roles are just gender and race specific! Yeah, ok........."white Broadway" I give you "black NBA." Anyone complaining?

Updated On: 3/28/06 at 08:21 PM

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to turn this into an issue. I was just wondering if there had ever been a Caucasian Mimi. I didn't mean to sound racist or ignorant, I was just curious.
I'm sorry if anyone was somehow offended by this, it was not my intention.

I agree with a lot of it, but the journalist does need to do a little bit more research. I think a lot of it has to do with the setting and time period, much like he said, but the big producers of these shows aren't looking for what's going to be diverse and liberal, but instead how to make the most money. And think about it...there's the NYC theater crowd, but most people who go to Broadway shows are tourists from all over, but in between NY and California, there's the middle america states that represent a large population of our country and aren't known for being the most racially diverse and accepting, and sadly, a lot of these Broadway blockbusters are catering towards what they want to see and what they're going to pay for. However, I do feel like there is also a point made to keep the theater industry diverse, but not a huge one from what I've seen.

I agree with you rentboy. It works both ways. But tell that to 'them'.