When is blind casting okay?- Page 2

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 5:55pm

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.)

[The Josh]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 5:56pm

I was hoping this thread would be about The Miracle Worker. Alas....

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 7:02pm

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

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 7:10pm

"He would make Maria black and set the Sound of music in 1960's Mississippi."

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.

[bwayboy22]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 8:56pm

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

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 9:15pm

All the parts are open for any race
he doesn't change the script, he just changes how everything looks even if it doesn't make sense.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 9:37pm

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

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 9:45pm

I was going to direct my version of RAGTIME set at EPCOT but I guess I'll wait.

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 1:29am

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.

[IndyTheatreGeek]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 1:58am

I've seen some great black Javerts. Whoopi Goldberg was fine as a Pseudolus in Funny Thing. Patina Miller was outstanding as Leading Player in Pippin. I;m not sure Frankie Valli would have been a good choice for Christine in Phantom even though he can hit those notes The James Earl Jones cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was very good.

As others have said it is fine if it doesn't impact the story or the character relationships. A white Hoke driving a black Miss Daisy with a white son would be possible, but would be so distracting from the central tenants of the play as to render it impotent.

All that being said, race and gender should only be a consideration for story or clarity purposes. I wonder how a female Phantom would work...

[JBradshaw]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 3:35am

@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?

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 7:37am

@JBradshaw, "How does the story change if the Phantom isn't white?"

The story changes because the 19th century French would not be likely to treat black people as equals of white people. Hence, a black Phantom could have another equally plausible reason for his mistreatment by French society in addition to the "wickedness of [his] abhorrent face."

If Captain Dreyfuss could be set up, so could a black man. In fact, I'm not sure that a black Phantom would have to be deformed, if he's the product of an illicit relationship between his white French mother and her African lover.

[kurt.perry41]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 11:30am

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.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 12:18pm

I think a black phantom works because of how great Norm Lewis is (audience ignores race) but for many shows that have been color blind casted, it becomes about race. When watching Little shop (for example) you don't want it to have intense undertones about race when it doesn't help the piece or the story.

same with gender-blind casting. If not done properly, will become a campy drag show for no reason.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 12:48pm

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.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 1:47pm

When someone as phenomenal a talent as Leslie Uggams is cast as Mama Rose!

[candydog2]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 1:56pm

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.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 2:09pm

I directed an all-black version of West Side Story at my high school last fall. I had the Sharks wearing reds and purples and the Jets wearing blues and greens.

The students requested that we try lightskin vs dark skin but that did not work out in terms of who was right for which roles, etc. And I just didn't think that was a good idea.

Sure, there were times when it was awkward to have one black kid calling another black kid a "Spic" or a Mick", or having Anita give a speech about how Tony's mother is from Poland, or having Bernardo calling Tony a yellow-bellied Polack bastard. Lol. But lots of people who came to see it were impressed with how we separated the "races".

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 2:44pm

"(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.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 2:56pm

I'm going to produce a production of Gypsy where Mama Rose is a flamboyant gay man to address "my people."

[vpd1981]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 7:36pm

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.

[broadwayboy972]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 11:05pm

When my school did Big River, the ensemble was pretty much blind-casted. During Do You Wanna Go To Heaven and The Royal Nonesuch and other group numbers, the members of the ensemble were mixed up and not sorted into Black/White. However, all other characters were casted appropriately, such as African American Jim and White Huck (and of course me, the Asian Pap Finn)

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 11:28pm

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

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 7/6/14 at 11:30pm

It's been done. It's interesting.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 7/7/14 at 12:01am

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