All Black Kiss Me Kate

[Jon]

There are many musicals for which Wayne Brady would be ideal. Kiss Me Kate is not one of them. He comes across too "lightweight." A comic song-and-dance man, not a dashing, middle-aged romantic lead.

I'd rather see him as Pseudolus.

[eatlasagna]

OOH Merle Dandridge... I think she's awesome!

[Someone in a Tree2]

We may well go see this ourselves, but are sort of disappointed there's no new writer credited with updating the moldy Spewak libretto of old. Frankly I love the Porter score as much as the next guy, but whew, that libretto is ENDLESS-- hopelessly wordy and generally unfunny by today's whiz bang standards.

As for the all-black casting, I think there are new treats and harmonies to be found in a show whenever it gets an all-black treatment (or an all-Asian treatment a la the East West players). My recollections of Pearl Bailey's HELLO DOLLY are among the sweetest theater memories I have.

[Patash]

"To be fair, lots of times casts are all white "just because they can." And no one ever makes a huge deal about that."

No, to be FAIR, in all my years I've never heard of a show billing itself as "an all white version" which would be as racist as billing it "an all black version". It's one thing to cast a show with actors who happen to all be one race but to do it for the purpose of saying "ALL BLACK version" is pretty lame in my book.

[SonofRobbieJ]

'As Dave Chappelle famously said, "White people love Wayne Brady because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X."'

HA! That was the laugh I needed to get me through the last day before vacation.

I don't think Brady is a natural Fred...he actually would probably make a great Bill.

[GavestonPS]

When ladies fair who seek affection
Prefer coons of dark complexion
As Romeos,
Anything goes.

Thanks, New. I didn't know that stanza. Since I grew up in a period when terms we now find abhorrent were used for African-Americans, I don't think that word choice necessarily proves anything.

FWIW, the "N" word was always understood as rude, except among the poorest white classes. But we all (black and white alike) used "colored"; it was the "polite" term when I was a kid in Florida--to the extent I never thought to ask my African-American friends what they thought about it.

To suggest that interracial dating was a sign of modern changes was to acknowledge a fact in the early 1930s. The lyric as quoted doesn't seem to make a value judgment, except possibly for the use of the word "coons". (A word which appeared in SHOW BOAT less than a decade before, BTW.)

Since I wasn't born until 20+ years later, I can't say how that word was received in its day.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Is that stanza really part of the canonical lyric for Anything Goes? It scans so badly with the music that I have a hard time believing that was the final polished lyric Porter went with.

[darquegk]

The canonical Anything Goes is based on the first revival. The original version is full of dated and politically incorrect humor, and this is even factoring in all the quasi-racist stuff that's STILL in.

[mjohnson2]

Actually, that verse was used in the original London version, not the original Broadway version, but it's Cole Porter's lyric nonetheless.

[Mr. Nowack]

My favorite Cole Porter race lyric is from DuBARRY WAS A LADY:

Old Miss Pringle just got back
With her child and the child was black!
Well, did you evah...

Seriously though, Gaveston is right that someone should revive a show from that period written by and for African Americans. Perhaps the reason nobody ever does is that they were a lot of the times revues rather than modern book musicals or even musical comedies of the pre-OKLAHOMA age. There's music just as good as Porter's in some of them though.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

No, to be FAIR, in all my years I've never heard of a show billing itself as "an all white version" which would be as racist as billing it "an all black version". It's one thing to cast a show with actors who happen to all be one race but to do it for the purpose of saying "ALL BLACK version" is pretty lame in my book.

Well, maybe you need to read a different book, boo. If you think this is unfair, you should read Invisible Man!

It's not racist to call all-white musicals all white musicals, it's just redundant.

Seriously though, Gaveston is right that someone should revive a show from that period written by and for African Americans.

What's the equivalent of Kiss Me Kate for non-white people, though? What's a late 40s musical that written for an all-black cast with songs and roles on par with Kiss Me Kate?

[GavestonPS]

Blake and Sissle's SHUFFLE ALONG was a pretty big hit in its day. The score includes "I'm Just Wild About Harry", but it could be given the ANYTHING GOES/GIRL CRAZY/BABES IN ARMS treatment and filled with hit Blake songs.

No, it doesn't have the name recognition of KISS ME, KATE, but then it is a quarter-century older. It ran for over a year in 1921, when that was an eternity on Broadway.

As someone else mentioned, some of the most popular black shows of the 20s and 30s were revues (or adaptations of THE MIKADO), but these too enjoyed long runs.

If the Pasadena Playhouse really wanted to celebrate African-American entertainment of the first half of the 20th century, they could do better than a 1949 musical comedy written by and for whites.

But all-black versions of GUYS AND DOLLS never hurt me; I don't see why an all-black KISS ME, KATE would.

[DAME]

"But all-black versions of GUYS AND DOLLS never hurt me; I don't see why an all-black KISS ME, KATE would."

If it is good.. then it is good. But ( again) Wayne Brady? It just comes off as gimmicky.

[ggersten]

Cabin in the Sky is 1940-1941. I've not seen the film nor the stage version.

[GavestonPS]

^^^ I only know the film, but it isn't bad. "Taking a Chance on Love" is the hit song.

Again, it's an example of whites writing for blacks, but at least it isn't as overdone as KATE.

[Mr. Nowack]

^^^^^^
I wonder if someone will ever try to revive it interpolating Harold Arlen's lovely songs from the film?

[troynow]

A comment that always thrills me.... When people cast shows with an entirely white cast no one says a word!!!! NOTHING!!! NOT A PEEP! When an all black cast is made the world erupts! Just awful! And its comments like yours that allow that type of behavior to continue!

Furthermore it is the same when producers and casting directors change cast members for a white person when it was a black person. I.E. Anthony Wayne's replacement in Pippin is now WHITE! IT NEVER goes the other way!

An ALL BLACK CAST OF ANYTHING IS FINE BECAUSE MOST OF THE TIME ITS WHITE! GROW UP AND EXPAND YOUR VIEW POINTS!

[FishermanBob]

"Anthony Wayne's replacement in Pippin is now WHITE! IT NEVER goes the other way!"

Norm Lewis and Keke Palmer think that's funny.

[DAME]

Hmm.. someone in another thread labeled this discussion as negative. I guess a healthy discussion where people have different thoughts, opinions, and points of view is now negative.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

There is nothing wrong with colorblind casting for shows, but it sometimes irritates me to star an entire cast of the same race just because you can. Not only that, but you have to make a huge deal.

Why not a multi-racial cast instead of just a blanketed cast?

It's one thing to cast a show with actors who happen to all be one race but to do it for the purpose of saying "ALL BLACK version" is pretty lame in my book.

It's not hard to view statements like this as... well, maybe not negative, but woefully naive to be sure.

It's extremely easy for people in the majority to say that media representation does not matter because they have it. Just as it's easy for people who are financially privileged to say, "It's just money" when spending a few hundred dollars eating out at a fancy restaurant and buying drinks. When we have something, we're inclined to take it for granted.

Media representation is important because stories have always been one of the most important ways that we teach our children and our peers about the world. From Biblical stories to Aesop's Fables, we have always used stories to explain what values we should hold dear, what situations we should avoid, and the types of people that are "bad." So when children of color grow up consistently seeing that they can't be a wizard at Hogwarts, or a superhero, or even an extra in the background of a sitcom set in NY, the message is clear: people like you don't get to be protagonists, or love interests, or anything (maybe depraved villains if you're lucky).

There was a time when, outside of their own culture, these people literally did not exist in the world of fiction, a world that is supposed to help us escape from our real lives, a world that is supposed to entertain us and lift our spirits, and help us forget about the problems in our real life. A world that coincidentally never included people like them, until they started creating and producing for themselves.

Media representation is important because the media profoundly influences our worldview and what we find "normal." It's important because the continued erasure of minorities in fiction only serves to perpetuate the continued erasure of minorities in real life.

Think about that before you criticize an all-black (or "urban," or however one wants to label it) production.

[Patash]

Sure, and people may scramble to join all white country clubs, or enroll in all black high schools, but that doesn't mean they still aren't "lame" ideas, even if both are successful.

[GavestonPS]

I"m lost. Without rereading the entire thread, I don't recall any poster objecting to an all-black or mixed-race KMK or demanding one either. It seems to be a non-issue.

Most people seem to think Wayne Brady is miscast. I have no opinion; I don't know his musical work well enough.

The only area of disagreement seems to be re the press campaign that an all-black KMK is the appropriate way to "celebrate" African-American theater history. Personally, I find the claim dubious.

[jonartdesigns]

I'm all for this save for the principal casting. Give me Norm Lewis and Audra McDonald and they could put it on broadway (hell they might even get tonys for it)

Wayne Brady is simply not the rich baritone the role calls for.

[Jordan Catalano]

I don't understand how doing this show celebrates African American Theatre History. KISS ME KATE isn't a part of African American Theatre History.

[Timmer]

What's the point?

[Jordan Catalano]

Of what?