Phantom of the Opera Question

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 9/15/05 at 3:22pm

Has Christine ever been played by a black actress in a professional production?

[zepka102]

Posted: 9/15/05 at 3:27pm

i doubt it... it would be interesting to see a more multicultural cast though!

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 9/15/05 at 4:21pm

I've seen a black phantom before!

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 3:35pm

I'd really die to see Audra do it. She'd be wonderful I bet. It'd be great to see a real actress like her in that part, so many of the women who've played it seem to not have much personality or spark.

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 4:12pm

I agree, I would like to see an african american performer play christine.

But, there are plenty of Christines right now who are amazing.

The awesome Jennifer Hope Wills blew me away. By far the best Christine performance I have ever seen. And the sweetest person too. I was lucky enough to see her in Vancouver and then get a backstage tour. JHW is truly one of the finest christines.

But, if Audra ever would do it, I think it would be amazing to see.

[Christopher Gough]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 4:19pm

It doesn't make sense. Christine Daae is a 19th century Swedish character. Would you cast Porgy and Bess with white actors?

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 4:23pm

Nothing in the plot of Phantom of the Opera really has to do with race like in Porgy and Bess. I can understand someone still not agreeing with it, but for me, it wouldn't be a big deal.

[theevilgumby]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 4:23pm

^Im surprised no one said that before you did

[mijofly19]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 4:31pm

I don't believe there's ever been an African American Christine, but there have been some Asian actresses playing the part. If there's nothing in the story that refers to race, then there shouldn't be a big deal about it. Norm Lewis is about to play Javert in the Les Mis Revival, when a black man would never be able to have such a high position in 1815.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 5:07pm

"It doesn't make sense. Christine Daae is a 19th century Swedish character.."

How could it not make sense? Race isn't essential to the plot. If you say that, then casting Lea Salonga as Eponine didn't make sense either.

[Christopher Gough]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 5:13pm

It depends whether you think it important to have any deference to the source material. Gaston Leroux and Victor Hugo did not create black or Asian American characters for Christine Daae or Eponine. I accept that race is not essential to the plot - just the historical context of the adaptations.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 5:16pm

I had a discussion about this with my sister recently. Race really doesn't matter in this show; I just think that people already have their ideas of how each character looks, so the casting is kept that way. Just like in Rent, some of the characters' races don't really matter, but actors who have a similar look are always cast just because that's what people expect to see.

In regards to whoever said they saw a black Phantom, I believe the only black Phantom was Robert Guillaume, who was in the Los Angeles company... I think.

[Anthony3]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 6:21pm

I think it would be cool to see an African Christine!

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 6:29pm

^ If you really mean that, there have been African Christines, in the South African production.

[Anthony3]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 9:46pm

I know that, but It would be cool to see one on Broadway.

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 9:50pm

But they weren't black. They were South African, and white, so even if one of the Christines from that production were to do the role on Broadway, she still wouldn't be ethnic.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 9:56pm

I think we all know what Anthony3 means. Let's not play dumb.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 7/22/16 at 2:20pm

TWELVE YEARS after this question was first asked Broadway finally has its first POC Christine Daae. 

Ali Ewoldt is a Filipino actress who is playing the role right now. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/22/16 at 2:52pm

I think we should be careful when applying American constructions of race to European characters. I don't know whether a man of African ancestry could have become an inspector in 1840s France. Perhaps he is the son of someone who took refuge in France when Haiti won its independence in 1803. Or perhaps he was from Martinique, or another island in the Caribbean that France considers not a colony but part of France proper. Full citizenship was extended to all men of color in Martinique in 1792.

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 7/22/16 at 3:02pm

This is very true. There were extremely successful people of color in France, like Alexandre Dumas.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 7/23/16 at 12:37am

"American constructions of race"? what does that even mean???

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/23/16 at 1:12am

Adam Chris said: "I've seen a black phantom before!"

Well yeah, Robert Guillaume, for one, famously took over from Michael Crawford in LA back in the 80s. 

As MrMatt says, this isn't a show about race, or even history, and seeing a black Christine, or Raoul, or whatever wouldn't phase me at all.

[theaterlover5678]

Posted: 8/4/16 at 9:32pm

IF. YOU. CAN. SUSPEND. YOUR DISBELIEF. ABOUT. A PERSON. BREAKING. INTO. SONG,

you can open your mind to a person of color portraying human emotions on a stage in a theater. Thank you, good day

[theaterlover5678]

Posted: 8/4/16 at 9:34pm

Any show that does not deal directly with race relations and racial conflict in its book is FAIR GAME. It's an effing musical. sheesh.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/4/16 at 11:00pm

gypsy101 said: ""American constructions of race"? what does that even mean???

 

"

"Social construction" isn't some obscure term nor is it of my invention. It refers to how a culture defines a certain concept, in this case, race. In the United States, we have defined "blackness" as African and we have generally used what is called the "One Drop Rule" (an actual law in the past of some states), meaning if one had any traceable African ancestry, one was defined as "black". (In practice, people often went by appearance, but "One Drop" was the construction.)

Other countries had and have different systems. Some of the South American colonies thought of race not in terms of shade but of birth: Europeans, descendants of Europeans, Native Americans, and mixtures thereof. South Africa long divided race in terms of Europeans, Africans and "coloreds" (the latter mostly Hindus and Muslims).

Etc. and so forth. I don't know how a black singer would have been treated in 19th century Sweden, but she might not have been treated as "different" at all. We shouldn't assume she would face the same barriers she would have faced in, say, 19th century Virginia.

Thanks to worldwide DNA testing, scientists have concluded that race is ENTIRELY a social construction. The variations in the DNA of different groups is too trivial to be considered of scientific significance. This isn't to say race never matters, just that it's a cultural idea rather than a biological fact.