musicaltheatrefan
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Are Broadway shows allowed to cast people of certain races?I was looking at the character breakdown for "Legally Blonde" (this is from ActorsEquity.org) and it said that Pilar must be Latina, Asian, or African-American.
Are they allowed to do that?
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Trevor reincarnate
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Obviously they are.
It just sucks to be a white person in musical theatre. No roles for us.
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lilmissbroadway
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The Very Angry Woman
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Re: Are Broadway shows allowed to cast people of certain rac | musicaltheatrefan wrote: | | Are they allowed to do that? |
The entertainment industry is one of the few which is allowed to hire (or not hire) based on race. Of course they're allowed.
Now begins another stupid flame war on colorblind casting. Good job.
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blue wind
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well, yeah. some roles just wouldn't make SENSE if a person of the wrong race played the part. (ex. a black person can't play glinda or elle woods. there are important parts to her character about her blonde hair and such, or what if the characters in "the color purple" were played by white people? it just wouldn't feel right).
it all has to do with the vision of the show, what feels right and what doesn't.
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mastachen
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| blue wind wrote: | well, yeah. some roles just wouldn't make SENSE if a person of the wrong race played the part. (ex. a black person can't play glinda or elle woods. there are important parts to her character about her blonde hair and such, or what if the characters in "the color purple" were played by white people? it just wouldn't feel right).
it all has to do with the vision of the show, what feels right and what doesn't. |
Why can't a black person play Elle or Glinda? I don't recall race ever being an issue in either show for those two characters. I understand it might be unorthodox, but it's not like it's never been done before. On Broadway, Belle in BATB has been played by a black woman, and Mimi in Rent has been played by an Asian.
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The Very Angry Woman
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Kids, what did I just say...
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wicked_boy
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If the script / book requires them to be, then yes. If not, they can cast anyone.
My Dad's Jamaican, my Mum's white, I look completely white, I probably look whiter than all of you, but on all the legal papers etc, it says "Mixed Heritage, Black Carrebean / White English", however, that doesn't that mean I could go for the role of Seaweed in Hairspray.
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musikal_geek
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| mastachen wrote: | | Why can't a black person play Elle or Glinda? |
It follows the cliche of the blonde ditz. With Glinda, I GUESS it could work. Not well. But it could.
And it's "Legally Blonde," not "Legally Black."  (Just kidding around here... no one get mad over this one!!). But still. Black people generally aren't born with blonde hair. It wouldn't make sense.
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mastachen
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^Good point. I hadn't thought of that.
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bigballinick91
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| musikal_geek wrote: | | mastachen wrote: | | Why can't a black person play Elle or Glinda? |
It follows the cliche of the blonde ditz. With Glinda, I GUESS it could work. Not well. But it could.
And it's "Legally Blonde," not "Legally Black." (Just kidding around here... no one get mad over this one!!). But still. Black people generally aren't born with blonde hair. It wouldn't make sense. |
Beyonce has blonde hair....even though it's wigs and weaves. But still blonde. That looks natural. Not cheap and fake.
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theatre_grl
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Casting is partially about look--not necessarily race; If someone gets cast because of their skin tone its no different than being cast because of your height or figure.
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Mungojerrie_rt
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Can you imagine Hud in 'Hair' being played by a white man.
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Monsieur D'Arque
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One production of Hair I was in, being without a black man, merely cut the song "Colored Spade." Their Hud was thus portrayed in a mostly affectionate but somewhat satirical vein, as a man so concerned with race relations that he identified with every ethnic group but his own. On the line "The draft is white people sending black people to make war on the yellow people to defend the land they stole from the red people," he would point to the audience on the words "white people," and point to himself on every other line. Whenever there was any reference to Indians, blacks, whatever else, he would nod and smile, smugly. During "Black Boys/White Boys," he ran a projector sending images of famous blacks and whites of the Sixties onto the walls of the theater. As the songs went on, he would intercut his own picture into the collages as well, for both black and white.
Not what the show was written to be, but it worked in a pinch, and the audience loved it.
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lonewriter
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I can't see a white woman playing Celie in The Color Purple.
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