The Diary Of Anne Frank

[clintonhater]

A black woman for reasons of her own experience may better be able to channel Anne's growing sense of bewilderment at a fate impressed upon her than say a white woman of patrician breeding who may more look the part.

Oh, yes, patrician breeding is major career impediment for many white actors.

Again I ask you (since you persist in defending this absurdity), why not a white Porgy & Bess, MLK, etc.? Casting against type, you know?

Anyone, Jew or otherwise, who'd attend a performance of such a travesty is by definition a left-winger, so of course, they won't be "bothered"!

[blackhawknj]

Isn't that rather stereotypical-racist, no ? to refer to "the black woman's experience ? I've known plenty of black women who had comfortable upbringings in solid, stable, caring families, whose looks opened doors for them .
A white MLK ? What would be the reaction to THAT ?

[togor]

White cast Porgy and Bess? You do know I assume that many blacks consider Gershwin's operatic portrayal of blacks to be objectionable, yes?

So casting across type here with a white playing a down-and-out black slum dweller may not go over well. Would it be racist to the audience? Might. Definitely a high wire act.

Stage performers know they'll be judged. They accept the risk that goes with it.

Your beef with a mixed race cast seems to be based on what? That it stretches audience imagination? Well that's the difference between theater and reenactments.

Speaking of the latter, how do you feel about middle-aged guys with fleshy middles, straining the buttons on their GI blouses, dressed as WW2 privates?

[blackhawknj]

Re-enactors who do not look the part do present a somewhat comical appearance, on the other hand very few do a first person impression and make it clear that they only depict a WWII GI, how he would look.

[clintonhater]

Your beef with a mixed race cast seems to be based on what? That it stretches audience imagination?

What it's intended to stretch is the boundary of PC, as well of course as the limits of absurdity. As in Hamilton, offending white people isn't an accidental byproduct, it's at the very core of the production.

[Roadkingtrax]

"Hamilton" seemed to be a big hit. Not sure what the problem is here. Art is about interpretation.

For oil paintings, do guys here stick strictly to portaits of people in powdered wigs and plates of fruit?

Just saw Hamilton. Excellent play, musical with limited spoken word really. There is nothing in the play that isn't highly reflective of American history in sincere terms.

Lots of offended white folk in attendance...lol.

[dobek]

So togor - any race can play any role right? Then why was a high school girl denied the right to play Esmeralda in hunchback of Norte Dame? “People of color” (now called racists using your definition) raised hell and got play cancelled

Racism knows no color

Steve

[Vern Humphrey]

So togor - any race can play any role right? Then why was a high school girl denied the right to play Esmeralda in hunchback of Norte Dame? “People of color” (now called racists using your definition) raised hell and got play cancelled

Racism knows no color

Steve

Esmerelda, as I recall, was a Gypsy.

From Wikipedia:

Esmeralda [ɛs.me.ʁɑl.da], born Agnès, is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (or Notre Dame de Paris). She is a French Roma girl (near the end of the book, it is revealed that her biological mother was a French woman).

[togor]

What it's intended to stretch is the boundary of PC, as well of course as the limits of absurdity. As in Hamilton, offending white people isn't an accidental byproduct, it's at the very core of the production.

Wait...what? Hamilton offends white people? Some, apparently, but lots love it. But isn't that the "snowflake test"? Don't do something if one person gets offended?

C'mon, it's theater. I doubt the traveling cast of Hamilton makes it to Branson, so the free market works.

[clintonhater]

Wait...what? Hamilton offends white people?

Those, I neglected to say, with pride in their culture, history, traditions; a diminishing minority, to be sure...proven by the fact there hasn't been blood in the streets over the wholesale desecration of Confederate monuments.

[togor]

So togor - any race can play any role right? Then why was a high school girl denied the right to play Esmeralda in hunchback of Norte Dame? “People of color” (now called racists using your definition) raised hell and got play cancelled

Racism knows no color

Steve

What I said was...casting against type is a thing. Sometimes it's a disaster, sometimes it's groundbreaking. You want to write a rule to cover all cases in advance? I don't know how myself.

[JB White]

What ticks me off are those who tout "Equality by double standards". It's OK to have an all-black cast yet another is 'too white' to play that role. All for the sake of political correctness.

A little test. Everyone knows who Jackie Robinson is. Without looking it up, tell me:

Who was the first Asian in MLB
Who was the first American Indian in MLB
Who was the first Spanish guy in MLB
Who was the first Irishman in MLB
Who was the very first handicapped player in MLB

Among my favorite players was Ernie Banks. I always saw him as a ball player, not a Negro. Was I being racist? Apparently it is by today's standards. I'm a white kid and I should have taken note. F*** OFF!