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re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical

Posted by: KingSpeed 05:38 pm EST 01/16/15
In reply to: re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical - Greg_M 05:25 pm EST 01/16/15

No. It's not. You can have a black Carrie in CAROUSEL but you can't have a white Bess in PORGY AND BESS.


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re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical

Posted by: Greg_M 02:07 pm EST 01/18/15
In reply to: re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical - KingSpeed 05:38 pm EST 01/16/15

That makes no no sense, color blind casting is just that, you can have any race playing Bess in "Porgy and Bess" if you're doing color bind casting. People will accept it if it's color bind casting, if they don't they they shouldn't accept it in "Carousel"


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re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical

Posted by: Brandnuva 04:34 pm EST 01/17/15
In reply to: re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical - KingSpeed 05:38 pm EST 01/16/15

Often with "Black/African American Theater" the themes are explicitly about race or, in this case, a racialization of themes that are present in source material.

I grew up on The Wiz. Knew all the songs and material. Then, as a college student, immersed in courses on race and culture in society, went to see a local production, and had an extremely emotional response to the realization that the ideas of (1)being in a foreign land where nothing is familiar (2)being convinced that you lack intelligence (3)being convinced that you lack emotional capability to feel (4)being convinced that you are a beast who lacks courage, etc all take on very different tones when presented through the lens of the Black experience in America.

That being said, I don't think this is a show that REQUIRES an all black cast. I think it requires thoughtful inclusion. I think Justin Timberlake as the Scarecrow is a wonderful idea.

I don't think you can say color-conscious casting is the same in every instance. Having a lost boy of color in Peter Pan is not the same as having a white actor play a slave in the pre-Civil War South. And when the context of a play is one that is ABOUT race (which, often is the case with Black/African-American Theater) you have to consider that context.


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