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| re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 12:16 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
| In reply to: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" - chrismpls 10:43 pm EDT 06/19/18 | |
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| It's interesting - I think they went in the right direction by casting it diversely, but they didn't go far enough. A cast that was predominantly non-white, in which no white person played a person of color, may well have actually worked. Clearly they have it some thought, and they put out a very nice statement. | |
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| re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" | |
| Posted by: mikem 12:50 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" - Singapore/Fling 12:16 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
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| I'm a little surprised how provincial the Muny management seems to be. The official statement that they eventually put out was very nice, but the initial response was clueless. The show could have put together differently. Not only was there the choice to have a white actress play Tuptim using some weird accent, during the sailors' jaunt through New York in "On the Town," the sailors put on Native American headdresses and make whooping gestures to show that they are having fun. Maybe that was how it was done in 1944 (and 1989), but I would hope we've moved beyond that in 2018. It was very jarring. When St Louis's Public Radio station discussed these issues with Mike Isaacson, the Muny's executive producer, his initial response was dismissive, saying that the protesters had a "shallow understanding" of the show, and saying about the headdresses and whooping gestures that it was just "drunken sailors doing a series of silly acts." I'm glad that he now seems to understand that these issues are complex and could have been handled differently, but it's surprising that even after people protested, he didn't seem to understand what was troubling. |
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| Link | http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/visiting-theater-pros-cite-yellowface-hurtful-stereotypes-muny#stream/0 |
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| re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:05 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" - mikem 12:50 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
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| Thanks for the deeper dive. I did not know about the accent or the headdresses, both of which are inappropriate. I do appreciate that he can listen and learn, which is difficult. This board is a regular reminder of how easily people can dig in their heels around these questions. | |
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| re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" | |
| Posted by: mikem 01:15 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" - Singapore/Fling 01:05 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
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| To give them a little bit of slack, the accent thing is a bit tricky, because the text is not in grammatically correct English, so it would sound a bit strange to read the text in a standard accent. I'm guessing that's how they ended up with the weird accent. The accent would have been less off-putting coming from an Asian or Asian-American actress, though. | |
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| re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 02:16 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" - mikem 01:15 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
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| One of the funny things is that Tuptim's dialogue and lyrics elsewhere are in pretty much perfect English. It's only in "Small House," which she's written, that she goes all pidgin. Still, she's probably never been outside Burma and Siam. Should she speak English with RP or Standard Stage or General American? What's the correct accent? Perhaps in 2018 it's best for an American production to go as close to General American as possible, but as you say, it's a tough question. |
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| ^ typo - "they *gave it some thought" | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 12:28 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Protest during St. Louis "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" - Singapore/Fling 12:16 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
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| And also maybe just hire a third Asian lady for the lead in that dance. | |
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