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| Oklahoma Jewish | |
| Posted by: aleck 03:38 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
| In reply to: re: I apologize. - Chromolume 12:29 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
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| That there is a long and historically well-established special relationship between the Jewish community and the theatre is no question -- on both sides of the footlights. Entire books have been written on the subject and it need not be thrashed out here. However, within the Oklahoma story -- by that I mean the musical -- it is kind of interesting. My Jewish friend last night zeroed in immediately on the peddlar character as being a representation of a stereotyped comic Jewish character. Indeed, in the original production the first actor to play that role was a well-known actor from the Yiddish theatre. (In the original source play for this musical, Green Grow the Lilacs, the role of the peddler was played by Lee Strasberg, who is and was widely known to be Jewish.) Now, I don't know if either of these actors played the role with a Yiddish accent, but I wouldn't be surprised. (The current production doesn't give a hint of any of that.) How did the original audience react to this? Were the Jewish members of the audience amused or were they offended? After all, I assume most of them knew that the creators were Jewish. I think the reaction might have been a little of both. But I don't know. Having seen many Neil Simon plays in their original productions that wore their Jewish origins on their sleeves, I thought that they pandered to the Jewish section of the audience who seemed to laugh when some Yiddish word or stereotypical Jewish characteristic was injected. Perhaps, because of ever greater sensitivity to these characterizations, that you rarely see Neil Simon plays produced much any more. I don't know. Which leads to: What do Mormons think of Book of Mormon? |
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| re: Oklahoma Jewish | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:29 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
| In reply to: Oklahoma Jewish - aleck 03:38 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
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| Whether Ali Hakim was supposed to be Jewish pretending to be Persian was discussed several times that I remember some years back on this board. More recently, I think it came up briefly again. The character in Green Grow the Lilacs was clearly not meant to be Jewish posing as Persian. Lynn Riggs describes the character as being Syrian, and most of the principal characters in the play, including the Peddler, were based on real people. I would be pretty certain that Lee Strasberg played the character as Syrian. The role was expanded considerably for Oklahoma and made far more comic. Indeed, yes, the character in the musical is clearly a descendant of the "Dutch comic" tradition, which means Jewish. It's not so clear, however, that the character was meant to be perceived as Jewish even if Joseph Buloff played him with a Yiddish accent, as I suspect he did. I think I have come across at least one review of one of the replacement or tour actors in which it was said that the character was clearly Jewish pretending to be Persian, but I don't think that was the intention in 1943. Unfortunately, we may never know at this point. Most of the actors who played the role during the run of the original Broadway production, the major and long-lived national tour (sometimes considered several tours because breaks were taken a couple of times) and I think even the London production were Jewish. |
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| re: Oklahoma Jewish | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:03 pm EDT 09/01/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Oklahoma Jewish - AlanScott 04:29 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
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| "It's not so clear, however, that the character was meant to be perceived as Jewish even if Joseph Buloff played him with a Yiddish accent, as I suspect he did." Wouldn't you say that the recording of "It's a Scandal! It's a Outrage" by Buloff for the second volume of the original Broadway cast album of OKLAHOMA! gives clear evidence of the accent he used for the role? I would, especially since he actually speaks the lyrics of the song to music, rather than singing any of it. |
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| re: Oklahoma Jewish | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 05:14 am EDT 09/02/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Oklahoma Jewish - Michael_Portantiere 11:03 pm EDT 09/01/19 | |
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| Absolutely. That skipped my mind for some reason. | |
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| re: Oklahoma!: Ali, oops | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 12:25 am EDT 09/01/19 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 12:25 am EDT 09/01/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Oklahoma Jewish - AlanScott 04:29 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
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| I found it disappointing that Daniel Fish didn't cast an actor of color to play Ali Hakim, the Persian peddler. The 2002 Broadway revival featured Aasif Mandvi, and the 2010 Arena Stage revival featured Nehal Joshi. |
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| re: Oklahoma Jewish | |
| Posted by: aleck 05:21 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Oklahoma Jewish - AlanScott 04:29 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
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| I had a friend who attended the opening night of the original production because her mother was the vocal coach for Alfred Drake and Celeste Holm. While she sometimes spoke about how thrilling that opening night was, we never got around to talking about this point of whether the audience perceived the peddler as Jewish or not. (Sadly, she is no longer with us.) I think that audiences come in with some knowledge and preconceptions of these things -- especially then -- and react accordingly. I don't think it was an accident that someone so well-known from the Yiddish theatre was cast in that part. It had to be part of the texture of the production. But, then, the original "Billy" (or Liliom) in Liliom was Joseph Schildkraut, who, too, was known as a Jewish actor. What dynamic did that bring to the production for the audience of the time? Audiences DO make judgments based on these things. Even today. |
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| Italian Americans in Oklahoma! | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 06:48 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Oklahoma Jewish - aleck 05:21 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
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| When we did it in high school, our Ali Hakim was Italian American--a guy by the name of Dan Castellaneta. And our Laurey was also Italian American--she went by the name Mary Mastrantonio (she added the Elizabeth, her middle name, when she started performing professionally). Our Dream Laurey was Greek American, with the lovely name Helene Alexopoulos (I doubt many high schools had a Dream Laurey who was studying with Maria Tallchief and would go on to be a soloist with the New York City Ballet). I, alas, was only in the chorus (though I had a name--"Chalmers"--and played the fiddle break for the dance in "The Farmer and the Bowman"). I did get to pair up briefly for the walk-on for the "Many a New Day," escorting another chorus member on for her to serve as back-up--her name was Kathy Griffin. She had fiery red hair and a tongue to match. Wonder what ever happened to any of these folk? Yes, it was a suburban public high school--west of Chicago--back when towns were willing to pay school taxes to support the arts! |
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| Quite a cast! | |
| Posted by: stevemr 08:15 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
| In reply to: Italian Americans in Oklahoma! - BruceinIthaca 06:48 pm EDT 08/31/19 | |
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| That has to have been one of the most "star-studded" high school productions ever in a public, non-arts centered school. | |
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