In 2011, I interviewed Rodriguez and asked him about the racial diversity in his ''Oklahoma!'' He said: ''My father’s Mexican-American, and my mom’s Cherokee and Welsh. But even though our Laurey and Aunt Eller (E. Faye Keller) are portrayed by African-Americans, we’re not playing race. We’ve all done a lot of historical research; although all these ethnic groups [blacks, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans] existed at that time in Oklahoma, they didn’t co-exist. So our modern take is that they’re all co-mingling, like our country is now. But I’m not playing Curly as a Latino; I’m just Curly.''
And speaking of diversity, Rodriguez also dished about being a Broadway leading man of color who's also openly gay. |
