| Why do Tap Dance Kid? | |
| Posted by: portenopete 10:26 am EST 02/03/22 | |
| In reply to: re: New era at ENCORES - TAP DANCE KID - StageManager 08:36 am EST 02/03/22 | |
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| It seems self-evident. They are desperate to be seen to be making progressive, inclusive programming choices, but an artistic organisation dedicated to resurrecting obscure artefacts from bygone days in an overwhelmingly White art form is going to be hard-pressed to find a lot of worthy candidates that have much diversity. They've done St. Louis Woman, Golden Boy, House of Flowers, Purlie, Lost in the Stars, Cabin in the Sky and Big River (all written by White and mostly male writers, of course). What have they missed? (The Wiz was in the summer series and it may be the only Broadway work they've presented that had a Black creative team?) (And I've not included the Off-Broadways or Special Events, which might have a slightly better track record of inclusion.) I love the mission of Encores! to reintroduce less familiar works to a new audience and, I hope that, if it is still around in 20 or 30 years, that there will be a lot more titles about Black, Asian and other communities that were actually written by people from those communities. I never saw The Tap Dance Kid back in the day but it certainly ticks what I think is the most important box that Encores! should worry about: hardly anyone knows it. Only people over 50 would have seen it (or remembered much about it) and I don't think it's been performed much by schools or community groups. It had a pretty respectable run (almost two years) so it hardly counts as a succes d'estime but its selection certainly makes more sense than shows like Hair, Promises, Promises, The Pajama Game or 1776, which all had runs of more than 1000 performances and have never left the repertory of both professional and amateur producers. Or shows that may not have had lengthy runs but whose scores (in particular) and strengths have made them ubiquitous and respected (like Pal Joey, The Most Happy Fella, Finian's Rainbow or On the Town). |
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| Previous: | re: New era at ENCORES - TAP DANCE KID - NewtonUK 10:37 am EST 02/03/22 |
| Next: | Why not present RAISIN? - pecansforall 01:32 pm EST 02/03/22 |
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