It was definitely notably controversial, and there was of course discussion. 2000 wasn't 1960.
But I think the prevailing feeling was that it played a very specific role thematically and historically in this time period, and was utilized in the musical and production theatrically in a very upsetting and effective way, co-written, developed and directed by an acclaimed genius black director who was also known to be extremely educated and intentional with how black people and racism is used in theater.
I think it would have been more effective, or effective in more ways and understood in more ways, had Queenie been a black woman in a "mask of snow", as Wolfe originally intended, so it was a black woman in a kind of white face and a white man in a kind of black face, both for very specific and interesting reasons that told a story about the time and about these people and the themes of the play.
I can tell you that Burrs beginning to apply his blackface make-up, after his slow-simmer bubbling mental break had really come to a head after "How Many Women" was one of the most unsettling things I've ever seen in a theater. |
