| re: Why no hullabaloo about an Asian American playing Norma Desmond? | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 03:25 pm EDT 06/17/24 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 03:19 pm EDT 06/17/24 | |
| In reply to: Why no hullabaloo about an Asian American playing Norma Desmond? - Zelgo 10:11 pm EDT 06/16/24 | |
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| Sunset Boulevard takes place in just as much or more of a specific time and place in America and Entertainment history/culture... and is much more documented and known to people even today than anything to do with what or who the American Vaudeville circuit was like. And it's true that there being a non-white legend of silent film the way Norma is described and written to have been would have been less likely... But am I wrong that there were some non-white silent movie stars? Including Bert Williams, Evelyn Preer, and Josephine Baker. And Asian too, Anna May Wong comes to mind. There's a lot of discussion of just how big a global star she was (not just by her, but by Max, and it doesn't seem to invite the idea that they are exaggerating or engaging in personal delusion about the level of her fame at her height of stardom in the silent movies, but perhaps that's an interesting shadow of doubt to cast), and I'm going to assume we don't have an American silent film star equivalent in real life who wasn't white. Perhaps because Norma isn't based on one real person (despite the time/place being real)? Perhaps Diahann Carroll famously playing her in 1995 for the Toronto premiere (Toronto was a much bigger deal then), and getting her own cast album, may have been enough to not make people assuming Norma has to be white. Rita Moreno also played Norma in Sunset in the London original run. There may be others I'm not aware of. Nicole is, I think, the first woman of color to play Norma *on Broadway*, which is amazing and a big deal, but she's not the first to do it in a major production. |
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| Previous: | Isn't the distinction...? - broadwaybacker 09:54 am EDT 06/18/24 |
| Next: | re: Why no hullabaloo about an Asian American playing Norma Desmond? - AlanScott 10:31 pm EDT 06/17/24 |
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