| CABARET casting and August Wilson’s THE GROUND ON WHICH I STAND | |
| Last Edit: lordofspeech 11:52 pm EDT 07/25/24 | |
| Posted by: lordofspeech 11:40 pm EDT 07/25/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Seeing CABARET having seen the original and the film: a couple of other things - Chromolume 10:42 am EDT 07/25/24 | |
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| My problem with the casting of black actors in certain roles in this musical play is that the story is about discrimination and persecutions based on looks and ethnicities. To ignore (or to ask the audience to ignore) the color of an actor’s skin is to erase a part of that actor and to undermine the context of the play. Sure, Leslie Uggams could be Sally. That particular artist is extraordinary, and, besides, performers are treated differently, and probably were so in the Weimar world. But there can’t really be “color-blind” casting in a show rooted in ethnic prejudice. Would you have Scarlett O’Hara played by a black actress? Or Walter Lee in ‘Raisin’ by a white actor? I grant that the Isherwood character has a white historical antecedent, so that also complicates things. But there ought to be clear rewrites or at least mimetic directing choices . Otherwise we’re erasing history on a historical story. It’s not the same as shufflimg diversities in Shakespeare or Sheridan. But what about shuffling diversities in an August Wilson play? Wouldn’t that be wrong? It seems appropriate here, since CABARET is at the August Wilson Theatre, to point to Wilson’s own historic, daring statement about colorblind casting, etc. I would imagine the director of this CABARET and the actor playing Cliff/Chris would have known of this. |
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| Link | August Wilson’s THE GROUND ON WHICH I STAND |
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