A few years back, as Hamilton was at the height of its popularity, a nearby mega-church decided to steal some songs from the musical and incorporate it into the worship service... you know, just like Jesus would do. Whereas Hamilton on Broadway (and nearly every touring cast) made it a point of casting mostly minorities in the roles of historically white men and women, the church opted to revert to an all white cast, which is especially jarring considering the congregation is mostly Asian and Latino, which meant they had to go out of their way to not be diverse.
I freely admit my white privilege, but I always believe the best person for the job should get the job. That meant John Colicos played a Klingon in the 1960s and Michael Dorm and Christopher Lloyd and Christopher Plummer in the 1980s and 1990s. It also means that sometimes a non LGBTQ actor is better at playing an LGBTQ role, and other times an LGBTQ actor is better in a non LGBTQ role (we all thought Mr and Mrs Brady had great chemistry back in the day, and Neil Patrick Harris played a great womanizer in How I Met Your Mother). Sometimes an actor with working legs is better to play a character confined to a wheelchair. If, as was the case at the aforementioned mega-church, casting directors are going out of their way to avoid a diverse cast, then that should indeed be called out, or if there is a genuine miscasting (Craig Ferguson notoriously auditioned to play a Latino role on “Suddenly Susan”), then by all means raise a fuss. But there is no indication that’s what is going on here... it might be, but as yet nobody can point to that. On Mon, Mar 22, 2021 at 11:29 AM Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, Mar 22, 2021 at 12:57 PM M-D November <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Lt. Commander Worf *wasn't *played by an ACTUAL Klingon. >> > > This problem is like the Othello situation. Traditionally all the actors > were white and the actor playing Othello wore blackface. If you try to > solve the problem by saying that only a Black actor can play Othello does > that mean all of the other roles are limited to white actors? A lot of > casts practice diversity in that roles in general can go to anybody > regardless of region of origin for them or their parents. So if the Othello > cast is diverse, then what about Othello? Can he now be white? There was at > least one production of Othello with a Black cast and white Othello but > that's as much a stunt as a way forward. > > When I was watching The Great I got confused at first. The characters were > all Russian with the exception of Catherine who was German. Yet the actors > were white, Black, and Asian. It's likely that a port and capital city > would have a more diverse makeup than the provinces and I remember that > Russia's national poet, Pushkin, had some African ancestry and nobody held > it against him. Plus the Russian Empire extended into Asia so Asians could > be in the court. After a few episodes I figured out that they were being > color blind in regards to casting and so non-white actors were playing > white characters. In another show could the reverse be put into practice or > is that appropriation? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiGRC4aEQhs1LqHZtctMuddSU1-M%2BjndynFXXkFQQyu7hg%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiGRC4aEQhs1LqHZtctMuddSU1-M%2BjndynFXXkFQQyu7hg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4BwoasQ%3DBPtkq4qtu8Owb-EkzOHz9jNwwj2sm5epdNtbg%40mail.gmail.com.
