Shampooing the Black Kids from Hairspray

[AlphaFrog]

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/mixm...heatre_the.php

The only "suspension of disbelief" I see here is the that someone actually thought this was ok.

Interesting that the theatre doing it correctly notes that the copyright holder imposes a $13,000 per incident of blackface if it's discovered.

[Senusret I]

I'm going to share this on the GXP page.

[KillarneyRose]

This Childrens' Theatre sounds pretty sketchy all around.

BTW, I truly wish they had named the lead character something other than Tracy. I mean, my name hardly ever appears in movies or books and when it does, it's the name of a fat girl with bicolored hair???

[33girl]

Yeah, but it's also Katharine Hepburn's character in The Philadelphia Story.

The only times I can think of my name coming up are:
1) soap opera, nymphomaniac
2) soap opera, psycho
3) L & O Criminal Intent, criminal's idiot girlfriend
4) Seinfeld, Jerry's girlfriend who introduced the annoying "shmoopie" talk

So no, you don't get to complain

[knight_shadow]

The article mentions this, but Plano is not necessarily a hotbed of diversity.

Maybe they should've picked another production, but to insinuate that they're having "no coloreds allowed" auditions is a little misleading.

[OPhiAGinger]

Wow. My parents live one town over from Plano, so I can truly believe this happened there. You'll be relieved to know that when Phoenix's Valley Youth Theater did Hairspray last summer, they cast the African American roles with very talented, hard-working African American kids. It was an incredible production, as befits an organization that helped nurture the talents of Jordan Sparks and Emma Stone.

[pshsx1]

My city! Noooo! D:

"There are also no naturally fat girls in Plano."
^That caption killed me. #insider

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by pshsx1

My city! Noooo! D:

"There are also no naturally fat girls in Plano."
^That caption killed me. #insider

Get your people, please lol

[Xidelt]

Interesting article. I loved his point about money perhaps being a motivating factor for the PCT with their tuition and major sponsors. I also liked his comment about the nose picking actor and the photo of the black actors.

[SWTXBelle]

Having been in the position of having to chose plays for middle schoolers I totally understand the demands of having to worry about budget, parents, and a small pool of actors. Guess what? There are plays your kids may want to do that you JUST CAN'T. The drama teacher before me had told my kids they could do Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella" - apparently not aware of the difficulty and expense of getting the rights, and forgetting that she was teaching at a middle school of 40 students so even casting the thing (never mind the musical aspect) would be impossible. Yes, they were disappointed. Welcome to theater - heck, welcome to the real world - where you don't always get what you want.

Every year I would get the play catalogue and teasingly tell my headmaster the plays we would not be doing: "The Vagina Monologues", plays about sex (and you would be amazed at how many of those are in a catalogue directed to middle school and high school directors), etc. Sometimes race blind casting is good. In this case, um, no. If you have a known group of actors, as in this case, you pick a play that plays to your strengths. If you know you have a lily-white cast, pick accordingly.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Maybe they should've picked another production, but to insinuate that they're having "no coloreds allowed" auditions is a little misleading.

It is very misleading. I kept reading trying to find the "Black people ban."

[AlphaFrog]

There was no where stated or implied that blacks were not allowed...in fact the choreographer (who is black) said in the article that they started production with a few blacks in the show, but they all dropped out. Where are you guys getting the "no coloreds allowed" and "black ban"? Did I miss part of the article?

[Senusret I]

I didn't see that part, either.

[SWTXBelle]

The headlines for articles are often misleading - they make them as controversial as possible to get you to click on through.

I now have The Doors going through my head - "Click on through to the other siiiiide!"

[AlphaFrog]

I took the headline to mean that they shampooed the characters from the script, not the actors from the audition process.