And no matter how many times it’s pointed out, nothing is done about it.
Take LITTLE SHOPS OF HORRORS. *Ahem* For example.
It’s a musical that, in most productions, relegates actors of color to the stereotypical secondary roles of the doo-wop trio of street urchins and the off-stage voice of the singing plant.
3 comments:
I feel the need to comment not on the content of this article, but on the writer and their feelings towards the production. It is labelled as a review, yet the writer mentions not an aspect of the show other their issue with the show's habit of "normal casting." While I am aware that companies should be taking more efforts to be more diverse in their casting efforts, I feel like this completely invalidates the work of the performers. The entire article seems counter productive, perhaps it would have been more meaningful to make a separate article about casting issues in Chicago theaters. In the last short paragraph, the writer states, "LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is another excellently produced, yet entirely disappointing Drury Lane production." However, the entirety of this review speaks to the flaws they notice in the lack of POC (specifically black actors) in the company's casts. I am not a theater critic, and I doubt I will ever be one, but as someone who does read reviews for shows I am possibly going to see, this is entirely unhelpful. Perhaps the company can take this as a notice to stray from traditional casting, or look to fill roles that better mimic the physicality of their audiences, but they will not be able to take notes away from their show, because this review mentioned nothing of it.
This isn't much of a review of Little Shop as much as a scathing accusation towards a theater company. There is nothing wrong with calling out a particular theater, but this really shouldn't be labeled as a review as it pretty much only comments on the work of a casting director which is dismissive to every other aspect of the production. Aside from that, the author is very right when they say "Theater is LITERALLY fake. Cast INCLUSIVELY" because there really is no reason not to in a show like Little Shop. Theater is more than just simple minded entertainment, and it makes me sad when a company bases their season off of what will put butts in seats rather than what shows can make the statements they want to make. I understand that sometimes people are looking to simply have a good time, but there are better ways to do that than type casting shows which do not require typecasting. I understand if a theater's mission is just to bring joy. There is absolutely value in that. Shows do not always have to be political and make some grand statement, but at the very least they shouldn't endorse negative stereotypes, which I believe this production does.
Like Kaylie and Elizabeth I don’t understand why this is labeled as a review of Little Shop of Horrors. Although I do agree with a lot of the points that the author made about the importance of diversity in casting, they didn’t do a good job of actually informing their readers about the show itself. They didn’t mention any of the design elements, and didn’t provide any feedback about the performance itself. When talking about the casting of Seymour they talked about how they’re very unhappy with the casting choice and said “Not to reduce Will Lidke, who is extremely talented and accomplished in his own right. That’s not this conversation”. However, the performance of the lead SHOULD be the conversation if this is supposed to be review. I definitely think that pointing out how “traditional” casting can be problematic is importance, but I think that if this going to be in this format it belongs more in an editorial than in a show review.
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