"Blind" Casting

Last year, in my acting class, we were chatting about racial bias in casting.  The teacher spoke of a play he had directed.  He needed someone to play a senator. For some reason, the only person they could find to play the senator was black.  The play was set in the 1940's, so there wouldn't have been a black senator.  My teacher decided that they wouldn't make any big deal about this: they weren't going to explain how it was that he was a black senator; rather, it was simply that the actor that played the senator was black.  He remarked that it took the audience 30 seconds to get over that.

Acting has a strong visual element.  That's the nature of the business.  And that means that racial bias is allowed and fully accepted.  But there are other forms of bias.

I know one theatre company that, as a matter of policy, practices "blind" casting.  They had no problem casting me as Abner Dillon in "42nd Street", even though I look nothing like an Oklahoma millionaire from the 1940's.  Their willingness to perform "blind", aka "non-traditional", casting extends beyond just skin-color.  I just saw their performance of "Legally Blond".  The woman they chose to play the lead looked nothing like the part -- she was older, shorter, and more plump.  But she handled the part quite well.  By the ending, I don't think anyone minded how she looked.  The audience clearly enjoyed themselves.

I didn't "forget" the fact that she didn't look the part, but that was because every minute or so I said to myself "isn't it great that they cast someone based on talent, not looks?"  Of course, part of the reason I was so aware of that was . . . well . . . I really hated the show.  This theatre company did a GREAT job, no doubt at all . . . but I have decided that "Legally Blonde" is on my list of third worst musicals.

For those curious: my #1 worst musical is "Oliver".  2 minutes plot, then a song that goes on for another 5 minutes . . . and when the song runs out of steam, go on to a 10 minute extended dance sequence.  After maybe a half hour of this show, I was screaming to end this agony.

#2 worst musical: "42nd Street".  If you want to create a pageant of musical numbers that is a tribute to Busby Berkeley, be my guest.  But please, don't waste our time in trying to pretend you give a damn about telling a story or having a plot or having characters!  This show was dreadful!

#3 worst musical: "Legally Blonde".  When I saw the movie preview years ago, I said to myself "I have absolutely no interest in seeing this."  Adding songs to the show didn't change that.  This theatre group did a damn fine job, but I found myself almost smiling . . . once.  I didn't care about ANY of the characters, and the plot was utterly predictable.  It IS possible to have have-some-fun mindless-fluff and have it be good, but this wasn't it.

#4 worst musical: Oh, this one is difficult for me to decide.  I'm tempted to say "Every version of Cinderella ever made".  My goodness, this is the 21st century, and we are still telling our daughters a story where the lead character suffers through an abusive situation, waiting for a rich man to show up and rescue her!