I saw ‘Billy Elliot’ in London where Billy, a white Yorkshire lad was played by a black Jamaican with a Jamaican accent. The parents were cast as white. It was weird. Throughout the musical you had to keep telling yourself that a Yorkshireman was white….it was just weird….and last year again in London, we saw ‘My Fair Lady’ and again a poor white flower girl was cast with a black. It creates a dissonance- not to mention that she just didn’t have the vocal range of Julie Andrew’s who was first cast in the part.
The Little Mermaid and the question of racially-conscious casting
I saw ‘Billy Elliot’ in London where Billy, a white Yorkshire lad was played by a black Jamaican with a Jamaican accent. The parents were cast as white. It was weird. Throughout the musical you had to keep telling yourself that a Yorkshireman was white….it was just weird….and last year again in London, we saw ‘My Fair Lady’ and again a poor white flower girl was cast with a black. It creates a dissonance- not to mention that she just didn’t have the vocal range of Julie Andrew’s who was first cast in the part.