Trying to care
Hey Streeter, go write your own play.
So at death the copyright assertion should bow to sjw revisionism?
Edward Albee’s estate is fighting against “cultural appropriation”. ;-)
Isn’t “Porgy and Bess” restricted to Black Singers Only, at the insistence of George Gershwin himself?
Just askin’.
The trigger impulse for many is to assume the refusal as to do with racism. It doesn’t necessarily have to be that reason.
The estate may be protecting the author’s vision of what story was being told.
A similar issue is going on in England theater right now.
Some want a popular black actor Idris Elba to become the next 007 after Daniel Craig finally leaves. For years, Craig has given interviews saying that he ‘hates doing’ the role and wants each movie to be his last, then a few months later, we all find out he has signed on to make yet another 007 film.
As stated, Idris Elba is very popular, Steven Spielberg also wants to see him in that role, but Idris is not of the appearance the original author wrote about in his descriptions; a Scotsman as known in those days.
The estate has a right, even an obligation to guard that brand image.
Here's a first-world problem.
At some point in the future, depending on how long the future is, Albee’s plays will enter the public domain. Whether at that time anyone will care to fiddle with them, the way people fiddle with Shakespeare and Ibsen (or with operas by Pergolesi and Mozart), is an up-in-the-air question.
Perhaps the black actor playing Nick could go in whiteface. And dye his hair blonde.
Otherwise - it’s a failure.
White people aren’t allowed to sell burritos, so fair is fair.
I’m looking forward to the day when Martin Luther King, Jr. is portrayed by a white man.
In the case of Albee's play, changing the culture changes everything.
It's no longer the same play.
Change it from a college to a company, change the country, change the planet...
It is no longer the same play.
This pussified world that is upon us will not last long.
There are no safe spaces...there is no safety.
The joy of life itself is knowing that it can be snuffed out in an instant.
When life is safe, it has no value.
The joy of life is its inherent danger.
That is why men climb mountains, run marathons, join the Army, Marines, Navy SEALs.
The joy of life is there in a hospital room of a critical patient...fighting for his or her life.
Safe spaces beware...life is coming for you.
Boo!