Actors in an amateur production of Show Boat will not be treading the boards after the musical was caught up in a race row and cancelled
Posted on 10/23/2007 5:29:14 PM PDT by Stoat
An amateur dramatics group has abandoned plans to stage the musical Show Boat with blacked-up actors after a public outcry.
Organisers had claimed that heavily made-up white actors would have to be used for the production set in America's Deep South because there were no ethnic minority players in the area.
Scroll down for more...
Actors in an amateur production of Show Boat will not be treading the boards after the musical was caught up in a race row and cancelled
But after criticism that its stance was dehumanising and offensive, Grange and District Amateur Operatic Society has cancelled rehearsals and replaced the show.
Instead of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's controversial 1927 musical - with songs featuring the word n****r - it will now produce Waltzes From Vienna, a stage version of Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 film.
The society had promised to show sensitivity in the frank treatment of race issues in Show Boat and said it would use less offensive phrases such as 'coloured folk'.
But despite the town council in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, approving the use of the local theatre, opponents still called for the production to be scrapped. The Methodist church where rehearsals were to be held also came under fire.
Last night Nash Thakker, a 41-year-old regeneration manager in the nearby town of Millom, said: "I'm glad it's gone. The play itself was derogatory to black people and has no place in modern society.
"As a black person I would have found the show offensive."
The society has refused to comment on its change of heart. But at the height of the controversy the show's director Christine Bell said she would stick to her guns.
"It's ridiculous," she said. "We're a small town, there aren't any black actors here."
She claimed the blacking-up plan had the backing of the National Operatic and Dramatic Association.
Mrs Bell also told a local newspaper: "I am not a racist. It's difficult to put on any show these days without offending people."
At the national census in 2001 the population of the South Lakeland area, which includes Grangeover-Sands, was 99.2 per cent white, compared to an average across England of less than 91 per cent.
In 1999, Studley Operatic Society in Warwickshire was banned from performing Show Boat with an all-white cast after the local council ruled that blacking-up was offensive.
Jerome Kern ....
What is he? Chopped liver? He was Jewish too
Guy's a Moslem ~ the Jewish angle is paramount in his statement.
The verse to 'Old Man River', in the version I heard went:
'Darkies all work on the Mississippi,
Darkies all work while the white folks play'
I suspect it originally used the 'n' word, but the only way you would here it would be if you had access to the original cast recording from the original production. I'd love to hear it with Robeson and the great Helen Morgan (singing 'Bill')
'The section that Warfield omitted begins:
N-gg-rs all work on de Mississippi,
N-gg-rs all work while de white folks play...
In the 1936 film, the word "n-gg-rs" was changed to "darkies". Ever since the 1946 revival, the term has been changed to "colored folks", although there have been revivals that change the line to 'Here we all work on de Mississippi.'
Good thing Laurence Olivier isn't around doing 'Othello' any more, I guess.
The folks I’ve talked with prefer “colored person”.
Wasn’t Paul Robeson a singer? Wasn’t he accused of being a communist?
I liked the 1929 version of the film starring Joseph Schildkraut.
see that coming! We... 
are so confused!
Paul Robeson, an all-American football player from Rutgers University, began a career as an actor and popular singer in the 1920’s, which lasted into the 1950’s. He was especially known for his deep baritone voice.
During the 1930’s, Robeson became active in left-wing causes, became an outspoken, hard-core Stalinist, and wound up as the Stalin Peace Prize laureate for 1953.
My record collection includes a recording from 1928 of him singing “Old Man River,” backed by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra, as well as two Soviet patriotic songs from the 1940’s, “Shiroka Strana, Moya Rodnaya” (Vast Nation, My Homeland) and Ot Kraya i do Kraya” (From Border to Border), each sung in Russian and English.
Ja, ja... especially with all that martial music. :-)
Say, that reminds me... one of the funniest stage productions I've ever seen was The Sound of Music performed as a comedy. Imagine the "gazebo dance" with Liesl played by the oldest women in the cast, and Rolfe by a young skinny black guy (who also appeared later as the goatherd).
And they say Germans are humorless. Why, I didn't even reach for my Luger once.
Millom is in one of the least-known corners of England, the coastal strip which fringes the Lake District to the West and South. The area had a thriving economy based on coal and iron until the latter half of the 20th century, but has been severely depressed since the collapse of those industries, its dereliction the more striking because if its close proximity to some of Europe’s most beautiful countryside. Recently there has been some success in the economic regeneration of the area, with a lot of EU regional development money pouring in. Doubtless this gentleman is involved with one of these schemes, which from my own experience are often stifled by bureaucracy but sometimes produce startling impressive results. The local community website, www.millom.org.uk , tells a generally positive story. From my own experience I can also say that this is one of the parts of England where you are least likely to see a face other than white, so it’s not surprising that people hereabouts are a little, shall we say, confused about these matters.
I’m always learning something here on FR. Thank you.
I had no idea that Robeson was a big time football player - and a popular singer.
He must have done well - at least for a while - because he had a big estate outside of Hartford, CT at one time. Later he was boycotted because of his connections with communism.
That's interesting and good to know, thank you.
That's very interesting, thank you very much for your thoughtful and informative post. It appears to be a lovely area from the photos at the page that you kindly provided the address to,...a place I certainly would enjoy visiting one day
I can only recall two other recent news stories that I've posted pertaining to the Lake District, and oddly enough one of them has to do with race issues as well.
Lakeland walkers 'wrong colour'(British Park to axe program because it attracts white people)
Great Britain Top Lakeland restaurant serves up Peking duck-style squirrel pancakes
this is one of the parts of England where you are least likely to see a face other than white, so it’s not surprising that people hereabouts are a little, shall we say, confused about these matters.
And in such areas it's also commonplace to hear particularly strident voices when issues of race do pop up. To say that Show Boat "has no place in modern society" is a bit much.
A fine point, and one almost universally overlooked by the race-baiters who would eviscerate our history (both cultural and political) to suit their own prejudices.
DEE-da-da dee da-da dee-dee-DEEE-dee,
DEE-da-da dee da-da dee-dee-DEEEEE ...
Despite this sign that the evening might not be the frothy mindless musical romp they were expecting, the opening-night theatergoers did not walk out in protest. They left quietly (Jerome Kern hadn't written any exit music, and he and Hammerstein agreed that there would be no curtain calls), and then woke up to reviews confirming the arrival of a most palpable hit. It's a critical axiom now that American musical theater can be divided into two eras: pre-Show Boat and post-Show Boat.
The Thought and Speech Police continue to make strides...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.