After all these years? I hope that means that Asians are in a better place here and won't have to move to Italy.
I've tried listening to a recording to better
understand the controversy leading to the changes in a local production.
I see that the NY production was cancelled because of
complaints of racism:
I suppose this chopsticks-in-your-hair-and-you're-Japanese
stereotype is more heavy-handed than, say, Huckleberry Finn, which gets
discussed in terms of its use of the N word and other racist things of that
era. (I think Mark Twain is actually commenting on racism when he has
Aunt Sally ask whether anyone was hurt, and "Tom" says no, just a
couple of niggers were killed, causing Aunt Sally to express relief that nobody
was hurt. I hope he wasn't trying for cheap laughs or to actually appeal
to racists.) The debate comes up as to whether the N word
should be taken out or left and annotated in the book and by the teacher
assigning the book to the class or whether it should not be assigned at all.
I'm not sure just how the Lamplighters could "annotate"
it and still use it as it's written, but it's ironic that when Asians seem to
be so successful and admired (with Japan now the third strongest economy in the
world), this comes to the front. I guess the Japanese just didn't
have the clout to protest when people were, say, dragging them off to
internment camps. When you're losing all your belongings and being put
behind barbed wire, you may not feel free to say, "By the way, I don't
like the stereotypes of us in The Mikado."
I wrote to Jeri Gertz, the little girl I babysat from the
time of her birth in 1955 to 1963, when her family moved to Boston, because
she's now very active in theater productions in Hawaii. I remembered that
she had been in a production of the Mikado several years ago. She told me
she played Pitti-Sing, one of the three little maids, about 20 years ago.
The other two maids were Japanese, as was Pooh-Bah. Their
executioner was black.
When Jeri directed Sound of Music, her head Nazi was
Japanese....! She says they have a large Asian population there and
always cross ethnic types in casting. (Jeri is Jewish.)
(She's now directing the annual fall musical for the
Palace theater on The Big Island, where they're doing 9 to 5. Last night was the
first night of auditions!)
As we know from Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical hit Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson, and
Aaron Burr were black, and Alexander Hamilton was Hispanic. But that
musical is designed to fight racism.
How is The Mikado racist? What does it mean that producers are paying attention now?
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