{"id":78701,"date":"2021-11-08T00:16:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T08:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=78701"},"modified":"2021-11-08T00:16:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T08:16:47","slug":"curious-casting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2021\/11\/08\/curious-casting\/","title":{"rendered":"Curious Casting"},"content":{"rendered":"

People keep asking Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber <\/strong>how he feels about casting trans actors.  Here\u2019s his latest response: \u201cI\u2019ve got nothing against a trans performer.  The question is are they the best person for the role?  You always want to cast the best person possible for the role.  It really doesn\u2019t matter what they are or what color they are.  It really doesn\u2019t matter.  That\u2019s always been my mantra.\u201d  When specifically asked if he would cast a trans woman as Christine in Phantom of the Opera<\/em><\/strong>, he said, \u201cYes.  If she could sing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s more to being in a musical than just singing.  You\u2019ve also got to be able to act the part.  I thought about that when I read plans for a film version of Wicked<\/em><\/strong>.  Cynthia Erivo <\/strong>is an inspired choice as Elphaba.  Not only is she a dynamic singer, she\u2019s also an Oscar<\/em>-nominated actress (not to mention a Tony<\/em>– and Emmy<\/em>-winning one).  Then there\u2019s Ariana Grande <\/strong>as Galinda.  She certainly can sing, but I reserve judgement on her acting ability.<\/p>\n

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This is another blow to poor Lea Michele<\/strong>.  In addition to having the Broadway <\/em>revival of Funny Girl<\/em><\/strong> snatched away from her\u2026twice, she\u2019s also voiced her desire to play Elphaba in the Wicked<\/em><\/strong> film.  At least she\u2019ll get to revisit one of her early successes.  The original cast of Spring Awakening<\/em><\/strong> is reuniting for a one-night-only benefit for the Actors Fund<\/em>.  Lea will join Jonathan Groff <\/strong>and John Gallagher Jr<\/strong>. on November 15th<\/sup> at the Imperial Theatre <\/em>on Broadway<\/em>.  So, mark it on your calendars \u2013 for one night only in 2021, Lea Michele has something to do.<\/p>\n

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I always love seeing what different actors will do with the play Who\u2019s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?<\/em><\/strong>.  I still mourn the Broadway <\/em>production with Laurie Metcalf<\/strong>, Rupert Everett<\/strong>, and Russell Tovey <\/strong>which closed after nine previews due to Covid.  So I was intrigued when I heard of a revival coming to the Geffen Playhouse <\/em>in Los Angeles.  Then I read that Zachary Quinto <\/strong>and Calista Flockhart <\/strong>were cast.  Hmmm \u2013 kinda old to play Nick and Honey, but maybe opposite the right George and Martha.  Strike that \u2013 Zach and Cali ARE George and Martha.  The production opens on April 19th<\/sup>.  I dunno\u2026<\/p>\n

Far more palpable is news that Quinto has been cast opposite Lukas Gage <\/strong>in the rom-com, Down Low<\/em><\/strong>.  The flick will also star Audra McDonald<\/strong>, Judith Light <\/strong>and Simon Rex<\/strong>, who is currently enjoying a bit of a renaissance.  Fun fact \u2013 Lukas also co-wrote the script and personally asked for Quinto to be cast.  Someone\u2019s got daddy issues.<\/p>\n

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People keep asking Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber how he feels about casting trans actors.  Here\u2019s his latest response: \u201cI\u2019ve got nothing against a trans performer.  The question is are they the best person for the role?  You always want to cast the best person possible for the role.  It really doesn\u2019t matter what they are<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78702,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78701\/revisions\/78702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}