A White Porgy & Bess?

I recently posted about the issues of race appropriate casting. Well today’s New York Times carries an article about a problem with the Hungarian State Opera production of Porgy & Bess. Did you know that Gershwin’s estate states the opera must be performed by blacks? It is part of the licensing agreement.

Will it seems the Hungarian State Opera had a cast of white people and required them to sign a letter stating they had some African American background. Only half signed the letter. so now they are in trouble with the estate.

So this case is a bit different in that the licensing agreement stipulates the casting requirement. Gershwin was horrified at the ideas of actors performing in blackface. So how is this best approached.

Let’s stick to opera. We know the casts of Turandot or Madame Butterfly aren’t ethnically Japanese of Chinese. Does it make a difference? But a first time viewer might miss a crucial point of Porgy & Bess were they to see an all white cast. Can we get Egyptian singers for Aida?  How will Copeland’s opera This Tender Land play with a Japanese or black lead? What about the Moor of Venice – Othello? Is it as easy as determining if a role is race specific? But Shakespeare didn’t use black actors, probably opting for charcoal face. Different times. He also used men for female roles.

And are people right in getting in an uproar for unequal casting? Or gender, sexual identity, or race not used as a casting criteria?

I’ve watched a lot of Swedish crime dramas on streaming services like MhZ. I do enjoy the cast diversity which I assume to be representative of Swedish society. Females in leadership roles, a staff of varied racial characters, lots of evil Russians. It is not distracting, but I note that I don’t see this to such an extent in American shows.

Where does one draw the line? Maybe if we had a better understanding of history and the actual roles various groups played in it. Out history is written by white males about white male accomplishments. True that women and other races were very limited in education and opportunities but they were more significant than our history books documented.