Why Is the Edward Albee Estate Afraid of a Black Virginia Woolf?

Vulture ^ | 5/30/2017 | Mark Harris

[a fool in paradise]

The mixed race couple for a 1962 period drama is an attempt to reboot or re-cast the dynamics at work.

Same as if they suddendly were a same sex couple.

[a fool in paradise]

I stopped watching tv 9 years ago as they pretended i no longer exist.

[MeganC]

I’m looking forward to the day when Martin Luther King, Jr. is portrayed by a white man.

[elcid1970]

Yes...just imagine Meryl Streep belting out with the liberated chorus,

“Marching onward, marching onward, marching to that lovely tune; Marching onward, marching onward, happy as a bird in June...”

(She’d answer her critics that she self-identified as black while singing.)

;^)

[RoosterRedux]

Cultures have meaning and definition.

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!

[x]

Ira Gershwin, George's brother and heir (who also co-wrote the libretto), barred all-white productions in apartheid South Africa, but the opera was performed by white casts in blackface in Europe in the Forties. White singers, most notably Mel Torme, have also recorded songs from the opera.

Eventually, they'll get around to using "non-traditional" casting in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." It does require a little rewriting and it will be a while before the estate will allow that.