[Mb-hair] !!!!!!!ARGH

[richard haase]

you have to get real black folks now
tans?
youll get her in trouble
this is not 1972
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Arian" <michaeldavidarian at yahoo.com>
To: <mb-hair at islandlists.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 4:27 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] !!!!!!!ARGH


>    Just some info on "race"in Hair.German productions kept most of the
lyrics intact
> except for the fact that there was no such racial name-calling in Germany
at that
> time[early 70's].So the elevator operator-tap dancer-president of Harlem
meant very
> little to whoever even caught the words.The dialogue was changed to
reference American
> Indians and Patrice Lamumba and there was a famous cartoon Indian Chief
character in
> Germany at the time named Winnietoo,so many of the Little Beaver jokes
were done in his
> name.This worked best in the war/strobe sequence.They imported black
actors from England
> and the US.
>    The Italian show had the same problem about getting blacks in their
show.They mostly
> used very tanned white folks.I was asked to join the show as a black
actor.Good that I
> didn't as they closed after the opening night.
>    Yugoslavia had only the whitest of people and I think no racial
references at all.They
> mostly did the political parts of the show and very little singing.
>    The Dutch show had no problem as they had the Surinam people to kick
around.
>    England was the funniest as their black actors-when I saw it-were the
lightest color
> you ever saw and had the fakiest accents.XOXOX Michael
>
> Michael David Arian
> michaeldavidarian at yahoo.com
> "If you can't say something nice about someone, sit by me."
>
>
>
>
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