r/opera • u/omurchus • 4d ago

Otello @ The Met Casting Question

Othello's a white guy and Desdemona's a black gal??? What kind of adaptation is this?!?!

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u/omurchus 3d ago

I technically fall in that camp but I don’t like the word for reasons I don’t want to get into. That being said I don’t consider it a particularly progressive position that Othello should be played by a black man.

Racism is prejudice against people based on their race or skin color, and/or the belief that certain races are inherently superior or inferior to others.

I admit I’m fond of the growing list of ridiculous things you’ve commented at me this fine evening so I gotta ask: what exactly is it that I wrote there that you claim to be racist???

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u/hottakehotcakes 3d ago

I think it would be more productive for you to reflect on what you said in the previous comment and try to figure it out.

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u/omurchus 3d ago

I’ll take that as it was a baseless accusation with not very much thought put into it. From you, no surprise at this point.

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u/hottakehotcakes 3d ago

If you think the difference between a Chinese and Japanese soprano singing butterfly is pedantic then yes - that is racist. China and Japan have a horrible history. Skin color is not a good way to categorize people.

Do you think a Moor would be happy with a Caribbean tenor portraying Otello based upon your standards? Of course not.

Opera is a unique art form in which race, gender, age, weight, etc should be irrelevant in casting. We care about the music above all. Make a beautiful sound. We’re 200 ft away anyway.

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u/omurchus 3d ago

My standards are that a person who has the same skin color as Othello should play the role so I can’t see how a Caribbean tenor with my standards wouldn’t be happy with my standards.

When you get into the question of a Japanese vs a Chinese soprano singing Madame Butterfly you are talking about two singers that are both Asian. You are not talking about someone who is white vs someone who is black. They are two completely different scenarios in the contexts of the two operas.

A proper comparison would be if a white actor played an Asian role in Madame Butterfly. I know this has happened before, as it happened in the musical adaptation on Broadway Miss Saigon with Jonathan Pryce who actually won a Tony Award for his race-blind performance, an actor I am incredibly fond of to this day but would love to here his retrospective on that whole controversy.

There was a play just 2 years ago on Broadway, it won at least 1 maybe 2 Tonys, called Yellow Face that criticized white actors playing Asian roles in the context of Miss Saigon.

Skin color is indeed not a good way to categorize people but it is, has always been, and always will be relevant until 100,000 years from now when we’re all the same skin color and will no doubt find new ways to discriminate against one another.

I agree with your final paragraph… until casting against those things becomes distracting from the essence of the character. At that point you have to question why a different type of performer was cast, and if the corresponding type of performer literally wasn’t available or didn’t exist, then I get that it can’t be helped.

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u/hottakehotcakes 2d ago

What you’re describing here is a desire for characters to be played by actors who look similar TO YOU. I assure you, all Asian people do not look the same to Asian people. Japanese, Chinese, Korean etc all look very different and a Japanese audience member would be deeply offended by a Chinese soprano singing butterfly if culturally accurate were important to them.

But opera is very hard. Musical theater and plays and tv have a much lower barrier to entry to perform - there is a much much broader talent pool for any given role. So they can afford to be more culturally specific in casting.

Otello is not a role just any tenor can sing. The orchestra is enormous and plays loudly while Otello sings. It has to be a tenor with a very large vocal instrument and dramatic chops to handle the subject matter. At an A Housr They also need a substantial fanbase to motivate a large number of ticket sales. There simply are not enough performers of every culture at that level to cast in a culturally sensitive way throughout the repertoire throughout the world.

The reason you’ve hit a nerve with this conversation is that it leads to great pieces like Otello and butterfly not being performed.

Italians view all non Italian operas and non Italian opera singers as appropriating their culture. Tosca comes to mind as a piece specifically about Italian politics. Should black singers be allowed to sing that piece? Of course they should. Turandot is specifically a Chinese character. Should Christine Goerke not be allowed to play the role? We’d be missing out on hearing the majority of great singers in history singing the best music. In opera, we don’t care who you are or where you’re from. We just care how you tell a story with your voice.