#is that it’s Dark Stuff that’s interrupted/punctuated by comedic moments

[obstinaterixatrix]

So last week liz took me to see a local production of heathers, which was the first time I’ve actually seen the show the whole way through, which was really interesting. The thing is, the production had a Diversity Equity and Inclusion guy listed on staff, which makes sense for a black comedy from the 80s, but ALSO there were several asian americans in the main cast and I think they must’ve been pretty strategic about casting in a pretty interesting way. heather chandler, JD, and martha were the characters in the principle cast that were played by asian americans, and it reminded me of the book ‘Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites?: The Asian Ethnic Experience Today’—if heather c was the only asian american, that’d have unfortunate implications with ideas of assimilation/privilege (sidebar, I’ve talked to friends who live/have lived on the west coast and they’ve told me ‘yeah asian americans on the west coast are SOOO DIFFERENT from asian americans in other parts of the usa’ which is pretty interesting, but I’d imagine it’s dependent on how high the asian population is in any given place—I’m not on the west coast but my high school was like 30% asam and I’m pretty sure I walk around with less baggage than asam folks who don’t have that experience) and if JD was the only asian american that’d have really unfortunate implications mirroring that whole Yellow Peril Those Barbaric Asian Men Are After Our White Women (which, with an ungenerous reading one could argue that those implications are there anyway, but I think that having heather c as asam it leaves room for that *dichotomy*—while it’s pretty common nowadays in the usa to consider asam folks as ‘honorary whites’ [when it’s convenient], having asam characters that counter that perspective [both JD and Martha] allows room for more nuance). (another sidebar, JD is a character where I feel like the narrative is less difficult to navigate if he’s played by a white actor because it becomes more delicate if he’s played by any actor of color—I think it worked for that production, and of course I’m mega biased [pan-ethnic solidarity] [lol] so this did get me way more sympathetic to JD than I no doubt would’ve been if he had been played by a white actor). and if only JD and heather c were played by asam actors—well imo that dichotomy would be enough for some nuance, but—it’s still kind of in the unfortunate implication zone with them both being primarily antagonists, and having martha played by an asam actor neutralizes some of those implications by being a purely sympathetic character. so to me it feels like it definitely works in a way that the tv show casting Really Did Not. anyway, I’m talking about all this separate from performances, but they were all really good too—heather c was doing high kicks in insane heels??? and ballet in bathroom slippers??? also my bias kicked in for her too, she did a great job playing a severe and ruthless terrible person (lol).

#talking abt musicals #there were some strange decisions #like ‘yo girl’ they had more than just the dead people singing it?? #heather mac was there??? why??? #and they also had like… the ghosts and some ensemble cast wearing 3d glasses sometimes #liz was saying it was probably to convey #that it was nondiagetic and they weren’t actually there #but I think that’s unnecessary it’s obvious that they’re not actually there singing Yo Girl #everything else that stuck out to me was more an issue with the actual show than the production #I would’ve liked if heather c was more significantly Haunting The Narrative #and I do not love ‘I love my dead gay son’ #don’t get me wrong the cast did a GREAT job #one of the dads did a death drop it was very impressive #but it’s like #ok what makes a lot of heathers work #is that it’s Dark Stuff that’s interrupted/punctuated by comedic moments #so even if it’s funny you can still be engaged emotionally #the pathos is still strong or still at the forefront #you get a break from it but you don’t forget it #when it’s comedy punctuated by dark stuff I think it’s out of wack #that makes it feel like it’s being trivialized #or like you can’t get a sense of the pathos because stop thinking about that we’re back to the jokes #the balance is off