A Diddy in the Sun

When it was announced months ago that Sean “Puffy-Puff Daddy-P Diddy” Combs was cast in the lead role of Walter Lee Younger in the first ever Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play A Raisin in the Sun, tongues wagged all over the New York theatre community.

Reviewers and other media types raised an eyebrow. Beyond his role in the movie Monster’s Ball, for which he received polite notices, few knew he could act at all. He’s not the first rapper-turned actor, and won’t be the last, and most are hired for their name recognition moreso than their abilities. People just assumed the play’s producers were engaging in stunt casting.

Meanwhile the Black acting community was highly insulted. Roles for Black actors in stage, television and film are scarce under any conditions, but parts in straight dramatic plays on Broadway are as rare as hen’s teeth. The email traffic was ferocious, as were the comments contained in them. It’s one thing for Hollywood to hire a non-actor, but THE THEATRE! Too many people felt they had paid their dues and Puffy hadn’t and that his casting was a slap in the face.

Stage veterans were added to the cast--Audra McDonald will play Ruth, his wife and Phylicia Rashad will play Mama Lena Younger. Kenny Leon is directing, and speculation was that by bolstering the cast with experienced theatre people it might offset any deficiencies in Combs’ acting.

Now comes word certain to fuel more rumors and send fear in the hearts of the show’s producers. With the play set to begin previews at the Royale Theatre in late March, published reports say P Diddy has maintained his usual busy schedule of running his music and fashion empire and found little time to even read the script. Those same reports claim producers have taken special care in the casting of his understudy as a precaution. Producers publicly deny any cause for concern.

Just weeks ago actor Omar Epps openly criticized the show business trend of hiring celebrities instead of trained actors, and singled out this play in particular. He has been joined in that sentiment by other name Black performers like Samuel L. Jackson and Charles Dutton.

When you consider that unemployment figures for all actors in all media consistently run at about 85 percent, and that for Black actors it’s around 90-95 percent, you can understand the concern. Producers, interested only in making lots of money, will hire anybody who can get fans into the seats, whether they can act or not, while Black actors desperately fight for any opportunity to show their talents.

Theatre is not movie making and bad acting stands out glaringly. You can’t ask for retakes. If the scene calls for real emotion, you have to find it inside and bring it out, because the audience is close enough to smell a fake. And, it’s eight shows a week--Tuesday through Saturday evenings, matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. It’s a grind that even veteran film actors have a tough time handling, let alone beginners.

Only time will tell if Puff Daddy can be the Mac Daddy of the Great White Way, but if it comes to pass, it will only come after lots of rehearsal.

Posted by bernie at March 2, 2004 11:51 PM | TrackBack