> Why is it okay for whites to play non-white roles, while people of
> color can
> only play people of color? I have seen too many overweight white
> women as
> Madame Butterfly, but very few black Mimis.
Actually, the opera world is getting to be quite multi-racial/cultural in the mixing of various singers with various roles, as far as I can see.
In the past, it was hampered by the fact that only Europeans and other "whities" (I've given up trying to be PC about my racial language, so what the hell) became opera singers, but today you see plenty of black Mimis, slender Asian-extraction M. Butterflys, stocky Don Giovannis, anemic Wotans -- whatever.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe. -- Attr. to Alfonso the Wise, King of Castile