(no subject)

[aleatorius]

He changed the spelling of his last name from Price to Pryce in order to join Equity, the English actors' trade union, because Equity can only have one actor with any particular name on its books.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pryce

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[aleatorius.livejournal.com]

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/10/theater/jonathan-pryce-miss-saigon-and-equity-s-decision.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

The barring of Mr. Pryce is insupportable on every level. By refusing to permit a white actor to play a Eurasian role, Equity makes a mockery of the hard-won principles of non-traditional casting and practices a hypocritical reverse racism. This is a policy that if applied with an even hand would bar Laurence Olivier's Othello, Pearl Bailey's Dolly Levi, and the appearances of Morgan Freeman in ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and Denzel Washington in ''Richard III'' in Central Park this summer. Right now in London, to take only one of hundreds of examples that could be cited to puncture Equity's position, a black English actress, Josette Simon, is playing the character modeled on Marilyn Monroe in a National Theater production of Arthur Miller's ''After the Fall.''

Even if there were some credible intellectual rationale (and formula) for an Equity policy calling for single-race exclusivity in the casting of some roles and complete racial freedom in the casting of others, Equity could hardly have picked a worse example to argue the case than the Engineer in ''Miss Saigon.''

The Engineer is Eurasian in the first place (half French, half Vietnamese, according to a song lyric) only because of a plot twist that requires the character to have Vietnamese citizenship papers.

[aleatorius.livejournal.com]

Actors' Equity on Thursday reversed its controversial decision to bar British actor Jonathan Pryce from playing a Eurasian on Broadway in the hit London musical "Miss Saigon."

The move leaves the door open for producer Cameron Mackintosh to bring the $10-million musical to New York. Last week, he canceled the show rather than let Equity dictate his choice of star.
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-08-17/news/mn-747_1_miss-saigon