Bad Show From Actors’ Equity : Union picks the wrong cause to fight, and producer cancels ‘Miss Saigon’

Actors’ Equity probably meant well in barring a foreign actor from a role on Broadway for racial reasons. It probably thought the dramatic move would help open up more roles to Asians. Instead, it now stands accused of attacking freedom of artistic expression and interpretation--and of killing a would-be Broadway show.

The union objected to English actor Jonathan Pryce re-creating his award-winning role of a Eurasian pimp in the hit play “Miss Saigon,” which has been such a success in London. Actors’ Equity said that “it cannot appear to condone the casting of a Caucasian actor in the role of a Eurasian. The casting of a Caucasian actor made up to appear Asian is an affront to the Asian community.”

That may be, but the protest was more of an affront to the show’s producer, who retaliated by canceling the musical, scheduled to open in New York next March.

The show, about a GI who falls in love with a Vietnamese woman in 1975 Saigon, would have provided 50 acting roles, 34 for minorities.

Asian-American activists rallied against Pryce’s hiring because it seemed to them yet another example of the entertainment industry’s long tradition of using Caucasians for Asian and other ethnic roles.

It meant another lost opportunity for an Asian, many of whom are already frustrated at the limited number of roles open to them and the consistent stereotyping of Asians by the entertainment industry. But if they hoped to provide more opportunities, they now have fewer. The issue is real, but Pryce is the wrong target of a misconceived protest.

The ban also runs contrary to the Actors’ Equity policy of non-traditional casting, which has allowed actors to cross racial and ethnic lines. Robert Guillaume, who is black, plays the lead in the Los Angeles production of “The Phantom of the Opera.”

The reasoning behind Pryce’s ban would prevent Asian actors and other minorities from being able to play roles that were not specific to their race. That makes no sense, either.