Letters to the Editor
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An Ancient Theatrical Tradition . . .
Is it sexist? Racist? Sure. But the minstrel tradition long predates Shakespeare (whose female roles, remember, were all played by beloved male actors, since women weren't allowed onstage). The minstrel is originally a medieval term for an entertainer.
The minstrel tradition is everything Hannaham depicts. So is he correct about the evolution of minstrel shows into characters like Amos 'n' Andy, Geraldine and Madea: correct about the underlying racism, sexism and homophobia.
Hannaham neglects one thing: these traditions are also HUGELY entertaining. There's a reason black and white audiences have (and will) flock to them.
The touring circuit of black theatrical shows ("Mama, I Want to Sing!" "Be Careful What You Pray For!", et al.) are direct descendants of this tradition. They generally feature the same themes and characters: a gospel singer raised in the church who wants to sing "secular" (The Devil's) music (so all these shows feature lots of both kinds of music within the dramatic arc); a powerful matriarch; The Fool (usually, but not always, an effeminate gay man who dresses in drag and is played for laughs). And so on.
What Hannaham misses is that ALL these theatrical traditions are attempts at the level of pop entertainment to deal with profoundly harrowing and uncomfortable subtexts: the rise from slavery, racism, exploitation by whites, secular versus religious, homosexuality, sexism and the exploitation of women, etc.
Even Sophie Tucker started out at a 'coon singer in blackface because she was told she was an unattractive fat Jew who'd never make it otherwise. Until her makeup went missing one night and she had to go on as herself. Both Tucker and Mae West befriended, hired and studied with black artists all their lives and incorporated what they learned into their acts.
I'm often the only white in audiences of 3,500 at these black touring road shows. Why? Because black friends 30 years ago introduced me to them and black friends today still invite me to join them. I love them (both my black friends and these shows). Am I uncomfortable? Never. Why would I be?
If the themes underlying such entertainments make one uncomfortable, maybe one needs to reexamine ongoing issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, religionism, etc., in one's own life.
THAT'S what these pop entertainments address and expose and attempt to defuse with their melange of rapid-fire drama, comedy and music.
Perhaps even more successfully than "serious" works like "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" or "A Raisin in the Sun" or "Fences."
I'll take "Be Careful What You Pray For" over "Angels in America" any day, for sheer entertainment value.