Is Caroline or Change a Black Musical?

Hey all!
Today I'm talking about a Broadway musical called Caroline or Change. I was a bit nervous to talk about this musical, as it's very dense and complex. I want to make it clear that I'm not bashing anyone who made the musical, nor am I concerned with whether I just like the music. What I am critically asking in this video are question regarding if this musical is concerned with blackness and how does it connect its ideas. This is my opinion based on research and my own thoughts concluded from my Black musical series.
You are free to have your own opinion, but please be critical based on these questions:
What is Caroline or change? Is it a black musical? How does it portray blackness? Who Created it? Does it contain the white gaze?
These are all questions I try to break down in the video, but feel free to respectfully continue on in the comments.
Here are the sourced links below, if you'd like to continue doing your own research:
www.npr.org/tr...
jadtjournal.or...
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artsfuse.org/2...
www.nytimes.co...
www.hollywoodr...
www.nytimes.co...
en.wikipedia.o...
www.ibdb.com/b...
www.roundabout...
www.roundabout...
www.roundabout...
www.flydavisde...
en.wikipedia.o...
www.playbill.c...
en.wikipedia.o...
en.wikipedia.o... • Women in Theatre: Jean...
• Women in Theatre: Jean...
• Live with Atlantic: Co...
www.imdb.com/n...
www.masterwork...
www.playbill.c...
www.roundabout...
John Henryinism :
www.ted.com/ta...
www.usatoday.c...

[@jajoe4897]

Great insightful review! Good points all around. Never stop!

[@CarlBrain]

I saw this on Broadway in 2004 and it became one of my favorite Musicals, I saw the revival in 2021 and always was left trying to piece together Caroline's "happy ending" everyone else is setup on one but Caroline just goes back to the status quo. You have such an amazing video with so many good points! Glad I found your channel.

[@Cina-nae]

Wow, you're lucky to have seen both! Thank you so much for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed. This was a fun video to make and I still even have lingering questions on to what Caroline's ending is supposed to be and what the story is trying to say with it.

[@jajoe4897]

Jeanine won the Drama Desk Award that year

[@Cina-nae]

Ah, the awards just keep coming! Thanks for letting me know!

[@jkluvschachi]

i’ve been enjoying this series since i found it. As an artist and scholar of musical theater i find these videos thoughtful and well-researched. And, as an admirer of this musical and having toyed off and on with the idea of directing it, i had high hopes for this video. But, i’m curious if the criticism here doesn’t belie a lack of understanding of what the piece is actually doing. The red flag really comes with the comment (paraphrasing): “JFK is also mentioned, because he dies, but that’s basically just a song.” My sense is that, by juxtaposing Jewish characters and black characters specifically in relationship to the assassination of JFK and the civil rights movement, Caroline or Change establishes its central thematic ideas. Kushner is the most Brechtian of our contemporary playwrights. The politics are never incidental in his work. They are the entire point. I look forward to more of your videos in this series (which i just discovered), but i think you would understand this work better with more solid historical grounding in the time when it’s set rather than the time of its writing. The piece is less problematic, and also much deeper than it appears reading it anachronistically. 1963 was not 2020.

[@Cina-nae]

Thank you, glad you like the channel and videos! I'm going to be a bit blunt with my next paragraph but please read all the way though. I really want people to take their own "personal" surface level feelings out when it comes to Caroline or change. Whenever people dismiss valid criticism with "you just didn't understand it", it's such a frustrating take as a black reviewer. This channel is about dissecting black themes and seeing things from our/my own perspective. I understand what Kushner is doing...I really enjoy Kushner as a playwright. I just don't think this production is as poignant as most non black people think it is. There are other better shows that tackle the themes and connections of Black and Jewish people during the civil rights era. The JKF Assassination song, is beautiful and haunting but it doesn't really follow throughout the show and we don't get to see how or why this moment was difficult for black Americans at the time. It's also not really mentioned again. Historically, JKF promised hope, he was supposed to be the president that truly cared about black Americans and black Americans believed he would bring about change..until it was all shattered. Not to mention that a few years later, MLK would have the same fate. This not only angered black Americans but made them justifiably upset, tired, angry, and seeking for vengeance. It lead to a boom of creative, innovative, and dangerous movements in the 70s. That's powerful, but Kushner poses Caroline as weak, mean, the "villain", for those very same emotions. I have a problem with that, especially as a white male writer. The music in the show while beautiful, has no grounding point for its black characters beyond themes that make its characters feel less like humans and more like vague themes. I know the history. In this video I try to tackle if the themes of blackness work in this musical, not if Kushner is problematic (although he can be) and to me: a certain type of black viewer, they do not. As a cynical and often anarchist (I don't care about the typical classical theatre) black viewer and theatre go-er ,the same goes for Brecht...I know the history and I understand it, I just don't care about it. Also even though the musical takes place in 1963, it did not get written then. But you know what/who was writing poignant still relevant black plays then: Langston Hughes, Leslie Lee, Lorraine Hansberry, and even Amiri Baraka. I'd love for you to continue watching the channel as I'm excited to share these productions that often fall to the wayside but I want to make it clear that this channel may make statements that are bold and from the perspective of my experiences.

[@jajoe4897]

It only won 1 Tony for Rose

[@Cina-nae]

I think I mentioned that, sorry if I wasn't clear! I definitely get why she won!

[@jajoe4897]

“Palatable person for white people “ P. E. R. F. E. C. T. I. O. N!

[@Heothbremel]

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