Okay so... Motormouth Maybelle is played by a Brazilian woman, and everyone else seems to be full Japanese or at least full east asian. :/ Sigh. I guess I don't know what I should have expected. So like... in this version, is seaweed just... not black? Across the videos I've seen of Japanese productions of Hairspray, the only character who is always POC is Maybelle. So like... is she the only POC in this version of the show? Cause I also noticed "Run and Tell That" was omitted. which... is for the best probably. There's no point in a not-black actor singing that song. Which also leads me to believe that Seaweed isn't black in this version of the show. This entire show is about 1960s race relations in America, framed around the lens of fat-phobia experienced by the leading white characters, so that the white audience can have a frame of reference to understand. If the racial subtext is lost, the musical has nothing left, since that's what it's built on. Which kinda just makes me think... unless the production team was truly invested in taking the time to scout and hire Japanese speaking Black actors, or mixed Black-Japanese actors, then they probably shouldn't have undertaken this musical in japan. :( sad to say.
