Soprano Angel Blue says she won’t be performing at an opera in Italy this month because she wore blackface in different productions on the same stage this summer.
The American singer posted on her angeljoyblue Instagram page that she will be leaving “La Traviata” at the Arena in Verona this month, as the theater recently staged another opera by Giuseppe Verdi, “Aida”, which featured black-haired angels.
He criticized the use of “archaic” theatrical practices as “offensive, demeaning and blatantly racist”.
However, Angel Blue was still listed on Saturday on the Arena website as Violetta in “La Traviata” on July 22 and 30.
The theater said it hoped Blue, who is black, would accept an invitation to meet with arena officials for a “dialogue” on the matter. Arena said in a statement on Friday that he had “no reason or intent to offend or offend anyone’s sensibilities.”
For decades, US civil rights organizations have publicly condemned blackface, in which white artists blacken their faces, as a way to dehumanize black people by introducing and reinforcing racial stereotypes.
This summer the stadium hosted performances by Aida, based on the 2002 opera classic by Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019.
“Dear friends, family and opera lovers,” began the soprano’s Instagram post. “I have come to the sad conclusion that I will not be singing La Traviata this summer at the Arena di Verona as planned.”
Referring to Arena’s decision to wear blackface makeup on Aida, the singer wrote: “Let me be clear: the use of blackface in any circumstance, artistic or otherwise, is a deeply misguided practice based on archaic theatrical traditions that have no space. in modern society. It’s offensive, demeaning and downright racist”.
He wrote that he could not “in good conscience associate himself with an institution that perpetuates this practice”.
A theater statement read: “Angel Blue deliberately pretended to sing in the arena”, although the “feature” of the 2002 production of Zephyr was “well known”.
However, the theater expressed hope that its protest would eventually improve cross-cultural understanding and also educate the Italian public.
“All countries have different roots and their cultural and social structures have developed along different historical and cultural paths,” the Verona Arena Foundation said in a statement. “Common beliefs are often only achieved after years of dialogue and understanding.”
Arena’s statement emphasized dialogue, “to understand each other’s points of view, to consciously make artistic compromises.”
“Contrast, judgment, labelling, the lack of dialogue only feed the culture of contrasts, which we completely reject,” reads the statement, which calls for cooperation to “avoid division”.
This isn’t the first time the soprano’s use of black makeup for an Aida production in Verona has sparked protests. In 2019, opera singer Tamara Wilson, who is white, protested for having sung the title character of an Ethiopian woman in an opera at the Arena.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
