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"  No one blinks anymore at a multiethnic Oklahoma! or a black Hamlet with a white mother and an Asian Ophelia. But recently &amp;quot;color-blind&amp;quot; casting has evolved even further, encompassing a deliberate and full racial switcheroo. There was nothing blind about the 2008 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Anika Noni Rose or, last season, The Trip to Bountiful with Cicely Tyson; in both, all the leading characters, written as white, were now black. Such swaps can seem surprising at first but often bring out new qualities in long-familiar works. There aren&amp;#039;t many works as long-familiar as Shakespeare&amp;#039;s Romeo and Juliet, which has had 35 Broadway productions since 1754 and begins performances again this month. In a version that adds a new shade to the color-blind rainbow, director David Leveaux has cast a black Juliet (luminous two-time Tony nominee Condola Rashad) and a white Romeo (Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom) and has further extended the idea throughout the ensemble. In his version, the &amp;quot;two households, both alike in dignity&amp;quot;\u2014as the play&amp;#039;s first line puts it\u2014are separated not only by their unexplained &amp;quot;ancient grudge&amp;quot; but also by race. The Capulets are black; the Montagues are white. As West Side Story, based on R&amp;amp;amp;J, proves, the play can sustain, and perhaps benefit from, a racial reading. For one thing, ethnic prejudice neatly demystifies the grudge. But Leveaux disowns that motive for his casting: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m not about to turn a contemporary version of Shakespeare into a sociological or political point,&amp;quot; he has said. Rather, he maintains that he merely followed what &amp;quot;real life&amp;quot; required once he chose his stars. Why real life should kick in only below the level of the title characters is an open question\u2014after all, both families were written to be Italian. What Leveaux seems to be trying to avoid is the accusation of vapid trendiness; color-blind casting, however defined, has come so far from its controversial origins that it sometimes seems like a marketing ploy. Still, I doubt that a director of Leveaux&amp;#039;s cleverness will fail to take delicious advantage of the chance to tweak the play&amp;#039;s famous light-and-dark imagery to newfound effect. (Romeo, of Juliet: &amp;quot;It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night / Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope&amp;#039;s ear&amp;quot;; Juliet, of Romeo: &amp;quot;For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night / Whiter than new snow on a raven&amp;#039;s back.&amp;quot;) Indeed, what may prove most contemporary about this color-blind interpretation is just how color aware it is. Click here to see a how the greatest love story of all time has been depicted from cinema to pop music. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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