Actors’ Equity to Reconsider ‘Saigon’ Role : Stage: The next vote could easily overturn the union’s decision barring Jonathan Pryce from playing a Eurasian.

Actors’ Equity will reconsider its decision to bar British star Jonathan Pryce from appearing in “Miss Saigon” on Broadway.

The union’s council will revive its debate Thursday, in a meeting occurring simultaneously in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and possibly other cities, linked by telephone.

The initial decision--made in a similar meeting Tuesday in response to Asian-American protests that a white actor should not play the Eurasian role--prompted “Saigon” producer Cameron Mackintosh to cancel plans to open the musical in New York in March.

But the council vote was close--reportedly 23-19, out of 44 council members who attended the meeting. The decision set off a storm of criticism that Equity was violating artistic freedom and its own policy encouraging nontraditional casting. With 79 council members eligible to vote, the next meeting could easily reverse the decision.

The meeting was called as a result of a petition submitted by dissenting Equity members. Under Equity rules, a special council meeting must be scheduled if 100 Equity members request it. Late Wednesday, a petition with 147 signatures was submitted, and the number of signatories has more than doubled since then, said an Equity spokesman.

If the union reverses its decision, “I would be happy to discuss the situation with anybody,” Mackintosh told the New York Times. However, refunds of advance ticket purchases will continue, said Fred Nathan, a spokesman for the producer. He added that it was too early to tabulate the number of refund requests after Wednesday’s cancellation.

Meanwhile, “Cabaret” star Joel Grey reported that he had turned down an offer from Mackintosh to replace Pryce in the London production starting next month. He said the offer was made before the controversy over Pryce erupted, when it was believed that Pryce would take time off from the role before opening in New York.

Asked if the offer might have encompassed future appearances in the show in the United States, Grey said that “it was all very ephemeral--but that’s the way it usually works.”

“They talked to Grey about going on as a replacement for Pryce when (Pryce) was having throat problems earlier this year,” responded Nathan. “They also talked openly about the future in America, and Joel said that if Jonathan doesn’t come to America, he would be interested in opening in New York.”

During that period, two understudies temporarily filled in for Pryce, said Nathan. One of them, Junix Inocian, is Filipino; the other, Nick Holder, is Caucasian. According to Nathan, Pryce’s throat problems cleared up before it was necessary to hire a star as a permanent replacement.

Grey said he was unaware of being offered the role during the period of which Nathan spoke. But he said Mackintosh personally asked him to replace Pryce in London in the fall.

Grey turned down “Miss Saigon” because of conflicts with a movie role and a desire to pursue more television roles in Los Angeles, not because he would have qualms about playing a Eurasian character, he said.

Though he is of Russian-Jewish descent, Grey played a 75-year-old Korean martial-arts master in the movie “Reno Williams” despite criticism similar to that generated by the Pryce casting. “I understood their question of whether it would be respectful and truthful,” he said. “That was my job. The producers had looked all over for an Asian actor and didn’t get what they wanted. (His casting) gave the move a fantasy quality that a more literal actor would not have. When you cast cross-racially, another dimension is added.”

Grey observed that the “Miss Saigon” character is billed as Eurasian, “so an Asian would be as incorrect” as a white actor. “A Eurasian and an Asian are really different.

“I’m enormously sympathetic to talented people who have few roles to choose from,” he said. “It’s poignant--in order to make revolution, people take too broad a stroke.”

But producers and directors “need to have the freedom of their own artistic taste,” he said, adding that he would consider appearing in “Miss Saigon” in the future. “It’s a terrific role.”