SHORT TAKES : Equity Wants Brit to ‘Play God’

LONDON — God ought to be a black Briton, according to the actors’ union Equity.

A spokeswoman said Equity had asked the producers of “The Children of Eden” -- a new musical based on Old Testament stories--to prove they had tried to find a British actor before approving their choice of American actor Ken Page. “They say they can’t find a black actor in this country good enough to play God but we find that hard to believe,” she said.

She stressed that the union had not rejected the application but was following procedures laid down to protect British acting jobs. “This has got nothing to do with ‘Miss Saigon’,” she said. British Equity was highly critical of the American actors’ union during a row over “Miss Saigon” that has jeopardized the planned Broadway opening of the British hit musical next year.

American Equity banned a Briton from playing the male lead, a Eurasian pimp, saying it should go to an Asian. It changed its mind after British producer Cameron Mackintosh canceled the run and it is not known if the show, which notched up $25 million in advance ticket sales, will go ahead in New York.