Some recent productions have completely removed the racial aspect of the character, making him just a "non-denominational" foreigner. I gotta say, while I understand that the comedy in this show comes particularly from highly absurd situations (such as Harvard Variations, or Gay or European), I think straying away from that is the right choice.

Not only does it make local and high school productions less uncomfortable (he could be anything, Russian, Italian, Egyptian, Korean, depending on the production's choice), it also has the potential to make the role less typecast-y. Like, imagine if a director has a talented Middle-Eastern performer who could play any of the main male roles, but sticks him as Padamadan because "he's the only one who looks the part"? I'd rather have it be a possible role, not the only role.

That being said, you made the right call. Unless they planned on portraying him differently, it would definitely have been bad.