In fact, stories that do not take their characters’ whiteness as a given may find fresh relevance and invite new audiences into their sphere, because for so many people of color, they don’t get to see themselves represented in the media they consume. The casting of a Black actress to play Hermione Granger in the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” provoked howls from many fans, but the character’s whiteness never had any bearing on her brilliance. 4 Critics are accusing the musical of glossing over … RELATED: Hamilton: The Hit Musical's 10 Best Songs This intentional casting helps to offset the reduced opportunities actors of color might normally face on Broadway, but that's not the only reason why it was an important step for Hamilton to take. Whereas the world of voice-acting for animation is just another dominated by white workers, casting a person of color as a typically white character is an act of subversion, a normalization of something other than the white standard. Another popular defense that pops up, most often in internet discourse, involves canon: The story, the holy text, must be preserved as written. That is no coincidence. This is not colour-blind casting… For in Miranda’s Hamilton,America is claimed not by white men, but by the people of color onstage: “I’m just like my country / I’m young, scrappy and hungry / and I’m not throwing away my shot.”. 1 The show’s unique tour de force is the use of hip-hop to convey the story, reigniting the genre and attracting a new musical theatre audience. And no amount of casting people of color … The fact that Ariel is white has nothing to do with her story about wanting to be with her love and walk on land. It’s hard not to see his point. The historical revisionism is questionable ... “Basically what the supposedly color-blind casting … It is an assault on our presence, and our difficult but honorable history in America; and it is an insult to our intelligence, our playwrights, and our many and varied contributions to the society and the world at large. Within it … The show may place diverse bodies on the stage, but productions that would subvert a narrative traditionally owned by white characters must not just tag in actors of color but reconsider the fundamental way the new casting changes the story. Daveed Diggs and the company of Hamilton Joan Marcus. For me, it was “The Wiz,” starring Diana Ross as a Black Dorothy; I loved it so much more than the original “Wizard of Oz.” And in 1997, it was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “Cinderella” film, which was completely colorblind. Hamilton … The trouble of a colorblind production might not be the casting itself, but the fact that the casting may still erase the reimagined characters’ identities. Even times when it’s employed with good intentions, colorblind casting often fails in the execution. However, the show is being criticized for language used in a recent casting notice for the upcoming tour that states the production is seeking “NON-WHITE men and women.” Attorney Randolph McLaughlin, of Newman Ferrara Law Firm, told CBS. https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/jul/01/fact-checking-hamilton-musical It’s a larger problem of the narrative of our nation, which frequently refuses people of color their own stories, reflexively opting for a white purview or offering stories written for white characters but with people of color haphazardly slotted in. Anthony Ramos, Leslie Odom, Jr., and the “Hamilton” casting directors reveal the process behind casting Black and brown faces as historic … NBC Canceling the Golden Globes Is the Right Move and Should’ve Happened Years Ago. Hamilton is being criticized for language used in a recent casting notice that states the production is seeking "NON-WHITE men and women." And though this trend so often favors white actors — if you have a few hours, or days, to kill, Google “whitewashing controversy” — it certainly isn’t limited to them. 5) The critics are racist about the audience. The Wiz was originally written as a direct response to the all-white cast of the Wizard of Oz film; in order to sincerely object to the NBC production, you’d need to be ignorant both of the history of that specific show and to the history of systemic mistreatment and exclusion of Black performers in the entertainment industry overall. ‘Hamilton,’ ‘The Simpsons’ and the Problem With Colorblind Casting, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/arts/television/hamilton-colorblind-casting.html, Most Read: The Wait for ‘A Quiet Place Part II’. A casting notice specifically seeks “non-white” performers. In the past decade alone, Natalie Portman, Emma Stone and Scarlett Johansson, among others, played characters onscreen who were of Asian descent in the source material. But I never really felt moved to see it when it premiered in 2015. Under the microscope again, Hamilton has received some criticism for its storyline. In both situations performers inhabited characters of racial backgrounds that were different from their own, often referred to as “colorblind casting.” But one provoked the usual apologies and promises to do better while the other was celebrated anew as being a bold exemplar of diversity — though it ultimately presents a set of more complex concerns. Hank Azaria, who for years voiced the Indian “Simpsons” character Apu, stepped away from the role earlier this year — last month the show announced that it will no longer use any white actors to play characters of color. One point of criticism: his relationships with other founding fathers, like George Washington — shown as his father figure in the play — who was a slave owner. The history of the practice in live-action takes is more egregious, and has been well-documented: Mickey Rooney’s notorious Asian landlord in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”; Alec Guinness’s Arab prince in “Lawrence of Arabia”; Laurence Olivier in blackface as Othello. 3) The audience is racist. September Now Belongs to BIPOC Vampires: #BIPOCvampday Is Coming! The characters’ relationship to slavery, for example, is scarcely mentioned, because it would be incongruous with the triumphant recasting of our country’s first leaders. I haven't seen it, either. Wilson called not for colorblind casting, but for institutions that invite art by and for people of color, to tell their own stories and not simply ones adapted for them. But he has to give every actor eligible for the role an opportunity to try. And Whitney Houston was a glamorous fairy godmother. But however well-intentioned, there are complications that come with works that aim to use colorblind casting to highlight people of color who wouldn’t otherwise be represented. Read full review “Hamilton” has been celebrated as a bold exemplar of diversity. 2) Because the casting is racist, it’s hard to understand the actual historical racism of the time. Rankine-Landers also criticizes the show’s depiction of Hamilton as an immigrant, when in reality, the transfer he got from one colony to another was an “effortless” process, thanks to his race, compared with the way most contemporary immigrants enter the country. I’m reminded of the people who protested the all-Black cast of NBC’s The Wiz last year. A Hamilton Skeptic on Why the Show Isn’t As Revolutionary As It Seems “It’s still white history. It was mostly a “semantic” issue, reports Michael Paulson in The New York Times . “We are very conscious of what we are doing here. 'Hamilton' Criticized for "Non-White" Casting Call. I definitely know about it through, like, cultural osmosis. Anna Paquin Calls Out Bipohbia After Ridiculous Troll Comment, BTS’ “Butter” Has Officially Made Me a Stan and There’s No Turning Back, Take a Break from Reality: 10 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Audiobooks to Listen to This May, Olivia Rodrigo’s “SOUR” Takes Me Back to Crying Over a Crush as Teenager, Florida Republican Who Claimed Socrates Would Be "Cancelled Real Quick" Today Is Getting a History Lesson on Twitter, Kevin Feige's Regret Over Casting Tilda Swinton Feels Five Years Too Late (Especially After. Personally, I hope they never do. The 40-year-old playwright and actor also affirmed the show's support for the Black Lives Matter movement. "Hamilton" was the perfect play for the Obama era because it fed into Democratic liberalism's shift away from heroes like Thomas Jefferson -- who represented a … “We never imagined casting the show in any other way – never for one second,” he said. The Broadway musical "Hamilton," which uses ethnically diverse actors to portray America's founding fathers, has been accused of discriminatory casting. On Wednesday, a casting call for the Broadway juggernaut that is “Hamilton” drew criticism from members of the Actors’ Equity theater union for specifying a need for “non-white” actors. This applies to all art forms — people of color should be on movie screens, on the TV and in recording booths giving voice to stories about them. A 1997 film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Cinderella” starred Brandy as the title character and Whitney Houston as her fairy godmother. Chicago Tribune. Creators may cast blind, thinking their job done, failing to consider that a Black man cast as a criminal or a Latina woman cast as a saucy seductress — even when cast without any regard to their race — can still be problematic. [email protected]. 1. Blindness is no excuse. People of color are often tagged in to represent an identity different from their own, as though Chinese is synonymous with Korean or Mexican is synonymous with Indian. Hmm, so what I know about “Hamilton“ is the following: 1) The casting is racist. However, the union general counsel denied that a notice with language like that would have been approved. It simply allowed the audience to soak in the story and characters as they were. Instead of calling for non-white actors, a recent Hamilton audition notice approved by Actors Equity instead calls for performers of “all ethnicities.”, New York has a history of fining businesses for using exclusionary language like “bus boys” (as opposed to “bus staff”) in job postings, but CBS reports that the New York Commission on Human Rights “would likely work with the Hamilton production team to help it comply with city law if it takes issue with the ad.”. Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller told CBS “I stand by it and believe it to be legal,” and a press representative for the show says the notice was approved by Actor’s Equity. The whole movie was a visual feast, with bright costumes and playful dance numbers, and it never explained the puzzling genealogies of its characters. As of now, the Commission has not received a complaint about Hamilton. (The “Hamilton” star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda responded to this criticism this week, calling it “valid.”) (If Willy Loman is Black, wouldn’t he have a more complex understanding of the American dream?) In “Hamilton,” the revision of American history is dazzling and important, but it also neglects and negates the parts of the original story that don’t fit so nicely into this narrow model. Email us. L: … David Emery Published 21 November 2016 Even if this defense didn’t presuppose that anything canon should not be open to challenge or reinterpretation, it would still fail to recognize that in many stories the character’s whiteness is incidental to the narrative. —The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—. The noted novelist Ishmael Reed, one of the first critics out of the gate, blasted Hamilton in Counterpunch. You cannot advertise showing that you have a preference for one racial group over another. Audiences seeing this cast for the first time will be bowled over by the depth of the performances, notably so with Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron … But a casting call seeking “nonwhite men and women” to audition for the show drew criticism from the union representing theater actors, prompting “Hamilton” to … Have a tip we should know? Though the racial representation in the Hamilton cast is positive and worthy of critical praise, my research will analyze the racial disparities within the casting of the musical and the story within the show itself to understand and disprove the belief that Hamilton signifies a post-racial society. Earlier this year, in fact, Loren Bouchard, one of the creators of “Central Park,” explained Bell’s casting by saying “Kristen needed to be Molly; we couldn’t not make her Molly.”. Why, African-Americans, Latinos, Asians would be outraged. At the top of the list, though, has to be casting Alexander Hamilton as some sort of proto-multicultural progressive. Have a tip or story idea? But: The casting-call criticism appears not to have been a referendum on the play itself. This “race blind” casting … 100. This musical idiom combined with Hamilton’s colour conscious casting … The singer-actress Brandy was a Black Cinderella, with a white stepmother (Bernadette Peters) and a Black stepsister, as well as a white one. Mike Henry, who played Cleveland on “Family Guy,” was one of several white actors who recently announced that they would stop voicing animated characters of color. One kind of blindness can lead to another. 4) The ticket pricing is racist. But it’s not enough to simply slot actors of color into historically white roles. Similarly, for a performer to take personal offense to this Hamilton notice, they’d need to take issue with the entire message of the show itself. The prince was of Filipino descent, with parents who were Black and white (Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber). Sudden Broadway Reopening Announcement Raises the Question … Does Andrew Cuomo Even Know How Broadway Works? Despite this recent trend, actors and creators have defended such choices with purportedly merit-based arguments. Egalitarian in theory, the practice is more often used to exclude performers of color. What if they put an ad out that said whites only need apply? It seems needless to say, and yet, here it is: Any casting of a performer in the role of a race other than their own assumes that the artist step into the lived experience of a person whose culture isn’t theirs, and so every choice made in that performance will inevitably be an approximation. Late June brought news that the animated shows “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” “Big Mouth” and “Central Park” would recast characters of color who have been played by white actors. Follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google+. That's either stupidity or mendacity, take your pick. The Black and brown founding fathers of “Hamilton” make the story of America something that can finally be owned by people of color, as opposed to the reality, which so often refutes the relevancy of their lives and contributions. He doesn’t call for blindness, but visibility: people of color seen on stages and behind the curtains. Hamilton is a show about immigrants of color “getting the job done.” Given that, it would seem like nothing but a waste of white actors’ time to specify “all ethnicities” on a casting notice (unless, of course, that notice was referring to the role of King George, who’s currently played by Jonathan Groff), when the show’s message is best served by casting non-white performers. In a moment when we’re reassessing everything surrounding representation, perhaps it’s time for all of us to finally open our eyes. It’s a high-minded-sounding concept that producers and creators use to free themselves of any social responsibility they may feel toward representing a diverse set of performers. To the union, and to many others in and outside of the theater world, the idea that the show would exclude white performers in its auditioning process is wrong: the auditions should … So why not use that opportunity to re-create the character as someone who doesn’t fall into the majority? The decision to make a musical carried by a cast of actors of color lies at the core of the show's sound and message. Director Thomas Kail’s filmed version of the blockbuster musical Hamilton, available Friday on the Disney Plus streaming service, surely is the greatest translation, democratization and preservation of any Broadway show, ever. But even well-intentioned efforts at increasing diversity create complications. 100. Still, the difference between the two lies in their approaches to the all-encompassing nature of whiteness in American industries and narratives. The popular Broadway show has ignited controversy after its website posted a casting call for "non-white" men and women. Clare Chandler. In the context of the enduring racism in today’s society, Hamilton has made waves given its casting of black and Latino actors as America’s founders. In a 1996 speech, the playwright August Wilson spoke out against colorblind casting overall, saying: To mount an all-Black production of a “Death of a Salesman” or any other play conceived for white actors as an investigation of the human condition through the specifics of white culture is to deny us our own humanity, our own history, and the need to make our own investigations from the cultural ground on which we stand as Black Americans. Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: An American Musical (Hamilton) (2015) has tapped into the current cultural moment, lauded as the ‘saviour of Broadway’. Hamilton was not "a champion for the little guy, as the show portrays," according to Gordon-Reed. We’re forever fighting our America’s racial default. And then there’s also the “Hamilton” problem. Though egalitarian in theory, colorblind casting in practice is more often used to exclude performers of color. The four primary characters who are double cast are Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson ( Kristen Bell, who voiced the biracial Molly Tillerman in the Apple TV+ show “Central Park”; Jenny Slate, who voiced the biracial Missy Foreman-Greenwald in “Big Mouth”; and Mike Henry, the voice of the Black “Family Guy” and “The Cleveland Show” character Cleveland Brown, each announced their decisions to gracefully bow out in the name of proper representation. It is an act of minstrelsy. More often than not, when the defense rings out in the chord of “they were the best person for the job,” that “best person” is white. Yet, while Hamilton has been widely praised for its colour-conscious casting, the show isn’t the model of anti-racist theatre it may seem. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. A week later “Hamilton” dominated the cultural chatter on Independence Day weekend when Disney+ premiered the film version of the Broadway phenomenon. (The “Hamilton” star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda responded to this criticism this week, calling it “valid.”). Mar 30, 2016. 3:45 | 03/31/16. Kendra James, who describes the show as “part musical, part protest music,” wrote for The Toast last October: The cast of Black, Latina, and Asian American leads emphasizes not only the reality of who actually built and expanded America (“we all know who’s really doing the planting,” Hamilton spits at Jefferson during Act 2), but also how irrelevant the Founding Fathers’ whiteness is to their claim on the country. I imagine it would be easy for the Hamilton producers to adjust the language in that casting notice, but white people like myself have been represented and held up as the default and ideal on Broadway for so long—for someone to feel sincerely, unjustly excluded by this notice, they’d have to ignore the countless other ways in which their privilege as a white person benefits their career. As an artistic question, sure, he can cast whomever he wants to cast. Based on 42 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com. However, amid a year marked by protests over police brutality and racial injustice, the film version debuted to a nuanced response on social media, with critics questioning how a show about people who owned slaves just brushes past that fact. Careless colorblind casting — in animated roles, in live-action roles on TV, movies or the stage — assumes that identities amount to nothing and that all experiences are transferable, which is far from the reality. Marginalized Audiences Are Allowed to Have Differing Opinions on Stories That Focus on Them and Their Experiences, I Love Disney World and That Conservatives Are Crying “Wokeness” at Change. By James Gordon For Dailymail.com. Hamilton is a technically difficult, fast and extremely complex stage show to perform: this film puts the viewer up close but also backs out when appropriate and makes strong strategic decisions on how to frame and move.

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