Diversity on Broadway

I think Broadway still has a ways to go, but I've been thinking about how this season in particular is incredibly diverse. The shows you mentioned are great examples, but I would also add:

Aladdin

Amazing Grace

Spring Awakening (deaf actors and an actor in a wheelchair)

The King and I

Shuffle Along

Allegiance

On Your Feet!

All shows with great representation of People of Color in the cast.

Like I said though, we shouldn't just be patting ourselves on the back and calling it a day. I think we still have a ways to go before people of color (and also disabled actors), get the level of representation they deserve.

Updated On: 10/9/15 at 11:06 AM

sng said: "I think we still have a long way to go. When do you think we will have a leading Asian actor/actress in a musical that does not take place in Asia like King and I, Miss Saigon or Allegiance?

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Allegiance doesn't take place in Asia. It's a very American story.

JerseyBoy25 said: "I was thinking last night about the recent events of awards seasons, with Viola Davis's historic Emmy win and the backlash over none of the 20 acting nominees at the Oscars being of actors of color. And I'm realizing that Broadway is more diverse than television and movie. Hamilton, In the Heights, Motown, Allegiance, Color Purple, The Gin Game, Kinky Boots, Raisin In The Sun and Disgraced are all stories that concern/star people of all parts of the melting pot. Billy Porter, Audra McDonald, Cicely Tyson, Lin Manuel Miranda, James Earl Jones and Norm Lewis have become staples of the Broadway stage. Kudos to Broadway in my opinion for creating a diverse environment for actors. What do you guys think about Broadway's diversity and the comparison to Hollywood movies and Television?

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IF/THEN won the Equity diversity award last year.

I think film and TV are better at representing than Broadway, but that's also because of the sheer accessible quantity compared to the tiny slice that is Broadway in NYC. In both cases, though, we as an entertainment-consumption culture have a long ways to go until such casting and media representation are no longer historically newsworthy on the awards side nor criticized on the stereotype side.

I think Broadway still has a ways to go in the diversity field, but I must say that Broadway diversity does seem to be stronger than diversity in Hollywood.

But, echoing what Joselee said--audiences seem to be made up of rich white people, which is something that really needs to be changed.

Updated On: 10/9/15 at 11:30 AM

This will be a great year for Broadway re: diversity. But, it's hard to push for diversity when half of the shows done are revivals from an era where diversity wasn't a consideration of many writers/composers. Also, so many shows are being based off movies, which have prior expectations of what the cast will look like.

I think seeing diverse casting in the upcoming 'Crucible' is a great sign of things to come. Hopefully that sort of casting will continue, and encourage producers/casting directors/writers to create opportunities for more diverse performers, in turn (hopefully) that will drive the expansion into a more diverse audience.

JoseLee_ said: "when I go to shows I look at the audience and only see white heads. Theatre audience is literally 90% white.

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I totally agree and feel that that is something that needs to be changed. The only time I have felt that I was the minority in the audience (and I'm white by the way) was when I saw the James Earl Jones revival of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. But, for other shows, that has never been the case.

Also, if you want to change broadway's audience, you have to change ticket prices. People with average to low incomes will skip seeing shows now due to the lack of cheap tickets. The way it's set up now the majority of every audience is likely to be old, white, and upper class. I am both a college student and hispanic, and I come from a family with divorced parents. If I didn't know about all these discounts like Access10 and Lotteries I would be priced out for broadway.

The casting for IF/THEN was stellar, as a few folks here have pointed out. Besides Kate (LaChanze), there was David (Jason Tam), Elena (Tamika Lawrence), Stephen (Jerry Dixon), and Cathy (Ann Sanders).

Now that Phantom has had its first African American title character on Broadway, I would love to see some POC playing the other leads in the show, like Christine, Raoul, etc.

Well I think the cast of Hamilton and the musical itself is a great sign of things to come. The concept of minorities purposely playing White historical figures really opens the doors to so many possibilities with future musicals and plays. The musical itself with it's predominately hip-hop style music only adds to the possibilities of these style of musicals. And the fact that it's being accepted by the critics of old and new, is just icing on the cake.

hork said: "36% of actors currently on Broadway are non-white. Only 23% of the US population is non-white. There are seven shows in which all or most of the cast is non-white (Shuffle Along will make eight). Just how much more diverse do you want it to get? So no, we don't have a long way to go. If anything, we've over-compensated.

Why does an actor's race even matter? All I care is if he/she can act (and sing and dance if it's a musical) and is appropriate for the role. I don't really see the point of having a non-white person play Christine Daae just for the sake of having a non-white person playing Christine Daae.

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I knew I didn't have to wait long for this to happen

First of all, please provide where you got your statistics from

I also would like to say that there is no "overcompensating" when it comes to diversity

Updated On: 10/10/15 at 01:11 PM