Griffin Matthews’ Post- Page 3

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 12:37am

latitudex1 said: "I need a lot of time to collect my thoughts on that, but I will say that neither the commercial theater industry, Broadway, nor the audience that enjoys it deserve anything more than a speck for granting Hamilton a Best Musical award. Especially in comparison with two of the most racist and misogynistic industries in human history.

Everyone has blindspots. Everyone has areas in which they need to learn. Everyone needs to listen until this is truly heard: Broadway is racist.

Any industry consumed by a predominantly white audience, funded by overwhelmingly white men, and created by predominantly white people is going to have blindspots. Broadway is not a safe haven."

Reducing it to an award ignores that it  was produced, brought to Broadway, and is running. All of which happens to very very few shows ever. Same for Hadestown. Not to mention every show with color-blind casting (which is every musical on Broadway, as far as I can tell).

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 12:39am

jacobsnchz14 said: "And now a message from Diane Paulus

https://americanrepertorytheater.org/a-message-from-diane-paulus-june-4-2020/"

Was this ghost written by whoever did Lia Michele's?

Updated On: 6/5/20 at 12:39 AM

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 12:47am

latitudex1 said: "CATSNYrevival said: "I worry some people are confusing racism with racial insensitivity."

It is all one.

Both from the sociological definition of racism to the impact that insensitivity has on people of color (not just black people) as they try to navigate the experience of doing live theater professionally for a living.

Racism is a spectrum of learned and observed behaviors and experiences that lead to negative behaviors. It is not necessarily hate. It touches everyone's viewpoint. And, again, everyone has something to learn through experiences like Matthews'."

It isn't all one. They are overlapping issues, but not identical, and not "one."

[Dolly80]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 5:13am

Griffins post is incredibly powerful.

I think even if this director isn’t racist, it just reveals how badly some people treat others when they have more power.

I know a lot of people who have had a negative experience with this woman so I hope others come forward. Winning a Tony shouldn’t mean you can just treat people like crap and get away with it. Theatre should be about respect, no matter what position you hold on a production.

Obviously though he has suffered racial injustice and that is unforgivable also.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 10:49am

Just how post-racial America after Obama was a myth, so is the idea that we're in some post-racial wonderland thanks to Hamilton, and I'm so thankful that so many actors and creatives are taking this moment to step out and speak up. Take a look at this graphic from Ensemblist and tell us we're not still having issues with casting? I mean, WICKED doesn't even take place in a real world and look at that large white box.



 

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 11:45am

Oooooof.

I guess Disney wins for least amount of white people in their shows?

[binau]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 12:00pm

How many black Elphaba's have there been? That is a role in particular that could and should be regularly cast with black female actors with strong voices. I would love to hear that score with a POC vocal timbre. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 12:04pm

2? At least on broadway. Saycon Sengbloh and Lilli Cooper. But they were only standbys. The west end is the only production to have had a full time back Elphaba, I believe.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 12:09pm

Yeah, those are the only two I can think of, and as mentioned, they were only standbys. For non-black POCs, I can think of Lindsay Mendez and Mandy Gonzalez. Besides Glinda and maybe Morrible, I believe there have been many more POCs cast in all other principal roles.

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 2:24pm

Yeah, those are the only two I can think of, and as mentioned, they were only standbys. For non-black POCs, I can think of Lindsay Mendez and Mandy Gonzalez. Besides Glinda and maybe Morrible, I believe there have been manymore POCs cast in all other principal roles.

 

Brandi Chavonne Massey was also an Elphaba understudy. So as far as the Broadway production, only 3 black women have played Elphaba and never as the main Elphaba.

[Tag]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 2:35pm

Remember just a few years back (around peak Hamilton time) when theatre was lauded as the one medium that was diverse?

(Also that is a terrible graphic from the Ensemblist.  Why are the bars different sizes?  Someone just threw that together in MS Paint...)

[blaxx]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 2:43pm

joevitus said: "Don't agree that Broadway is racist either (Hadestown and Hamilton wouldn't be where they are if it were)

Exactly, when Hamilton and Hadestown opened,  all racism on Broadway was eradicated. 

Hope they don't close post-covid or we're screwed!

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 3:30pm

Tag said: "Remember just a few years back (around peak Hamilton time) when theatre was lauded as the one medium that was diverse?

(Also that is a terrible graphic from the Ensemblist. Why are the bars different sizes? Someone just threw that together in MS Paint...)"

All the bar sizes are different to reflect the sizes of each cast. Lion King and Wicked have large casts, so they both have longer bars. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 4:03pm

joevitus said: "Was this ghost written by whoever did Lia Michele's?"

Why would you say that? They have completely different energies. You can question whether she's sincere but the language at least takes much more responsibility and promises to do better.

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 4:20pm

VintageSnarker said: "joevitus said: "Was this ghost written by whoever did Lia Michele's?"

Why would you say that? They have completely different energies. You can question whether she's sincere but the language at least takes much more responsibility and promises to do better."

Denial and apology. If you don't own what you did (or are accused of doing) wrong, what worth has the apology?

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 6/5/20 at 11:25pm

But this issue moving forward shouldn't be 'how many ethnic performers can we jam into existing, long running traditionally white Broadway musicals just to prove how diverse we can be" -- we've tried that and it hasn't worked. The answer is to champion more writers of color - to champion more stories about diverse communities and to allow performers new opportunities based on that.

[ItsMeRaul]

Posted: 6/6/20 at 12:21am

QueenAlice said: "But this issue moving forward shouldn't be 'how many ethnic performers can we jam into existing, long running traditionally white Broadway musicals just to prove how diverse we can be" -- we've tried that and it hasn't worked. The answer is to champion more writers of color - to champion more stories about diverse communities and to allow performers new opportunities based on that."

 

Exactly that.

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/6/20 at 4:53am

Absolutely right, Queen Alice!

[binau]

Posted: 6/6/20 at 6:09am

I mean they aren't mutually exclusive, and one is 100x more challenging and longer-term than the other. In any case, I'm not sure we really have tried enough as the discussion about Wicked has clearly shown. And, in general I would hope that the vision for a diverse Broadway is not just to segregate people into shows written for certain backgrounds (as appears to happen far too often now) - but to help ensure people have opportunities to play different roles regardless of their background. 

Updated On: 6/6/20 at 06:09 AM

[JennH]

Posted: 6/6/20 at 11:15am

qolbinau said: "How many black Elphaba's have there been? That is a role in particular that could and should be regularly cast with black female actors with strong voices. I would love to hear that score with a POC vocal timbre."

Very few. To this day, it's a damn crime that Saycon was never full time. I've only seen videos, but she was BALLER. And almost everyone who's said they saw her live says the same. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 6/6/20 at 11:34am

Tag said: "Remember just a few years back (around peak Hamilton time) when theatre was lauded as the one medium that was diverse?

(Also that is a terrible graphic from the Ensemblist. Why are the bars different sizes? Someone just threw that together in MS Paint...)"

I remember that. I think the Oscars didn't have any people of color nominated that year for the acting categories whereas on Broadway people of color were well represented in all the Tony award acting categories!

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 6/6/20 at 11:41am

qolbinau said: "I mean they aren't mutually exclusive, and one is 100x more challenging and longer-term than the other. In any case, I'm not sure we really have tried enough as the discussion about Wicked has clearly shown. And, in general I would hope that the vision for a diverse Broadway is not just to segregate people into shows written for certain backgrounds (as appears to happen far too often now) - but to help ensure people have opportunities to play different roles regardless of their background."

Exactly. As much as we want a diverse rainbow of voices on Broadway put through the pipeline, we need to be a lot better in seeing musicals and plays cast colorblind so that it's a not a "Look, we have all these POC productions now, they can just go there to be cast."

I mean, how rarely of these heavily star-filled comedies - The Front Page, It's Only a Play and the like - cast a Black, Asian, or Latin star? Do they even try, aside from Denzel or James Earl Jones? Does it have to be exclusively all-POC Streetcar Named Desire, or On Golden Pond so it doesn't throw people off believing the play? Can't there be a mixed race Noel Coward once in awhile? 

[Wick3]

Posted: 6/6/20 at 11:41am

QueenAlice said: "But this issue moving forward shouldn't be 'how many ethnic performers can we jam into existing, long running traditionally white Broadway musicals just to prove how diverse we can be" -- we've tried that and it hasn't worked. The answer is to champion more writers of color - to champion more stories about diverse communities and to allow performers new opportunities based on that."

I completely agree and I think there are up and coming playwrights of color out there. I absolutely loved CHOIR BOY from last season and I think it was doing well but unfortunately it was still a short limited engagement that closed in February or March rather than in June/July post-Tony awards.

I also enjoyed watching ECLIPSED and SWEAT from a few years ago and both were written by playwrights of color. I understand the examples I provided are plays and most last 3-4 months. 

 

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 6/6/20 at 1:30pm

As a theatre director, I'd like to add that there is a lot of kumbaya going on right now about raising the profile of diversity and anti-racism in the theatre, but scarcely no talk about the role of the audience, and what efforts are going to be made to inspire audiences that stories of POC are universal and worth their continued interest.  The commercial theatre exists principally to make money. It is always going to be geared towards what is perceived to be what audiences are willing to pay money for.  Most audiences in NYC and across the country are white.  You can't just change the programming and expect a different outcome.  Audiences largely pay their $175 (plus services fees) for the privilege of being entertained. They have a limited threshold to show up out of obligation or for a history lesson. Theatre can't exist in a vacuum. The commitment to educate and inspire has to to extend beyond the footlights to those coming to the theatre. If not it doesn't matter how many opportunities we give POC.

[steven22]

Posted: 6/6/20 at 1:51pm

JennH said: "qolbinau said: "How many black Elphaba's have there been? That is a role in particular that could and should be regularly cast with black female actors with strong voices. I would love to hear that score with a POC vocal timbre."

Very few. Tothis day, it's a damn crime that Saycon was never full time. I've only seen videos, but she was BALLER. And almost everyone who's said they saw her live saysthesame."

I know it's been years (2006?) since Saycon was the stand by and I have no clue how old she is but she would probably still kill it as Elphaba. Bring her back.