Roman Banks to become first person of color to play Evan Hansen today!- Page 2

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 12/12/18 at 7:21pm

I’m incredibly Jewish and I’m very, very Scottish so I have wildly red hair.

[The Other One]

Posted: 12/12/18 at 8:24pm

Has Taylor Trensch already left the show?  If not, when is his last performance?

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 12/12/18 at 9:25pm

Congratulations Roman.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 12/12/18 at 10:04pm

Fosse76 said: "The media jumped all over it, as it was mentioned in every single article during his run.The show has been running for over 30 years. The title role is technically race-neutral. Only three actors of color have played the title role."

I mean, just because the media made a huge deal about it doesn't mean the Phantom producers were openly patting themselves on the back over it. For example, I don't remember the show's actual social media pages advertising the show like, "Come see Broadway's FIRST BLACK PHANTOM, Norm Lewis!"

Regardless, this is good news! I'm happy for Roman.

Updated On: 12/12/18 at 10:04 PM

[CarmenA3]

Posted: 12/13/18 at 1:01am

The Other One said: "Has Taylor Trensch already left the show? If not, when is his last performance?"

Not yet. He leaves on or about Jan 30. The new Evan will be Andrew Feldman (winner of the 2018 Jimmy Award) :)

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/13/18 at 2:31am

Fosse76 said: "It's a shame that we have to make a big deal about this"

Who's making a big deal about it?! The actor himself posted it on his personal Instagram account and the OP here mentioned it... it's not like they wrote it up in the NYT.

[binau]

Posted: 12/13/18 at 6:24am

everythingtaboo said: "HeyMrMusic said: "It’s rare that a person of color gets the opportunity to play a character that doesn’t have race as part of their story arc, especially the title character in one of the biggest hits in recent years, so this is absolutely something to celebrate."

Perfect answer, thank you.

And I'm very excited that the producers have learned and are promising to be race-blind in their DEH West End casting, to take advantage of the full diversity of their actors over there."

I would hope and assume they always did this. Are you saying up until now they deliberately would only cast a white lead? That is blatant racism. I hope, trust and assume that’s not what happened. 

[phan24]

Posted: 12/13/18 at 6:29am

qolbinau said: "everythingtaboo said: "HeyMrMusic said: "It’s rare that a person of color gets the opportunity to play a character that doesn’t have race as part of their story arc, especially the title character in one of the biggest hits in recent years, so this is absolutely something to celebrate."

Perfect answer, thank you.

And I'm very excited that the producers have learned and are promising to be race-blind in their DEH West End casting, to take advantage of the full diversity of their actors over there."

I would hope and assume they always did this. Are you saying up until now they deliberately would only cast a white lead? That is blatant racism. I hope, trust and assume that’s not what happened."

 

This shouldn’t be shocking to you, this happens every day everywhere, whether consciously or not, but it happens. It takes an extra bit of will to think “outside the box” and that is what makes this news exciting. 

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 12/13/18 at 6:43am

It’s not conscious (or maybe it is), but it’s been sort of default to cast principals with white actors while people of color maybe get a token slot in an ensemble. Obviously, people have been more and more aware of this and that’s why you see some shows try to break the mold. I bet not many actors of color even thought they could audition for a show like Dear Evan Hansen (and particularly for the title character) until casting brought them in. It’s not very common for an actor of color to step into a role originated by a white actor. How many times has it happened? Probably as many individual threads like this there are.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 12/13/18 at 9:32am

My best friend was there yesterday and was seeing the show for the first time. He thought there was a sound balance problem that made it seem as if Roman’s voice was being drowned out at times by the orchestra. He thinks the skill set is there and hopes they can fix the sound issue. He was sitting fifth row center orchestra (house seats).

[bdn223]

Posted: 12/13/18 at 10:07am

There was a similar “why is this news” backlash when Keke Palmer was cast as “the first black” Cinderella. The producers definitely milked it for publicity, but the boards were pointing out that the show had only been open for 18 months on Broadway by the time she was cast. Add to that the role of Cinderella in R&H’s version was/synonymous with Brandy to millenials. But in my opinion Palmer’s casting was much more significant considering it took till 2009 for Disney to have a black princess despite having a Native American, Asian, Middle Eastern by the end of the last millenium. The Broadway production seemed so white washed after 1997 TV adaptation of Cinderella diversely cast to the point of ridicule about Victor Garber and Whoopi Goldberg having Paolo Montalban, a Phillipino son.
Its great that a black man had been cast in a role that has been only played by white man, but the role was also only created 2 years ago, and race has nothing at all to do with Evan nor the plot of the show.

[Dave28282]

Posted: 12/15/18 at 7:32pm

I would really appreciate it if we could speak about the boy's talent, type, voice, charisma, acting, etc.

Or are these things not important or not "on topic" when discussing someone that won a role? I know it was done with every previous Evan Hansen.

Not 1 reaction on the whole board is about the boy.

I think he has a wonderful voice, I'm not really sure about his technique. He might be a little too goodlooking/handsome for the role, but he will be fine.

Updated On: 12/16/18 at 07:32 PM

[Dave28282]

Posted: 12/15/18 at 7:33pm

RaisedOnMusicals said: "My best friend was there yesterday and was seeing the show for the first time. He thought there was a sound balance problem that made it seem as if Roman’s voice was being drowned out at times by the orchestra. He thinks the skill set is there and hopes they can fix the sound issue. He was sitting fifth row center orchestra (house seats)."

That really should be fixed by the sound team then. 

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 12/15/18 at 7:46pm

Dave28282 said: "I would really appreciate it if we could speak about the boy's talent ..."

As he is 20 years old, I'd consider him a MAN.

[Dave28282]

Posted: 12/15/18 at 8:07pm

BalconyClub said: "Dave28282 said: "I would really appreciate it if we could speak about the boy's talent ..."

As he is20 years old, I'd consider him a MAN."

True.

In any case, still refreshing to discuss the actual man. (who plays a teenage boy).

Updated On: 12/15/18 at 08:07 PM

[LuPita2]

Posted: 12/15/18 at 9:09pm

"but the role was also only created 2 years ago"

Nope.  Benj and Justin created that role years before it's debut, which was 3.5 years ago, not two. 

I can understand why the orchestra may have drowned him out at times, he seems to be all over the place.  Needs a bit of work but he has some of it down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8NavC7ttZ8

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/16/18 at 12:02am

I'm just saying that a black man can play Jewish, but a blonde man can't. It's..dumb. Casting is dumb... 

 

And yeah his voice is .... all over 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/16/18 at 12:04am

I'm just saying that a black man can play Jewish, but a blonde man can't. It's..dumb. Casting is dumb... 

 

And yeah his voice is .... all over 

[Dave28282]

Posted: 12/16/18 at 6:07am

I think the role is written in such a way that good singing is not a priority. The way Ben Platt played it was very neurotic, trembling, nervous and with many corresponding mannerisms in his singing (which I believe are the natural mannerisms of Ben Platt and not acting, but it kind of shaped/defined the role).

So the more nervous, unstable he is, that might be what they are looking for in the role.

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/16/18 at 8:13am

Dave28282 said: "Not 1 reaction on the whole board is about the boy."

Well, he only did ONE show, so not sure why there would be a large number of people who attended this one random performance to be talking about it?! The only thing we know is it happened, really.