NameGreg said: "Elphaba’s skin color doesn’t matter, the actress is covered in green. Sure a minority can use their experiences of prejudice in the role, but the bigotry expressed towards her and her feelings on the matter comes through regardless of the actress’ race. Similarly you don’t need a name, the property is already extremely famous. In fact, based in John M. Chi’s casting for In the Heights, I’m not sure if he’d even want a big name. And Cynthia Erivo has been Oscar nominated, but she hasn’t caught on with mainstream film audiences yet, so I don’t think she even fits that big name criteria."
Well, now I want to see a production where a BIPOC actress plays the role without the green makeup, a la Violet. Maybe we’d all feel differently about whether people’s treatment of Elphaba is a direct relationship with the color of her skin, as it is in the text.