Buksbazen 6
Rachel Buksbazen
Morgan Pruitt
RC_1000
14 November 2016
The Great White Way Becoming Colorful
Musical theatre is a distinctly American art form. The synthesis of music, dance, and acting on the stage has captivated audiences for a century, taking them away to places of grandeur and excitement. Shows like Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and Chicago have become household classics because of their incredible music and lyrics. However, the art form has been criticized as “white” for its long history of not properly representing ethnic groups. American musical theatre has increasingly become more accepting of ethnic minorities due to groundbreaking shows, changes in the community, and action by the Actor’s Equity Association.
Since the late 19th century, the stage has been seen historically as “white washed”. From racist minstrel shows and vaudeville acts to the classic shows of the 1940’s and 50’s, ethnic characters were always portrayed as stereotypes by white performers. One of the earliest and most iconic pieces of musical theatre is an operetta called The Mikado, written by Gilbert and Sullivan in 1885 (Lavery). Though the musical was in actuality a satire about Britain at the time, the representation of Asians performing the Japonesque piece in original productions was scarce. In the 1927 musical Show Boat, African Americans are portrayed as hired help and put in subservient roles while the white performers were able to be troupe members on the riverboat. While considered a classic, this text specifically has been criticized as racist because of their clear stereotyping and profiling. Annie Get Your Gun portrays Native Americans as bumbling savages, and it specifically crafts character Chief Sitting Bull as idiotic and greedy. Though overtly racist, these golden age musicals portrayed race better than most of the other shows of the time. Hundreds of musicals written from the late 1800’s into the 1940’s did not include any groups other than whites at all. Pieces like Pajama Game, Oklahoma, and The Music Man were shockingly white, expressing the climate of American society clearly during the times they were written (Hoffman).
Because of the racist stigma that surrounded the art for so long, the theatre community has fought to change this perception. During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s and 70’s, there were numerous more productions staged to better represent ethnic and racial minorities. If a troupe cast a production of a typically “white” show, like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, they would try to cast black or Asian people in those white-written roles. In the 1994 Broadway production of the same show, African-American Audra McDonald was cast as the supporting role of Carrie Pipperidge, which won her a Tony award (Playbill). In the 60’s, there were all black casts of Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls and George and Ira Gershwin’s Oh Kay! This practice is called color-blind casting, and was often criticized by people in the theatre community as well. Joseph Papp, famed founder of The Public Theatre off-Broadway, said about the issue, “I was thinking of ways to eliminate color as a factor in casting, but be on the other hand… very aware of color on the stage” (Pao). Another case of criticism came from legendary playwright August Wilson, the author of the Pittsburgh Plays that chronicle the African American experience over the course of one hundred years, each one covering a different decade. In 1996 he said that, “Colorblind casting is an aberrant idea that has never had any validity other than as a tool of the Cultural Imperialists who view American culture, rooted in the icons of European culture, as beyond reproach in its perfection” (Pao). In plainer terms, the idea of colorblind casting, according to the playwright, is inherently racist. The practice, though very common, didn’t make an effort to integrate casts. Part of that might have been due to the Jim Crow Laws, but the overall climate of prejudice in American society against people of color is what truly caused the negative stigma.
One of the main proponents of change was the Actors Equity Association (AEA), which is the union for stage actors. In 1944, they fought discrimination in their touring companies by defending actors who were turned away from hotels abiding by the Jim Crow Laws. In 1955, AEA refused all of its members from performing in South Africa because of their extreme disapproval of apartheid. The revolutionary movements by Equity kept coming, as the ability to deny service to any segregated establishment hit in 1961 and in 1964 appointed their first African American president, Fredrick O’Neal. In the eighties, the union officially made a statement by including an anti-discrimination clause in their contracts:
Actors' Equity endorses the goals of diversity, inclusion, and the principles of equal opportunity for all who work in the theatre industry, and condemns racism, prejudice, discrimination and exclusion in the theatre. To these ends, we encourage employment and production opportunities in all disciplines and areas of theatrical production to include persons of every race, color, culture, age, gender, physical disability and sexual orientation, thereby achieving a theatre industry, both on and off stage, that reflects the full diversity of American society. (Equity)
After this statement was added, the number of integrated casts grew dramatically. Performers were recognized for their talent instead of their skin tone, and casts grew diverse as a result. Additionally, the union favored companies that embraced the new guidelines, encouraging the rest of the community to adapt to the changes. These moves made by Actor’s Equity helped change the climate on race in theatre, providing a clear pathway for actors of all ethnic backgrounds to be well represented.
More recently, pieces of musical theatre have been used as anti-discrimination propaganda. The groundbreaking opera, Porgy and Bess was a Gershwin musical written to depict the lives of African Americans in 1920’s Charleston. It was wildly popular and toured all across the nation and the world. During the Cold War, both the Truman and Eisenhower administrations used this show to prove to Soviet Russia that the United States gave equal rights to people of color (Noonan). This play put African Americans in a whole new spotlight, showing the ugly underbelly of the old South to the world.
Another show, and probably one of the most important pieces of musical theatre ever conceived, is Hamilton. Written over the course of several years by Lin-Manuel Miranda, it follows the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton. What sets it apart from other pieces of drama is that it uses hip-hop music and an incredibly ethnic and diverse cast to play the historically white figures. There has been criticism regarding Hamilton’s casting choices, however. The Actor’s Equity Association called out the creative team of the show for only letting non-white actors audition for the roles. Having an ethnic cast was integral to the show, but the AEA wouldn’t let casting proceed if the language wasn’t amended on the casting call. The producers changed the posting to include the required clause, but refused to back down on its angle of casting non-white actors in titular roles (Paulson). Though controversial, they proceeded with the decision and ended up creating one of the most culturally relevant and empowering pieces of theatre for minorities. President Obama has seen the show multiple times, and has praised it verily in its efforts to give a voice to ethnicity in American History. Regarding the show, he stated, “With a cast as diverse as America itself, including the outstandingly talented women, the show reminds us that this nation was built by more than just a few great men -- and that it is an inheritance that belongs to all of us” (Paulson). The themes of the show stress racial integration, acceptance, and immigrants as the backbone of American society, and equal representation of all people in history (Hamilton’s America). The show won eleven Tony’s at the 2016 Tony Awards out of its sixteen nominations, more than any other musical or play. It breathed life into American History, making it appealing and highly relevant to people of all ages and backgrounds.
In summation, the Great White Way has been historically seen as a Caucasian art form, putting minorities in stereotypical and offensive roles. However, that has recently changed due to the social and political climate in recent years. Groundbreaking shows like Porgy and Bess and Hamilton changed the way that race have been viewed not only in theatre, but in American history and society. Finally, the Actor’s Equity Association has taken direct action to help eliminate discrimination in the theatre. All of these methods have proven to be effective in helping to remove the race and ethnic barriers in the art form and in society.
Works Cited
Actors' Equity Association Benefits." Actorsequity.org N.p., n.d. 27 Oct. 2016.
www.actorsequity.org/benefits/diversity.asp
Hamilton's America. Directed by Alex Horwitz, Public Broadcasting Station, 2016. 25 Oct. 2016. www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/hamiltonfullfilm/5801/
Hoffman, Warren. The Great White Way: Race and the Broadway Musical. Rutgers UP, 2014. EBook Collection.
Lavery, Joseph. "The Mikado's Queer Realism: Law, Genre, Knowledge." Novel: A Forum On Fiction 49.2 (2016): 219. Duke University Press. 27 Oct. 2016.
Noonan, Ellen. Strange Career of Porgy and Bess. Race, Culture, and America's Most Famous Opera. N.p.: Chapel Hill: The U of North Carolina, 2012. Library Catalogue. 25 Oct. 2016.
Pao, Angela Chia-yi. No Safe Spaces: Re-casting Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality in American Theater. N.p.: Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2010. Theater: Theory/text/performance. Library Catalogue. 25 Oct. 2016.
Paulson, Michael. "'Hamilton' Casting Call Is Criticized by Union." The New York Times 31 Mar. 2016: C2 (L). Biography in Context. 25 Oct. 2016.
Carousel @ Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Playbill. N.p., n.d. 27 Oct. 2016. www.playbill.com/production/carousel-vivian-beaumont-theatre-vault-0000011243
Zhang1, Hongmei. "Racial Otherness in the American Modern Theatre." Journal of Language Teaching & Research 6.6 (2015): 1320-324. Eue. 25 Oct. 2016.