This year has seen a slew of online activism and backlash surrounding the entertainment industry, specifically prior to the February Academy Awards ceremony that prompted the Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. But while the film industry has been flailing in the eyes of consumers and actors alike, Broadway may be humming to a different tune.
According to Michael Paulson, one of the most recognized theater critics at The New York Times, this upcoming Tuesday morning’s Tony Award nominations may reflect “diversity of the Broadway season and acclaim for its performers.”
“But what does that mean?” he asks in his piece, published Wednesday in The New York Times. “Is Broadway fundamentally more diverse, in casting, employment and programming, than Hollywood? Or did the theater industry just get lucky that Broadway was having its most diverse season ever while Hollywood was having a meltdown?”
By now, we’ve all seen at least one story or another regarding Puerto Rican descendant Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “Hamilton,” which features a cast of Hispanic and black actors “to portray the founding fathers.” In addition to “Hamilton,” Paulson noted multiple other “much-praised revival[s],” such as the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel adaptation “The Color Purple,” the jazz musical “Shuffle Along” and “On Your Feet!,” which details the rise of Gloria and Emilio Estefan.
Even as so many shows this season have been devoted to extremely diverse and specific storylines, this trend may just be the product of luck, as Paulson and other industry professionals suggest. Yet “Hamilton” transcends even this category of shows with plots that are focused on diverse characters. Instead, “Hamilton” is a story based in a time during which slavery was rampant, and yet all lead actors in the show are non-white.
One of the major arguments in this year’s #OscarsSoWhite debacle focuses on the fact that there are many racially diverse films that simply do not fall on the radar of the Academy, and the same may be true of Broadway productions.
While we can likely assume Paulson’s newly invented hashtag #TonysSoDiverse to be merely a pun for a good headline, it’s almost uncomfortable to think of the implications the phrase could have were it to become a phenomenon. #OscarsSoWhite came about because a group of normal, everyday observers saw something inherently wrong and unjust in a global industry, and used Twitter as a forum for their movement. To put it simply, a counter-hashtag in the form of #TonysSoDiverse feels funny. Perhaps casting directors and producers should be praised for expanding diversity in the industry. But, on the other hand, should we really be praising some of the most significant higher-ups in entertainment for doing what should always be done?
Thinking in terms of circularity, a hashtag such as this pins one entertainment industry against another, when it is inherently important that the two work in tandem. As Paulson states, “But Mr. Bandhu [Pun Bandhu, a spokesman for the Asian American Performers Action Coalition] said Broadway still tended to underrepresent Hispanic and Asian performers. And, he said, economic concerns limit progress. ‘Broadway, like Hollywood, is a commercial endeavor, and it’s very star-driven, and when you have so few actors of color who are stars, you’re not going to get a particularly diverse season,’ he said.”
Of course, the definition of “star power” changes based upon the audience toward which a show is being marketed. “Famous” to a diehard theater fan may be six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, while “famous” to the average ticket buyer may be Kelsey Grammer, Emma Stone or Martin Short. The hard truth of the matter is that producers must pander to the highest paying audiences — and those high-paying audiences were approximately 80 percent Caucasian during the 2014-15 Broadway season, according to The Broadway League.
If what Bandhu said is correct, all of this becomes a circular issue: Star power is needed to sell tickets, and that star-power comes from Hollywood. But if actors of color in Hollywood aren’t given the opportunities they deserve, then Broadway audiences may not be exposed to as much racially diverse casting. It’s an interesting paradox — shows that are more accessible to rich, white communities are becoming more diverse, while the more publicly accessible film industry still faces institutionalized racism.
It’s clear that no surface-level issues can be changed for the better until deep, fundamental changes are made within the entertainment industry as a whole. There is certainly not a lack of a talent pool of actors of color — we can clearly see this not only in the cast of “Hamilton,” but in other plays and musicals such as “The Color Purple,” “Allegiance,” and “Eclipsed.” But perhaps the difference between the two industries lies in the fact that theater can often call for colorblind casting. While patrons may walk into a movie theater very aware of their realities, audiences often walk into Broadway theaters to escape the perils of everyday life and indulge in something else. Perhaps racially diverse casting then becomes more acceptable.
Bandhu and other renowned industry professionals, such as “Hamilton” star Leslie Odom Jr., have hope for future audiences, though. In early April, the “Hamilton” cast even got together for a special performance of the show just for underprivileged students in New York City. In taking this huge step in the right direction, we can only hope that Miranda, his team and the commercial success of “Hamilton” can aid in influencing great institutional change in Broadway and the entertainment industry as a whole.
