NYTimes.com: This winter’s Off Broadway world premiere of “Hamilton,” the highly anticipated new musical about the founding fathers by Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda (“In the Heights”), will feature a multiracial cast as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr and others in addition to Mr. Miranda’s performance as Alexander Hamilton.
6 comments:
I'm not sure how I feel about this idea but i think the idea of changing the identity of a character (such as sex or in this case race) could add a different perspective to an idea or story. After watching Bliss and the interest it gave to the story i dont strongly discourage changing a story in this way. I wish the article gave more background as to why this is the case and not so much who is playing who. if their intention is to honor and tell the stories of our founding fathers by changing the races then I don't think this decision adds to the purpose of the play. on the other hand if they are using this as a way to convey to the audience that their idea of freedom applies to all races then I believe their reasons are admirable.
Changing a characters' identity no longer makes them who they were; this will be highly inaccurate to the founding fathers' histories. It is interesting, however, to find what new perspectives or what may have been, if the founding fathers were multi-racial.
Colorblind casting is a tricky situation, especially in historical situations, because some people just can't accurately visually portray certain roles. They may be wonderful performers, and fully understand their characters' objectives, but the audience will ultimately be distracted by their race. Because it is a historically based show, there is the risk that audiences will be put off by the inaccuracy and be pulled out of the story.
Historical-fiction productions have an easy time justifying not using multi-racial casting as they can vouch for avoiding inaccuracies. I'm completely supportive of this color-blind production though. I get the sense that nothing is really going to be lost by having actors who are not white in these roles. Although it is inaccurate, this is not a story about race. While we know at the time, these men were white and owned black slaves, it appears that racism is not a theme this script includes. Minority actors are discriminated enough even in plays and movies set in present day. For one thing, I'm sure there are many historical inaccuracies in this play, to aid the story telling. Why focus on race over the others?
I think this is a really big step forward for Broadway. I loved "In the Heights," and I think it's really important to appeal to demographics other than the white middle-aged upper-class crowd that often populates Broadway houses. I really don't see any reason that this show shouldn't be color-blind- it's a modernized version of the story which incorporates hip-hop, for god's sake. If a black man was the best fit for the role, there's no reason not to cast him, and with the representation issues we're currently dealing with, there are quite a few reasons why it would be good to cast him. Everyone knows Jefferson wasn't actually black- no one's understanding of history is going to be shattered by this production. What will happen is maybe a few more people will actually go to see this show, and maybe a few kids will get to see a face on stage that actually looks like them, for maybe the first time in their lives. You have no idea how much that could effect someone's life. That is far more important than some slavish devotion to a race-based construct of "historical accuracy."
I am really interested in this concept and wish that the author of this article had spent more time on why it was chosen. I think it could really shake up some people's perspectives on the founding of this nation, to see people of color as these complicated American "heroes." In high school, we spoke a lot about the difference between the people's and the patriot's perspective of a nation's history and how both bend the truth to fit their audience. I wonder which way the script for this show will bend and how that will affect our view of the casting as well.
I had the great privilege to work at The Public this summer, and one day my boss and I were working while my music was on shuffle, and Lin Manuel Miranda's rap that he performed at The White House came on. My boss got super excited and called over my other boss, who said that she already told him that her version was better than his. She was surprised to find out that this was my own version. Apparently, they each have their own recordings of the opening number, because the Public is putting the show on. I was rally surprised and excited when I first heard about it this summer, and I was really disappointed to find out that the show dates weren't during spring break. Thankfully they extended the run, so I'm actually going home to see it for break. In regards to the issue of race and character identity, I have a video of the show being performed at The Public right after they wrote it, and the race of the characters barely affected the story. It started off with a black Arron Burr, but the most striking thing to me was just hearing the lines that I’ve heard sung my Miranda so many times sung by someone else. As the rest of the song went on, the color blind cast of founding fathers filled the stage, but to me it didn’t matter. Yes, it’s changing the identity of the founding fathers, but you know what, so is the fact that they’re rapping. I feel that no matter what casting decisions are made, the show is going to be excellent just because of how strong the concept, script, and musical numbers are.
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