A half-century ago, “Fiddler on the Roof” barreled onto Broadway with a now-famous opening song, “Tradition,” that helped theatergoing audiences relate to a story of particular significance to Jewish Americans.
This fall a new musical, “On Your Feet!,” arrives on Broadway with a parallel first act number, “Tradición,” that seeks to universalize the hardships and hopes of Latin American immigrants.
4 comments:
This upcoming Broadway season is refreshing in its diversity -- I wish we could spare the time for the entire School of Drama to travel to New York to see a few shows. What stood out to me in this article was, at the end, when the author spoke of some of the "On Your Feet" cast members and their journeys from countries outside America to the stage. That determination is exactly what we need to emulate; the passion it takes to uproot yourself from comfort and explode into a new situation shines through easily in your performance and, in a larger perspective, the show. I think Broadway is now trying to keep up with the times like television and occasionally film has, which in turn will pave the way for touring companies of these Broadway shows to open new experiences up to normally sheltered audiences. I hope the best for all these productions, because how they are critiqued can affect the perception of diverse musicals by the mainstream viewing public forever.
All I really can say about this is FINALLY. Finally producers are putting their best effort forward to tell the stories of the people who don't generally have a voice in our communities. How can we say that theatre gives us opportunity to put the uncomfortable ideas and confrontations in peoples minds if were not giving any opportunity to voice the ideas and minds of the most oppressed people in our communities in the first place? It's also exciting on the acting side of things, because this also opens up tons of opportunities for people of color to be involved in theatre. It reminds me a lot of Viola Davis' recently acclaimed Emmy Award acceptance speech in which she said "The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is simply opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there,”. The more opportunities we have for POC, the more people that are being exposed to the wonderful opportunity that we have in theatre as an art form.
This Broadway season looks like it is really making leaps and bounds to diversify their casting and subject matter. Something exciting for me is that there is a staged musical adaptation of School of Rock by Andrew Lloyd Webber! I loved that movie as a kid and I do remember being happy to see not just rich white kids at this elite prep school. Also, the other messages it sends are all super body positive and inspirational for kids growing up in a bleak environment. In my opinion, creativity is the first step to diversity and change. Without the ideas present, people couldn’t come together over a common goal to achieve something great. Later in the article, it briefly mentions that too much diversity at once may impede tickets sales – but I disagree. I think that diversifying the shows will diversify the audiences and make everything surrounding the business more far reaching and successful.
YES. This is the kind of season that makes me really excited to be alive at this moment of time. Our society still has a lot of catching up to do, but if Broadway, a notoriously accepting-yet-behind-the-times medium, can have a season that eschews sexism, racism and ableism, then I am thrilled to say that we are on the right track, and on the right side of history. It is stupendous that these stifled stories are specifically getting chances to be told, such as in The Color Purple, Allegiance and the new Spring Awakening, but there is also something exciting about the fact that shows are being produced where race is more or less not considered. It's unfortunately a fairly well known fact that white is considered the default, and that minority characters are only allowed to be minorities when their entire story revolves around being a minority. Having these people tell their own stories is a great step, but there is something wonderful about seeing a diverse cast simply because that is what people in this country look like, and there is no "white default." It's great to see a show and feel that the actors got the part because they were the best for the role, not because they fit the correct "type." I see this happening in "Hamilton," "School of Rock," However, both types of shows are doing remarkable good for the theatrical community. Once something happens on Broadway, everyone else tends to follow. I hope this is a trend that will continue for years to come.
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