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: Rising stage star Emilie Kouatchou came close to quitting musical theater during the pandemic shutdown, worried about the future. She stuck with it and has now made Broadway history.
: Rising stage star Emilie Kouatchou came close to quitting musical theater during the pandemic shutdown, worried about the future. She stuck with it and has now made Broadway history.
9 comments:
WHEW that cover photo for the article is stunning. I am so thrilled for Emilie Kouatchou, and it is lovely to see that she secured such an incredible role after almost deciding to leave the industry. The fact that The Phantom of the Opera has been running for over 30 years and only now has a Black woman been cast as Christine is ridiculous, so I hope this opens doors for future diverse casting decisions on the show moving forward. Phantom of the Opera was a production I watched on DVD as a child, and it made me fall in love with musical theatre and the power the songs can hold. I wish they had made the effort to include non-white actors and actresses in the leading roles earlier. Perhaps they could have reached more children who would then be better able to imagine themselves in the role. Representation is so important, especially in big name shows like Phantom. I wish Emilie the best and I know she will absolutely kill it as Christine!!!!
I agree with Sammy that the photo in the article is stunning. And I really don’t know much about Phantom of the opera, I’ve never seen it, I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of it, but I really am so shocked that this is the first time a black woman has played this role on Broadway. I am thrilled for the Emilie Kouatchou that she is getting this opportunity and making history in this role, but still so disappointed in the show as a whole for this never having happened before. I do applaud phantom for having an open video call for this role. I am sure this approach to casting allowed them to see some talent whom they would never have seen with invitation only, in person auditions. And it sounds like this is how they found Kouatchou, so it worked out really well for them, and they found their next star, and made history in the process.
Wow. The Phantom of the Opera is one of my favorite musicals of all time so of course, the title automatically grabbed my attention. The character of Christine Daae is quite iconic in my opinion; her impressive high notes and tragically beautiful story arc makes the musical a wonderful performance to watch. Reading this article was somewhat bittersweet though; I was delighted to read about Emilie Kouatchou and her journey in musical theatre and casting as Christine on Broadway, but I could not help but feel somewhat dismayed at the fact that with the 30 plus years of Phantom, it is only now that a black woman was cast in the lead role; it really shouldn’t have taken this long for producers to recognize that the “definition” of Christine doesn’t include being white. I really hope to be able to go and see Kouatchou on stage as Christine sometime soon!
Phantom of the Opera is what got me really into theatre and I am beyond excited for Emilie Kounatchou’s role as Christine Daae. This no doubt sends a strong statement to the world as the entertainment industry strives for diversity and equity now more than ever. Phantom of the Opera, being one of the most iconic musical pieces, is in a way using its status to tell people that the barrier must be broken. When reading the article, it was really shocking to me that Kounatchou had graduated in 2019. To see that she was able to secure a leading role like this within just 2 years of graduation is so inspiring — makes me admire her even more! Whilst it’s disheartening to hear that many talented individuals, including Kounatchou, struggled very hard during the pandemic, I’m glad that things have come around for some of them. The best comes to those who wait! And best of luck to Kounatchou on her new role as Christine.
Fortunate that I should come across this news article after just hearing about this news a couple days prior. A big, huge congratulations to Emilie Kouatchou for landing such a historic role. This article got me all excited about the Phantom of the Opera, which is undoubtedly one of my favorite musicals ever (keeping in mind some of its more...problematic elements, as with all things), especially from a technical perspective, and now I really would like to see this performance. I have no doubt that Kouatchou is a truly spectacular musical theatre actor, considering she was chosen for this role out of some four thousand applicants. Maybe this year I will finally buck up and go to New York, since I have never been before, and perhaps I'll get to see her. And, in agreement with Sammy and Annika before me, that cover photo of Christine and the Phantom is so stunning. The power, the strength, I love it.
This is such a big step in the diversification and claiming of large scale theatre productions. Given that Phantom is the longest running musical it has such a grounded importance to the theatre community and has so much history. It's an important show and her contribution, and the casting director's willingness to open up the role to the BIPOC community will leave it's mark on the production and hopefully help set a new standard in the industry as a whole. I do wish the article had had more information on Emilie Kouatchou. I suppose as a rather new actor it may not have been easy to find a lot of info about her budding career and past works. But I would have liked to get to know her a little bit more as a person. Where does she hope her career will go after this? Having a role this big this early can really change the way you think about and expect the future to go.
As a member of a lot of fan communities I have seen a lot of fandoms insert diversity of their own into pieces they love. The practice of redrawing white characters to be rare black leads and creating relatiability where production has succumb to white supremacist tradition is really common, so I have so much joy when I see actual productions do it as well. The casing of BIPOC people in traditionally white roles (most roles are traditionally white in the racist institution that is Broadway but i digress) is an intentional disrupting that I am so here for. Phantom is such a classic show that the disruption of racist norms within it is a fantastic step. towards the equity that BIPOC performers deserve in broadway. I’m so excited to see her fulfill this role and I’m excited to see if any other progress comes from this. I love it!!
I love that we are moving to a place where “traditional roles” no longer have to go to white presenting people. Emilie Kouatchou is an amazing performer who has earned her role in this Broadway staple. It’s wild to see that she graduated from the University of Michigan in 2019. I also like that the article addressed the change in the casting process for the show. It makes sense, given the world we are living in now, that opening the role to anyone who can perform it properly is the right thing to do. Audiences are hopefully changing to the more progressive mindset that outside people often associate with the arts.
Another thing I am enjoying about the new Phantom is a change in the choreography in one of the scenes. It went from having very strong male abuser energy to one where Christine has more agency. The Phantom no longer grabs Christine or looms above her but is seen more hiding from her. When he runs off it is putting power on her to stay.
It is honestly shocking to me that it has taken 33 years for this to be a headline and that the first black Christine in West end was only last year. I am glad parts of the theatre industry are responding to the “We See you, White American Theatre” movement. This shows that intentional progress is being made. Emilie being cast as Christine is a bigger statement about diversity in theatre, in places that people have never put in a second thought. Additionally, I am really glad that I decided to go to Grad school right when the pandemic hit because I have no idea what I would have done coming in as a professional to the environment at that time. I think that would be even more difficult as a new black artist with where the industry was a year ago. I hope that we continue to see changes in this industry based on diversity & equity.
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