Just as Alexander Hamilton did, "Hamilton" has been in the spotlight for well over a year now, its spell on those who witness and listen to yet relentlessly enduring and the moment that the flame burns out does not look like it is approaching any time in the future. Though this is more than justifiable, "Hamilton" is a great show, that goes without saying, but moreover, it is an undeniably progressive show. Equipped with an incredibly diverse cast and talented cast, essentially one built entirely of people of color, "Hamilton" broke barriers on Broadway that even Hollywood still struggles to attempt to fracture. However, when you look beyond "Hamilton" and take the show out of the picture for a minute, where is that diversity, the talented black performers, the gifted Latinx superstars in the making, where are the exceptional Asian performers? Because if you do take "Hamilton" out of the picture, you are left with the bleak realization that, as the show would put it, "Hamilton" is the only room where it happens.
Looking at the shows currently enrolled on the Broadway stages of New York, excluding "Hamilton," you are left with "The Color Purple" and "On Your Feet" in terms of shows that tell the stories of people of color and make them fundamentals of their show, not just feature one black actor in the cast. "The Color Purple" is a revival and "On Your Feet" is approaching its one year anniversary and still is a fairly easy ticket to manage to get. And that's your Latin and Black representation aside from "Hamilton" on Broadway.
However, one of Broadway's largest trials when it comes to telling the stories of people of color on stage remains to be that of Asian Americans on stage. You might argue that theaters are housing and plan to house shows like "The King and I" and "Miss Saigon" but both of these shows are not exactly painting the picture in its best form. Both "The King and I" and "Miss Saigon" are known to be racist in their nature and focus more on the white characters on stage and sidelining Asian American actors in stories that are thought to be focused on them.
Even in "Hamilton" the Asian population is low, marking Asian performers as basically a rarity on Broadway, a phenomena if appearing on stage during a Broadway season.
However no entity is perfect, this is a world where the stories of people of color are unfortunately only starting to become more frequent. "Hamilton" will continue to gather its all but undeserving praise and we should continue to support it, but we cannot ignore the fact that the progressiveness being seen in "Hamilton" is only happening in a few other buildings.
