Hamilton's leading lady Phillipa Soo has just announced that she will be playing the title role in the the broadway adaptation of the french romantic comedy film Amelie. The role of Amelie was originally created by french actress Audrey Tautou. Upon reading this news it got me thinking about how much better the world of theatre is to minority actors compared to the film industry.
I could imagine the headlines now "Natalie Portman cast in American remake of Amelie" or "Emma Stone to be America's Amelie". Hollywood would never cast Constance Wu or Lupita Nyong'o in the title role of such a large adaptation, but theatre does and they've done it for a long time. Audra McDonald was cast as Carrie Pipperidge in the revival of Carousel in 1994. The character of Carrie was always played by white women. When McDonald was cast not only were barriers broken in terms of colorblind casting but an interracial relationship was also seen onstage (although it is important to point out it is not acknowledged as an interracial relationship). Lea Salonga also made history when she was cast as Eponine in Les Miserables in 1992.
There are shows however who acknowledge the race of their actors. "West Side Story", which is now considered a classic piece of American musical theatre, is entirely based on an interracial relationship. It also shows how theatre has also not been perfect when it has come to race. When this show debuted on Broadway in 1957 it was a complete taboo to imagine a Puerto Rican person and a white person being romantically involved. An interesting fact about this show, the original Maria was played by Carol Lawrence who was of Italian descent. So even though this play ENTIRE premise was about an interracial relationship they cast a white actress to portray Maria. It was not until the 1980 revival that Josie de Guzman an actress of Puerto Rican descent played Maria opposite a white Tony. The film version perpetuated this by casting the whiter than Wonderbread Natalie Wood as Maria in 1961.
In recent years the representation of minorities on stage has improved. In one Broadway season alone we saw musicals such as Allegiance (which told the story of people in Japanese internment camps written by a Japanese writer), The Color Purple (which features an all black cast), Eclipsed (a play starring a cast of black women and also written by The Walking Dead's Danai Guierra), and Hamilton (which features a cast of minority actors portraying the founding fathers). This Broadway season proves that not only are minority actors playing large roles in musicals they are getting to be the storyteller behind the scenes as well.
Variety
While things in theatre have improved drastically things in film haven't exactly gotten better, the same thing can't be said about film. Earlier this year controversy arose when Scarlett Johansson was cast as Motoko Kusanagi in the American adaptation as Ghost in the Shell. "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." star Ming-Na Wen raised the question why can't an asian actress be cast in the role and it's completely true. The year before in the box office bomb "Aloha" starring Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone, Stone portrayed an asian character. The director of the film and Stone herself have acknowledged that her casting was a poor decision. I don't understand how people can't see this as blatant racism you aren't casting a blonde and making them a redhead, you're casting someone and making them play a different race! This happened earlier in American history from the late 1800s to the 1960s and it was called blackface.
It's important to note that not only are asian people whitewashed in modern Hollywood. Native Americans are also whitewashed. Rooney Mara starred in the 2015 film "Pan" she played a Native American named TIger Lily. She also probably wore the most racist costume I've ever seen, who thought this was a good idea? Mara later spoke out against the film and the role claiming she hated it.
Theatre certainly was never perfect with this but the changes in recent years are so awesome come on Hollywood it's time to catch up.
