If Broadway is Serious About Supporting Black Talent, They Need to Recast 'The Music Man'

Over the past couple of weeks, the Broadway industry and leadership have vowed to make changes so black artists, not to mention other BIPOC’s, have more of a presence on New York stages.

When the Broadway elite said they were listening, I’ll admit, I took that with a grain of salt. BIPOC talent, design, and crew have been making these requests for years and hardly anything’s changed. So forgive me if I don’t jump to believe their promises of progress just yet. I want to see action.

The first of which is for producers to rethink how upcoming and returning shows, for that matter, are cast. One of the most glaring of which is the scheduled revival of The Music Man.

One of the many calls of action is for these shows to feature more black performers in principal roles which would theoretically be played by any race. For too long, black performers have been relegated to ensembles and sidekick roles rather than leads.

Those percentages are even worse when those roles could be played by anyone and not written for black performers such as The Color Purple and Ain’t Too Proud.

When the casting announcements for The Music Man started rolling out, I grew more and more concerned. Not only were the two leads white(Huge Jackman and Sutton Foster) but so was every other cast member. From Mayor Shinn to his wife to Marcellus, everyone one of them was white. In fact, before the COVID-19 shutdown, not a single BIPOC had been officially announced as part of the cast.

The only rumored BIPOC casting was a black man as Tommy Djilas, which looks very problematic seeing how he’s portrayed as a troublemaker and described coming from the “wrong side of town.”

When they announced the plans for the revival, which is problematic in its own right, many were clamoring for a diverse cast. But the Scott Rudin-led production ignored those calls and cast the show like Hello Dolly! 2.0.

I don’t think any white performer should be replaced or fired from the production but I think it would be fantastic if some of these actors, who clearly don’t need the money/exposure/awards of being in a show like this will step down from their role for a black performer to fill it. That would be the definition of being an ally in this industry.

Doing so wouldn’t be considered a “knee-jerk” reaction either. It would be correcting a casting issue that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

I would also hope the same goes for existing shows when they return or when roles becoming contractually available. There are some shows desperate for diversity such as Wicked, Chicago, and Phantom of the Opera.

All in all, I hope that when Broadway leadership pledged change, they meant it. I hope when these actors posted support of #blacklivesmatter, they thought about how they can really help.