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| Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: claploudly 07:35 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| I just watched the brilliant filming of Hamilton on Disney + and I hope everyone will watch it, even if you have seen it on stage. The camera work and editing are perfect. The show deserves every accolade and prize it has been awarded. And then some. I have one question that I hope won't end up being a stick of dynamite. I did research the cast members of three national tour companies and see that every cast has the exact same makeup of races in each role. Or very close. Wondering if that means there is a requirement in the casting breakdowns specifying which characters must be played by actors of a specific race. For example, only white males can play King George, only Latino can play Hamilton, only blacks can play the majority of other roles, etc. Is that even legal these days? Just a question. Don't hate me for raising the question. | |
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| Pippin... | |
| Posted by: BigM 07:00 pm EDT 07/04/20 | |
| In reply to: Casting of Hamilton - claploudly 07:35 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| Every professional production I've seen or heard of has featured an African American as the Leading Player. That can't be a complete coincidence. Of course, the show opened in the 70's, but I suspect the legal situation was just as tricky then. And casting an African American in a role that is, essentially, the Devil, could be a bit questionable... | |
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| Paper Mill, 2000, Jim Newman. (NM) | |
| Posted by: Seth Christenfeld (tabula-rasa@verizon.net) 12:05 pm EDT 07/05/20 | |
| In reply to: Pippin... - BigM 07:00 pm EDT 07/04/20 | |
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| Seth, my hair is a bird and your argument is invalid | |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: JohnPopa 08:37 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: Casting of Hamilton - claploudly 07:35 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| I saw the tour in Cleveland a couple years ago (was it that long now?) Anyway, Hamilton was African American (Julius Thomas III,) Washington was Asian-American (Marcus Choi,) and Eliza was Indian (Shoba Norayan.) So, no, there doesn't seem to be a stringent breakdown of each character by perceived race. |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 08:34 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: Casting of Hamilton - claploudly 07:35 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| Other than the King, the roles in Hamilton are intended to be played by people of color, but as has been noted there is flexibility as to the ethnicity of each individual role. King George is played by a white man. And yes, it is legal to cast actors according to the ethnicity of the characters, which in Hamilton are mostly POC. I believe the recent Broadway productions of Choir Boy, Tina, and Aint Too Proud also had ethnic requirements in casting without running into any legal issues. |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: mikem 09:49 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - whereismikeyfl 08:34 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| Someone here may have a more complete knowledge of the subtleties, but my understanding is that it's legit for a casting notice to say that the actor has to appear physically to be a specific ethnicity, but it's a gray area whether the production can legitimately say the successful applicant must BE that ethnicity. It's not clear whether Hamilton can legally tell an actor that he won't be considered for Jefferson because the actor is white, if the actor's physical appearance is such that an audience would believe the actor to be a POC. It's also complicated by how the actor self-identifies in terms of ethnicity. You could have two siblings, and one identifies as white and the other identifies as a POC. I don't think any actor has ever brought a legal case on this issue, so I don't think there's ever been a ruling on this. But someone here might know more. |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: ryhog 09:34 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - whereismikeyfl 08:34 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| I am under the impression that the Samuel Seabury track is also white. Is that not the case on the road? (It's impossible to tell in New York because Thayne Jasperson is, so far as I know, the last remaining original company member.) | |
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| Who was King George's understudy in the original cast? | |
| Last Edit: mikem 10:07 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| Posted by: mikem 10:06 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - ryhog 09:34 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| I had assumed that there had to be at least one other white male in the cast to be King George's understudy, but both Playbill Vault and ibdb.com don't list anyone as King George's understudy in the original cast. There were three white men in the original cast: Jonathan Groff, Neil Haskell and Thayne Jasperson. Jasperson is currently listed in ibdb as a King George understudy, along with Marc de la Cruz (who is a POC). It looks like Neil Haskell also became a listed King George understudy before he left the Broadway cast. Were Haskell and Jasperson the original King George understudies, or was there an unlisted person who was the understudy? King George is the only principal role with no listed understudy in the original cast, which seems really strange unless there was an unlisted standby. |
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| re: Who was King George's understudy in the original cast? | |
| Last Edit: sirpupnyc 10:35 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| Posted by: sirpupnyc 10:27 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: Who was King George's understudy in the original cast? - mikem 10:06 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| King George has both a standby (possibly at times more than one) and understudies. At the time of the shutdown, the standby was Jimmie "JJ" Jeter, and the understudies were Marc delaCruz and Thayne Jasperson. So if Euan Morton was sick, it seems like there was a good chance you'd see a non-white George. There would have to have been an understudy at opening, even if he wasn't listed. Thayne and Andrew Chappelle were the first ones credited, some time after opening. |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: claploudly 08:47 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - whereismikeyfl 08:34 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| When you say "intended to be played by people of color" how do you know that? Does this mean that a college or community theatre can never perform Hamilton if there aren't enough people of color in the student body? Would it change the meaning of the show? Just not sure. | |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 08:42 am EDT 07/04/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - claploudly 08:47 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| I know it because Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail have said this was their intent. I do not think they have spoken about ethnicity in future educational productions, but they have said that they would be okay with women being cast in the male roles. And yes, casting white people as the Americans in Hamilton would clearly change the meaning of the show. In Hamilton, even wealthy Americans are an underclass in the same way that even wealthy non-white people are seen as an underclass in America today. Demographics are always an issue in programing for community and college theater. There are always some plays that just cannot be done with the available casting pool. |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: jbronsto 09:05 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - claploudly 08:47 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| The show wasn’t written without ethnicity in mind. It was conceived to be performed by principle actors of color (except for King George). You aren’t allowed to produce Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf with a George and Martha who are black and going forward, all white productions of Hairspray aren’t allowed. Community theatres and colleges sign a contract when they license a show and it would be as illegal for them to make an unauthorized change in the way the show is to be cast as it would be for them to insert unapproved songs. | |
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| “Virginia Woolf” and Black actors | |
| Posted by: kieran 09:23 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - jbronsto 09:05 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| nm | |
| Link | “Virginia Woolf” |
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| re: “Virginia Woolf” and Black actors | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 08:56 am EDT 07/04/20 | |
| In reply to: “Virginia Woolf” and Black actors - kieran 09:23 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| Interesting article. The requirement that rights would not be granted until after casting was done and headshots submitted to Albee's agent, scared off a few theaters in my largely hispanic community. I do not know any other writer who maintained such control over casting, which may be why Albee had the reputation for intractability regarding race. |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: theaterbear 09:00 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - claploudly 08:47 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| Yes, colleges and theater groups will need to cast the show predominantly with people of color - that is the author's intent and he's made it clear several times - the casting notice got a large uproar a few years back when it specifically stated they were looking for people of color. Karens everywhere were FURIOUS that they couldn't play Angelica. | |
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| Yes the casting notice said non-white, I believe but... | |
| Last Edit: KingSpeed 01:17 am EDT 07/04/20 | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 01:15 am EDT 07/04/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - theaterbear 09:00 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| ..I believe the casting notices now say all ethnicities. And that should be true for King George too, a role that I do not think has to be played by a white actor. As for high schools and colleges, it is a shame if a group can't work on this piece if the school is mostly white. If there aren't the black actors to cast, I think it's fine for a school to let their white students perform the piece. I would feel the same about say, The Wiz too. Not Dreamgirls, though. My opinion. | |
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| re: Yes the casting notice said non-white, I believe but... | |
| Posted by: ryhog 12:21 pm EDT 07/04/20 | |
| In reply to: Yes the casting notice said non-white, I believe but... - KingSpeed 01:15 am EDT 07/04/20 | |
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| I think this is an interesting question. Hamilton is not just about what it is about; it is about America then/America now and owning the history. That gets lost in a non-mixed cast but schools do lots of shows that lack verisimilitude. We shall see. | |
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| My only concern... | |
| Posted by: MockingbirdGirl 12:31 pm EDT 07/04/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Yes the casting notice said non-white, I believe but... - ryhog 12:21 pm EDT 07/04/20 | |
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| ... would be schools who see it as their duty to "restore" the historical figures for "authenticity." I have definitely seen ugly snippets of "how dare POC play white historical figures" in some less enlightened quarters this week. | |
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| re: My only concern... | |
| Posted by: ryhog 01:17 pm EDT 07/04/20 | |
| In reply to: My only concern... - MockingbirdGirl 12:31 pm EDT 07/04/20 | |
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| Yeah. I think the content of the show would make it hard to fully "restore" and I also think the show would prove substantively undesirable in those quarters but it is definitely something that they will need to monitor. | |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: sirpupnyc 08:08 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: Casting of Hamilton - claploudly 07:35 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| Not necessarily. Just off the top of my head, Michael Luwoye was Broadway's Hamilton for most of a year. | |
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| re: Casting of Hamilton | |
| Posted by: theaterbear 08:37 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Casting of Hamilton - sirpupnyc 08:08 pm EDT 07/03/20 | |
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| He was also Hamilton in the LA premiere prior to his run on Broadway. He was wonderful. | |
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