Maybe this is something that has changed in subsequent stagings, but my memory from the 3 times I saw the original production is that Coalhouse IS killed by the police. He does not blow himself up, as your post says. He makes sure that everyone else has left, and is safe, and then opens the doors and the police open fire.
My memory is off then, and I saw the show recently! You're right.
So I take that part back. However, police murdering an unarmed black man who is surrendering even is a very real thing... I think there's an argument to be made for not rewriting that either. Especially when the majority of the audience is going to be white, and Coalhouse is a character we love and understand and side with and root for. I could easily see that moment happening with projections flashing of articles about black men in our day being murdered by the police to tie it into the idea that nothing has changed and connect 1904 to today, as the show should do in our minds if not literally.
