Re your last paragraph, about "considering a show like this going to Broadway...": I think you are giving them credit for considering that much. It seems the MO for Broadway producers this season was: "Let's look through the past 20 years off-Broadway and just pull out every BIPOC play..."
Chicken and Biscuits was not a sophisticated enough comedy for Broadway.
Ain't No Mo' would have been more appropriate in an off-Broadway or late-night venue.
Here Lies Love got plenty of attention when it ran at the Public and no doubt was considered for a transfer then. But sure, now, when the audience includes another generation with no memory of the Imelda Marcos scandal/story, we really need it now! (Maybe more effort could have been made to find a NEW play by an Asian artist, rather than this show with an Asian cast created by "old" white men!)
I recommend the Broadway community hold a symposium after the season to consider more productive tactics going forward. The goal of improving diversity and representation is admirable, but there needs to be more thought behind selecting shows to mount on Broadway and marketing them. Despite all the effort, it seems most of the biggest hits – Sweeney Todd, Leopoldstadt, A Beautiful Noise (at least early on) – have been white-led/dominated. Meanwhile, the biggest flops of the season: Ohio State Murders, Room, K-Pop, Ain't No Mo'. |
