White Washed Broadway

In the interest of full disclosure, I work in marketing and public relations and fully understand niche marketing.  That, however, in no way means that I like the concept or that I think it's valuable from a consumer/user perspective.    

The consumer me sees niche marketing as a ploy by companies to get me to spend my money and most of the time I tend to reject that sort of marketing/outright ploy.  The primary reason I do so, is that it rarely means that the company supports your "community" but rather that there is market research that shows you and your "community" are an "untapped market" or is a growing consumer segment.



What is problematic about this kind of marketing tactic is that it assumes a monolithic idea of a group of people.  In other words, all black people like _______ or all gay people like __________.  At it's essence, niche marketing is really marketing to stereotypes of people. 

This is all to explain why I was so incredibly annoyed by a story from yesterday's New York Times.  In it, Broadway has somehow miraculously discovered that black people have money and will spend it on live theatre IF they feel that the material is compelling.  I always find it incredibly insulting (as a black theatregoer) when I hear anecdotally that black folks don't go to the theatre. It implies that because I go to the theatre that I am somehow robbed of my "essential blackness."

Certainly there is a component of Charles Cooley's looking glass self where we absolutely want to see ourselves reflected back to us in media, and in this case, Broadway theatre.

So, now that Fela!, Fences and Memphis are on the (aptly named) Great White Way and black folks are paying to see it, the minds behind Broadway are clamoring to get more black content on the stage.  But why not try to give more work to the actors and actresses of color who want to work on Broadway?  Is it any wonder that Audra McDonald has "gone Hollywood," or that Viola Davis is better know as the actress who stole Doubt from Meryl Streep rather than a celebrated Broadway actress? Why isn't the fantastic (and incredibly sexy) Norm Lewis cast more to lend his fantastically rich baritone?

What remains disheartening is that most Broadway show casts are incredibly segregated.  In the shows I've seen on Broadway, there may be a black person or two in the chorus in a sea of whiteness.  The notable exceptions are musical revues and Chicago, which has welcomed actors and actresses of color in leading roles (both black stars like Robin Givens, Brian McKnight, Usher and Jasmine Guy as well as Broadway talent like Carol Woods, Lillias White and Deidre Goodwin), the recently closed revival of Hair and the revival of 110 in the Shade starring the fantastic Audra McDonald.  

My belief is that we'll always have this problem where actors and actresses of color aren't cast unless it's for Dreamgirls, The Wiz, The Color Purple and Hair, as long as black people (particular black women) are called on primarily to come out and belt out a number and then fade back into the chorus.  Pearl Bailey was a trailblazer and Audra McDonald has redefined (or at least moved forward) the concept of what a "black voice" is supposed to sound like (skip to about 4:23 for the section in this video where Audra McDonald discusses what people expected her voice to be like when she auditioned because of her blackness).



Here's hoping we don't have to wait another generation to begin seeing more culturally diverse casts )which I believe will lead to more culturally diverse audiences).