“Hamilton” Casting Called Discriminatory To Whites By now, surely you’ve heard about the Broadway breakout hit Hamilton , which tells the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton through hip-hop influenced music numbers and features a predominantly Black and Latino cast…although you likely haven’t seen it yourself since tickets are sold out until 2017. The hit play recently came under fire while looking for extra cast members to fill its highly coveted roles. An NY civil rights activist says that the producers’ search specifically looking for people of color violates fair casting rules. Via Playbill : Hamilton, which has been praised for its bold casting policy of using ethnically diverse actors to play the mainly white Founding Fathers—a move that has captivated audiences and emboldened minority actors—may have stepped over the line in a recent casting notice, according to a civil rights attorney. According to a CBS News report, the attorney, Randolph McLaughlin of the Newman Ferrara Law Firm slammed a recent casting notice specifying that the show was seeking “non-white” performers. He said the notice may violate the New York City Human Rights Law that forbids discrimination in hiring based on race. No specific legal complaint has been filed against the show with the New York Commission on Human rights so far. But McLaughlin told CBS, “What if they put an ad out that said, ‘Whites only need apply? Why, African-Americans, Latinos, Asians would be outraged.” The production is fairly confident that they had followed all the applicable rules while looking to keep the diverse cast that has helped make the show a standout on the Broadway scene, so they ended up issuing a “sorry, not sorry” statement addressing the casting call in question: “The producers of Hamilton regret the confusion that’s arisen from the recent posting of an open call casting notice for the show. It is essential to the storytelling of Hamilton that the principal roles –which were written for non-white characters (excepting King George) – be performed by non-white actors. This adheres to the accepted practice that certain characteristics in certain roles constitute a “bona fide occupational qualification” that is legal. This also follows in the tradition of many shows that call for race, ethnicity or age specific casting, whether it’s The Color Purple or Porgy & Bess, or Matilda. The casting will be amended to also include language we neglected to add, that is, we welcome people of all ethnicities to audition for Hamilton.” “Hamilton depicts the birth of our nation in a singular way,” said producer Jeffrey Seller, in a further statement. “We will continue to cast the show with the same multicultural diversity that we have employed thus far.” So…the popular play that makes SURE that Black and Brown people get prominent parts is the one that gets called out for discrimination??? SMH. At least they don’t plan on backing down. So if you’re in the NYC area and looking for that big break…by all means take your (Black or Brown) self down to the theater and try out! Playbill.com
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Broadway Hit Hamilton Accused OF “Racist” Casting Due To Open-Call Search For Non-White Performers
