Casting controversy at Ithaca High School involves race

Of course, I have seen West Side Story and The King and I, both the movies and for the latter on Broadway. I have often thought that Rita Moreno should have gotten a shot as Maria, but even at her young age at the time, she looked too grown up and sophisticated to carry it off. I would see West Side Story or The King and I with actors of any shade or ethnicity, so long as a casting call notice didn’t say no white people need apply to be in the Sharks. Frankly, I think the Jets would be a great deal more interesting if they were ethnically diverse. It would lend a new depth to their motivations.

Honestly, if they had auditioned white people for Hamilton and chosen not to cast any of them because they weren’t right for the part, I would have been fine with that. I had no issues with the concept of Hamilton when the play originally opened and was actually planning to get tickets at some point. It was the blatant display and the apparent thought that as a POC, they could just do what they complain was done to them (and I agree that it was, for way too long) that offended me. I still intend not to see Hamilton. I have never said that anybody else should not see Hamilton and I would not support a boycott of it, but that notice turned me off so much that I lost interest in seeing it. If it’s my loss, so be it. I also choose not to watch sports and many people think that’s also my loss.

I understand that Hamilton is a re-visioning of the Founding Fathers’ story, but isn’t discriminating against white people just doing the same thing that was done to POC? Why perpetuate the discrimination?

By the way, I only attached the links because a poster upthread implied that the original casting notice had never existed and that was inaccurate.

It’s definitely your loss. So be it.

I’m off this thread.

“Frankly, I think the Jets would be a great deal more interesting if they were ethnically diverse.”

Um, they were. Polish, Italian, Irish…

I’m sorry, but the statement above about “discriminating against white people”? That is NOT a thing.
Might be time to check your privilege. Sigh…

@stagedoormama I just stood up in front of my computer and applauded after reading your comment.

" I also choose not to watch sports…". ??

when I lived in southeastern CT for a few years, we saw Stonington HS put on a production of “Curtains” and I thought that was excellent. Very surprised at how good it was and I had never heard of the show at the time. Never got to see Valley Regional HS, but they were supposed to be very good as well.

I’m back in the Farmington Valley now and have seen excellent productions at Simsbury (Into the Woods), Conard (Cinderella and Addams Family) and Avon (Addams Family) and GHAA (West Side Story, Finian’s Rainbow and In the Heights) I had heard, though, that GHAA did have some controversy because the two girls playing Maria and Anita were Jewish and not Hispanic. That said, they were both phenomenal and the girl playing Maria won Best Actress for the state. The girls playing Vanessa & Claudia the next year for In the Heights were Hispanic. Simsbury just did Mary Poppins and they even had the person actually walking on the ceiling in the show, though we did not have time to get out to see it.