Broadway’s Coming Back. Are Its Problems Coming With It?

Though the theaters have been shut down, talk surrounding Broadway’s systemic issues has been far from. Now it’s time to see how Broadway will follow through on its vows to change.

Last spring, hundreds marched down Manhattan’s Broadway with one word in mind: change.

Scott Rudin, the entertainment mega-producer, had unleashed the frustration, fury and focused determination of the city’s theatre industry in full force. Rudin’s behavior, documented as being both physically and psychologically damaging to his employees, unearthed a larger issue of higher-ups getting away with flagrant abuses of power. Until the pandemic, which shuttered theaters for 18 months, Rudin’s tantrums had been routinely praised as one of many examples of “tough love” rites of passage for young creatives trying to break into the industry.

But at what felt like a tonal shift, artists began openly denouncing the gauntlet of racism, ableism, dangerous overwork and other violations they said were inherent to Broadway. The March on Broadway caused Rudin to resign from the Broadway League, the association in charge of running the industry — a milestone for the movement to make the entertainment industry more inclusive and safe.

After the march, Broadway seemingly effected change quite quickly. Two weeks after the march, the Broadway League hired Gennean Scott as their Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion — a step advocates had been pushing for, for years. Pledges for diversity ensued.

But now, six months later, Broadway’s reopened, and there have already been several controversies. Jagged Little Pill has endured some negative incidents — the production coerced a trans actor to postpone an important surgery fearing it would interfere with a successful opening night and has made troubling decisions regarding its character, Jo’s gender identity. Similarly, Hamilton, Broadway’s emblem of diversity, faced criticism in early October for refusing a trans actor a gender-neutral dressing room. With these stories painting a rather bleak public picture for Broadway’s return, the question lies: where is the change?

Natalie Randall has spent the past 18 months ruthlessly campaigning for it on social media, in private meetings with industry leaders and out on the streets. According to her, things seem to be looking up.

A Black actress who co-organized the March on Broadway, Randall says change is surprisingly still happening, though it’s not abundantly apparent: “I’m upset about the injustices still happening just like everyone else, but … people are still doing the work,” she explained. “Every new play opening on Broadway this fall is by a Black playwright. That’s crazy.”

Seven new plays this fall, all by Black writers, starkly contrast the 4 out of 37 new shows planned for the incomplete 2019–20 Broadway season that were POC-written. “This is something that I once thought: that’s never going to happen,” says Randall — a promising sign for Broadway’s pledge to diversify its voices.

Randall adds that diversity has progressed onstage as well. “Sis was cast in a traditionally cis role in the Oklahoma tour (referring to Black trans actress, Sis, who organized the Trans March on Broadway),” she added. “Never would that have happened before the pandemic.”

“Before the pandemic” seems like a recurring theme. As quarantine forced the nation to confront its racial inequities, Broadway executives were finding ways to dismantle the industry’s own systemic issues.

Roundabout’s current revival of Caroline, or Change held company workshops throughout their rehearsal process to address Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), among other industry concerns. “There wasn’t EDI training on any show I’d done before the pandemic,” reflects J. Navarro, one of Caroline’s music associates. “But now, if you’re a Broadway show and you don’t do an EDI workshop, then people start to question you.”

The scrutiny doesn’t end there. “Caroline had a lot of people looking at it because the story is centered around a Black woman and our director is a White man,” said Navarro. “People were wondering, and I think rightly, how he could tell this story.”

The director, Michael Longhurst, transferred with this production of Caroline, or Change from London’s West End, which was mounted pre-pandemic. “Since coming back, Michael has been clear in his ‘I am not this’ mentality. He’s very aware and respectful,” explained Navarro. “It’s about trust. Even though Michael’s White, he’s surrounded himself with people who know the story. They fill in gaps he can’t.”

That being said, diversity on stage and in the rehearsal room isn’t where Broadway’s fight ends. This year’s Tony Awards, which aired in September, attempted to start Broadway’s return with a bang. But it received backlash because of its exclusive streaming on Paramount+. Audiences who were used to the awards being broadcast on TV complained the exclusivity made the show “inaccessible” and irritating.

“To put the Tonys behind a paywall, it made me furious,” expressed Jen Sandler, an upcoming New York theatre producer. “We’ve been having so much conversation, and honestly making so much progress in regards to diversity, then this happens. That’s very scary.”

As a producer, Sandler is worried about what message this sends to potential theatergoers. “Especially after the pandemic, we shouldn’t be pushing audiences away. Putting the Tonys on Paramount+, I don’t know, just feels very supremacist. It tells people who might be struggling financially that ‘theatre isn’t for you.’” She tags on, “ticket prices reflect that. Why are prices just as expensive post-pandemic?”

For Sandler, Broadway’s next step is to extend the change that’s being enacted behind closed doors out to the public: “That starts with audiences. We need butts in seats more than ever, and that doesn’t just mean rich white butts.” But she adds, “money talks.”

Navarro, who is also a theatre composer, asserts: “There is a shift with people telling more diverse stories, but ticket-buyers don’t reflect them yet; maybe do some outreach programs, or do more streaming. Try it out, see what sticks.”

Trying appears to be the new name of the game on Broadway. “Jagged Little Pill showed that we’re still fucked up,” Randall laughs. “Representation needs to become a norm. We shouldn’t have to celebrate a trans woman getting cast, but for now we do. It’s part of a process. People are going to mess up, people are going to do the wrong thing; that’s okay, as long as we keep trying.”

SOURCE LIST

Natalie Randall, Actor/Activist, @nattalyee on Instagram

J Oconer Navarro, Musician/Music Director, joconernavarro@nyu.edu

Jen Sandler, Producer/Associate Artistic Director of NY Theater Barn, jsandler16@gmail.com