【Animation Archives】

An Australian production of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway musical In the Heightshas been cancelled,Animation Archives after severe backlash over the company's whitewashing of a cast of Latinx characters.

The Hamiltoncreator's Tony Award-winning musical celebrates Latin-American culture in Miranda’s own New York neighbourhood of Washington Heights, with a full cast of characters for Latinx performers.

SEE ALSO: Lin-Manuel Miranda teases a new song for Puerto Rico aid relief and it's gonna be big

However, a Queensland company fell short here, with a recent Brisbane production of the musical sparking outrage about the number of white performers, including the casting of the show’s lead character, Usnavi de la Vega, a Dominican immigrant originally played by Miranda himself.

Produced by Gold Coast company Matt Ward Entertainment, In the Heightswas set to run at the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of Wonderland Festival in late November.

With the announcement of the cast through promotional posters, OnStage Blogpounced on the show, accusing it of whitewashing and writing, "It might as well be a mass-bleaching of the show with how they cast these roles with white and non-Latinx performers."

"This is one of the few shows that celebrates Latinx culture and features Latinx performers in lead roles. That is something that needs to be followed and respected," wrote OnStage editor Chris Peterson. "And when a theatre blatantly refuses to cast Latinx performers in favor of white, non-Latinx actors, that needs to be called out."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"Queensland, Australia isn't known for it rich Latinx population (less than one percent are Spanish speaking), which begs the question of why they're doing In The Heightsto begin with?"

Following the post, media coverage and significant social media reactions, Matt Ward Entertainment cancelled the show, issuing a press release on Sept. 29.

Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

It read:

"We respectfully acknowledge concerns from the community regarding casting of the work and humbly accept that the public considers that we have not harnessed, at this time, a sufficient number of authentic Latinx voices to tell this story.

"While we are motivated by providing talented local performers the opportunity to hone their craft within a professional setting, and are proud of our team’s commitment to multicultural casting, we acknowledge the vitalness of cultural authenticity and the community’s concerns on this occasion.

"To those who we have caused distress; please understand that our intention was only ever to tell this much-loved story and we offer our deepest regret and sincere apologies for any unintended offence."

However, on Sept. 20, before cancelling, Matt Ward Entertainment had refuted the claims in a Facebook post, saying the OnStage Blogpost was "misleading".

"More than 50 percent of our cast members identify with an ancestry other than Australian. Of our lead cast, our Usnavi is Samoan; our Nina hails from Italian descent; our Vanessa [actor Stephie Da Silva, tweeted below] is from Uruguay; our Kevin and Camila are from Brazil. Our supporting cast is comprised of performers with Latino, Islander, Asian, Middle Eastern and American ancestry."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Matt Ward Entertainment's casting call originally looks for "12 principle characters, an ensemble of approximately 20 dancers who specialise in Latin, Urban and hip-hop styles and a choir ensemble singing in both English and Spanish languages."

They also note, "In The Heightscelebrates diversity and inclusion — we strongly encourage performers from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds to apply."

The company reiterated this in on Facebook, posting, "In casting In The Heights, we actively encouraged actors of all ethnicities to apply and were committed to ensuring our casting reflected Australia’s vast cultural and linguistic diversity whilst assembling the highest-quality cast members available for the production."

SEE ALSO: The 8 main excuses Hollywood uses for racially insensitive casting – and why they're BS

Australia's theatre scene isn't nearly as diverse it could be. The Cultural Diversity in Australian Theatrereport published by Melbourne-based writer Kim Ho found that in 2017, less than a fifth of 95 productions by ten major Australian companies are by a writer of colour, and less than one seventh are directed by artists of colour. Performer data wasn't shown in this report.

But the Australian theatre industry isn't alone, and the Gold Coast-based company isn't the first accused of whitewashing In the Heights. Chicago's Porchlight Music Theatre was slammed for its 2016 production, which featured white actor Jack DeCesare as the show’s lead, Usnavi.

In a statement published by the Chicago Sun-Times, Porchlight’s artistic director, Michael Weber, said, “After an exhaustive audition process, during which we saw hundreds of the Chicago-area’s diverse music theater talent — both established and new — and even reached out to our city’s vast hip-hop dance community ... we have made every effort to present a company that reflects the true spirit of this story of community and family."

Unfortunately, in both cases, "making an effort" isn't the same as actually casting. And whitewashing, sadly, isn't exactly a new (or past) thing in the theatre industry.

Do better, huh?

---

Featured Video For You

---

Celebs are sharing embarrassing puberty throwback pics for a good cause

---

Topics Music