Hello World! Welcome to the wonderful world of musical theatre. My name is Vaibu Mohan and I will be your guide for the next three months. For those of who are new to the musical theatre scene, we welcome you and give you a warning. Entry into this world will result in addiction. But no matter because we are about to embark on a roller coaster or music, dance, and awesomeness.
Quick preview of what you'll see on my blog: I'll be doing big updates every Friday and the title of each blog update will include a musical reference because I'm a nerd. Today's reference is from Heathers the Musical! I will also be posting a daily song suggestion from a musical for you all to listen to. I hope that I can get more people involved in musical theatre and help them become supporters of live theatre.
Before we begin, let me give you a brief overview of my project. The main question I hope to answer how are new musicals are changing the scene for young actors of color who are just entering the business. As one of the actors of color in question, this project is extremely personal and I hope to gain some insight into the musical theatre business. Theatre is a very special place for any performer because nothing compares to adrenalin of live performance. But, theatre has been very slow to diversify. For the entire history of the industry, parts that were written for people of color were often played by white actors. One of the most famous examples is Yul Brynner, a Russian-born American actor, playing the King of Siam in The King and I. But that was over 70 years ago! Things have change right?
Yes and No. We have made massive strides toward making theatre a more diverse and accepting place but, according to 2014 statistics from the Broadway League, over 70% of performers on Broadway were white and only 3% were Asian. But many of the shows on Broadway sent out casting calls that were racially and ethnically non-specific. So where is the problem and how can we fix it?
Enter Hamilton. Hamilton is a hip-hop musical based on the life of our Founding Father and first Secretary of Treasury. Yeah THAT Alexander Hamilton. It is making waves and uprooting the traditional musical theatre standards. The mastermind behind the entire production, Lin Manuel Miranda, also plays Alexander Hamilton in the production. He made his interpretation of American history look like and feel like the America we live in today which makes the whole experience engaging and transcendent. Hamilton will be the basis of my research into how new musical are changing the game and making theatre more accessible to young actors of color.
So step into my candy store folks. Let's have some fun
