You know Broadway is coming back. But here’s something you probably don’t know: Some of the biggest shows have been revising onstage moments to reflect concerns about race. nyti.ms/3vAYFnP
The changes, many prompted by concerns from actors, have not been announced, and I stumbled across this story idea when I went to the reopening of “The Lion King” and noticed that Timon no longer refers to Rafiki as a monkey. (Yeah, I’ve seen “The Lion King” a few times.)
I knew that “The Book of Mormon” was holding a workshop to revisit its script and staging, following a letter of concern from actors, and I started to sense a possible pattern, so I began calling around.
Sure enough, it turned out that “Hamilton” had rechoreographed a song, and “To Kill a Mockingbird” had reblocked its ending, and “The Lehman Trilogy” and “Jagged Little Pill” had added new lines.
If you see the shows, you might or might not notice the changes, depending on your level of fandom, but they matter a lot to the artists involved, and this is all a reminder of the impact the events of last year is having in the theater world. nyti.ms/3vAYFnP
@MichaelPaulson Something good to come out of difficult times.
@MichaelPaulson thanks for this piece and for linking my essay. I would love to hear more details about the JLP changes.