Musicals Keep Putting People In Boxes... It Needs To STOP!

 

Musicals Keep Putting People In Boxes... It Needs To STOP!

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Imagine walking into an audition and hoping for one role, however you know you won't be getting it. This is NOT because of your talents but because of the role you "fit."

Feeling as though you have nothing to work for or look forward to because you already know your fate is boring. Knowing how things will play out takes the fun out of the whole concept of casting a musical and going through a lengthy audition process. Why do directors even hold auditions if your outcome was decided before you even stepped through the door?

Typecasting in musicals limits opportunity, supports stereotypes, and will weaken both actors and the creative potential of theatre as a whole. 

Type casting will ruin confidence. 

I have done musicals for the majority of my life and I have always been put into a bubble. The feeling of only being allowed to play one role because of my personality in the real world makes me feel like I should change myself. 

After reading “Not the Leading Role of Life”: Fatphobia in Educational Theatre & Its Impact on Larger-Bodied Adolescent Girls it is obvious other people feel the same way. Lucy Kania says, “The messages I internalized about myself during my time in educational theatre, aided of course by the medical fat-phobia I experienced, haunt me in very real ways, ways I am still trying to untangle and unlearn.” Being put in a bubble by others will shape how you see yourself, and may affect you for many years. Nobody got time for a lifetime of unraveling. 

You have to think that if you were only given certain roles you would soon believe that you are these roles and you will lose yourself in them. 

Lucy is only a highschool girl, if it starts that young what could it truly be like in the big leagues. 

Type casting reduces creativity. 

When you are only allowed to play one role and not experience other things you start to lose creativity. There are only so many ways to play the same role over and over again. 

In the article Lori Tan Chinn Is a Scene-Stealer in Awkwafina's New Series. But the Role Comes After Decades of Harassment and Discrimination, Chinn says “she lost many Asian-specific roles to white actors—including Meryl Streep—while the scant roles she was offered were often Mandarin-speaking caricatures.” This goes into a deeper meaning of typecasting. She is an authentic asian woman however the discrimination in musicals stopped her from getting the leads even if it was an asian feature part. 

There's no room to grow when you are put in a box with no light, sun, or water. These artists have no room to breathe and do what they are there for… create beautiful art. No matter the size, shape, or color. 

Why may type casting by race, sexuality, religion, and body type be bad?

I feel as though everyone knows the answer to this question. If you don’t I would maybe close your computer, stop reading this, and go out and live in the real world for a little while.

In the article “Not the Leading Role of Life”: Fatphobia in Educational Theatre & Its Impact on Larger-Bodied Adolescent Girls Lucy says, “I still struggle with my sense of self-worth on a daily basis.” Lucy may only be one case, however many people have talked out about how musical theatre typecasting will mess with their heads and drive them cray cray. 

 By typecasting based off of certain characteristics it will create a divide and there will be inequality on and off stage.  

Counter argument: Some may say… ‘Well shouldn’t you do what’s best for the show’. 

Well Karen the show doesn’t need saving just fewer backseat directors, like yourself. 

 Artistic growth and fairness are more important than predictability. We live in a world where not everything is black and white.

Yes the integrity of the show is something to take into consideration when casting, but nothing is truly that serious. Especially when creating art. The more colors, shapes, sizes, the more beautiful the art will be. The world will not end if a director decides to cast a ‘bigger girl’ as Cinderella. There is nothing in the show that has anything to do with Cinderella's weight, however you may not be able to cast a skinny girl as Tracy in Hairspray, that is a plot point of the show. 

In the article“Not the Leading Role of Life”: Fatphobia in Educational Theatre & Its Impact on Larger-Bodied Adolescent Girls it talked about, “study identifies areas of concern, including typecasting and costuming, and areas of impact, including internalized negative messaging and low self-esteem.” This is not what musicals were supposed to do. They are supposed to be a fun soul warming way for people to be told a story. 

There is nothing in a musical that should make people hate themselves. As I stated before, musicals are an art and art is changing everyday so we must change with it and accept what is new. 

At the end of the day, talent tells the story and typecasting just limits who gets to tell it. We can’t lose creativity, and actors can't lose themselves to something that is supposed to be freeing.