Carousel's Subtle Racism

Okay, so I'm bored and doing laundry and I figured why not make a post. First things first, I have not seen the revival of Carousel. When the revival of Carousel was first announced I immediately thought "why?" out of all the musicals in the world that deserve a revival why this one? Is this really the appropriate time to tell this story when we are in the #MeToo era? Then this news just got better when they decided to cast Joshua Henry, a large built black man, in the role of Billy Bigelow opposite Jessie Mueller, a (somewhat) tiny white woman, as Julie Jordan. (Now in case you're not aware of the story *SPOILER* Billy abuses Julie throughout their marriage *END

Joshua Henry

SPOILER*) Before you get all upset and say something like "Well why do you have to look at it as a race thing? Why are you making this a race thing?" I have two things to say 1) Great Comet 2) I am all for colorblind casting, but this show seems off with it. Considering the fact that except for Lindsay Mendez in her TONY WINNING turn as Carrie Pipperidge (#CastingGoals come true btw), John Douglas Thompson as The Starkeeper, Rosena M. Hill Jackson as Ensemble & u/s Nettie Fowler and a few other ensemble members all of the P.O.C.'s in this cast play the bad people. In case you don't know what I'm talking about: Billy Bigelow the *SPOILER* criminal and abusive husband who dies *END SPOILER* 2 of the 3 men who portray him are black (Joshua Henry and u/s Antoine L. Smith) and for Jigger Crain the *SPOILER* Guy who convinces Billy to go back into crime which eventually gets him killed *END SPOILER* 3 out of 4 of the men who portray him are M.O.C. Amar Ramasar (I'm not sure of his ethnicity), u/s Andrei Chagas (Brazilian) and u/s Ahmad Simmons (Black). Now, I'm not trying to call the producers racists because I'd like to believe that this is just something that they never thought about or realized. The reason why this bothers me so much is when you look at the rest of the cast, specifically the other principles, such as Jessie Mueller as Julie Jordan, Alexander Gemignani as Enoch Snow and Renée

Renée Fleming and Jessie Mueller

Fleming as Nettie Fowler it gives the show a racist undertone. A large, black man who beats his tiny, white wife... I'm the only one who sees a problem with this? This would have looked even worse had the producers had their first choice for Carrie Pipperidge, Betsy Wolfe (A white actress) and this would have made it even more uncomfortable for me. The reason that the casting of this show bothers me so much besides the #MeToo movement is also everything going on in the news right now and the hate crimes against black people. Does that make sense to anyone or am I just connecting dots that aren't there? Now, if the producers are trying to make some sort of political statement with this casting, then I'm at a loss, but if not then they should have rethought their casting. What I mean by that is add a few more P.O.C.'s in the show SPECIFICALLY in the roles of Julie Jordan and Nettie Fowler. There are many W.O.C. soprano's to choose from and all have gorgeous voices now just to name my own personal favorites for the role of Julie Jordan: Ali Ewoldt, Denée Benton and Phillipa Soo. Meanwhile for the role of Nettie Fowler: Audra McDonald (OBVIOUSLY I MEAN COME ON GUYS!!!) as well as Lea Salonga and Ruthie Ann Miles. In conclusion, I'm not attacking the people in this revival so don't try and make this article about that. I am simply saying that I find the casting choices made for this production a little odd that is all.