OPINION: Everyone Who Complains About Broadway Having No Original Works Featuring Diverse Casts and Creatives Better Show UP for This DEATH OF A SALESMAN

Nathan Lane By Btvway - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86673859

Laurie Metcalf By John Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8248264

We hear it time and time again: Broadway is out of fresh ideas, and would rather platform the same old, often heavily white casts, creatives and stories. Well, it works both ways buster - you gotta come out for the shows that do look to break this norm!

Which is why I’m imploring everyone who wants a broader, better Broadway to show the fuck UP for the upcoming revival of Death of a Salesman.

If you’re not gonna be there for the first EVER Broadway revival of Salesman (in the last 2.5 years) then I don’t want to hear it the next time there’s an all-white revival of a classic work, and before you say anything, not ALL of the casting has been announced! They might have a diversity in there! 

Plus, is it really inequitable if it’s one one of the most intimate houses on Broadway? I mean, I don’t know, this one’s in the Winter Garden, but it’s a good question. Or maybe it isn’t! What matters is that we have the platform to ask both good AND bad questions. 

Questions such as: Who is this for? Who wants this? I mean we know who wants this, but should they be allowed to get it? Why didn’t Scott Rudin walk the red carpet at opening night of Little Bear Ridge Road? I mean he’s back, right? Shouldn’t someone so confidently returning to their industry feel ok about showing their face at a high-profile event? Or does that person need a flashy New York Times profile to fight their battles for them? 

All neither good nor bad questions!

In conclusion, as someone who wants nothing but progress for this art form and industry, I will be at Death of a Salesman nights one, two, three, and as many as I can fit into my schedule not volunteering anywhere. It’s the least I can do. Also, I didn’t get to see Wendell Pierce/Sharon D. Clarke version. I was just busy, ya know? Can’t see everything!