Broadway Productions Make Historic Leaps to Promote Inclusivity

Nothing inspires future performers like seeing themselves represented on stage.

Now, audience members across many races, abilities, and backgrounds can find performers to relate with, as leading Broadway productions present the most diverse and inclusive casts in theater history.

And with good reason. Without inclusion, great talent can be overlooked. And showcasing a diversity of performers enhances audiences’ experience, allowing them to enjoy the mesmerizing work of all actors who enrich lives through their powerful performances.

Read below just a few examples of how Broadway productions increasingly embrace inclusivity.

More and more, smash Broadway shows star talented performers across a variety of races and ethnicities.

Musical phenomenon “Hamilton” — returning to The Smith Center October 18 to November 6 — serves as a prime example, with its cast of predominantly Black and brown actors depicting the history of America, while celebrating the country’s diversity today. The show’s Puerto Rican creator Lin-Manuel Miranda starred as Alexander Hamilton in the original cast.

Manuel’s four-time Tony-winning Broadway musical “In the Heights” also made headlines with its diverse cast, intended to accurately represent Washington Heights’ immigrant and Latino community.

Beyond this, classic Broadway productions now embrace diverse casting with famous roles. Emilie Kouatchou recently made history as the first Black woman cast as the heroine Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera,” Broadway’s longest-running production.

Beloved Broadway musical “Wicked” also cast Brittney Johnson as the first Black woman to play the show’s costarring role of Glinda, and Keke Palmer slipped on glass slippers as the first Black woman to star on Broadway in “Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella.”

Representation continues behind the scenes, too. When Broadway reopened in 2021, its lineup included seven new plays, all by Black playwrights.

For anyone who thinks performers with disabilities can’t steal the show, they can think again.

Wheelchair-bound since age 2 from a car accident – which left her paralyzed from the chest down – Ali Stoker earned instant acclaim for her powerful vocals and magnetic presence while costarring as Ado Annie in the Broadway revival of “Oklahoma.”

Stoker not only became the first actor in a wheelchair to perform on a Broadway stage, but also the first to win a Tony Award in 2019.

“This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena — you are,” Stoker announced in her inspiring acceptance speech.

More Broadway productions now welcome actors with disabilities. Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed Broadway play “Harper Lee’s

To Kill A Mockingbird,” visiting The Smith Center January 10 to 15, features deaf actor Russell Harvard playing the roles of Link Deas and Boo Radley.

And the recent hit Broadway production “A Christmas Carol,” which also came to The Smith Center, featured child actors with cerebral palsy to portray Tiny Tim, ensuring an accurate depiction of a child with a disability.

Heartwarming Broadway musical “The Prom” achieves an impressive accomplishment, by telling an uproarious story that also champions inclusivity in its portrayal of a lesbian teenager fighting for her right to take her girlfriend to prom.

Part of The Smith Center’s 2022-2023 Broadway season, “The Prom” serves as just one of many Broadway productions supporting and showcasing LGBTQ stories and performers.

Megahit musical “Jagged Little Pill,” visiting The Smith Center September 6 to 11, also portrays a character on an emotional journey exploring gender.

And the new, Tony-winning Best Musical “A Strange Loop” not only follows the story of a Black, gay writer (who’s writing a musical about a Black, gay writer), but it also costars openly trans actor L Morgan Lee, whose performance made her the first trans actor to earn a Tony nomination.

Nonbinary playwright and performer Taylor Mac also earned a Tony nomination in 2019 for penning acclaimed Broadway play “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus,” starring Nathan Lane.

And groundbreaking Broadway play “Straight White Men” – the first Broadway play written by an Asian-American woman – featured nonbinary activist-performer Kate Bornstein and Native American trans actor Ty Defoe in roles specifically written for them.

With each of these productions, Broadway continues to prove how much theater enriches the lives of all.