My Glaring Side-Eye at Broadway Elite's Outrage over 'Grease' Sing-a-Long
Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
CBS recently announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the Tony Awards indefinitely, they would instead air a sing-a-long version of Grease. The reaction to the programming move hasn’t gone over well, especially with Broadway power players.
Almost immediately, stars such as Jeremy Jordan voiced their displeasure on Twitter.
Along with Jordan, other Broadway elites such as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Patti Murin, Gideon Glick, Alice Ripley all chimed in with their displeasure. Soon after, the popular thought on social media was that this was the wrong decision by CBS and that they needed to reconsider.
Given the high-profile names speaking out and their respective fandoms they’ve united, there’s a strong chance CBS might just do that. The last thing CBS might want to do is piss off the Lin-Manuel Miranda fanbase. This would be an incredible thing to see, a powerful corporation changing their plans due to outraged sparked and support by Broadway’s stars.
Meanwhile, Broadway’s marginalized communities are wondering if the threat of Grease sing-a-longs are needed to force the changes they’ve been begging for.
The bitter reality is that while the Broadway a-list will unite and come together for certain causes or crises, they are noticeably silent on others.
For instance, this community beautifully united to support Ruthie Ann Miles, Nick Cordero and called out the fat-shaming and misgendering in reviews. But the same level of support or vitriol wasn’t there when James Barbour was cast in Phantom or when there was “yellowface” in NY productions or the West Side Story casting controversy. Many are quick to criticize Donald Trump but won’t say a word about Scott Rudin.
Even Broadway news websites such as Playbill, Sirius/XM, and Broadway.com were incredibly slow to report on these stories or also ignored them completely.
Meanwhile, #metoo survivors and Broadway’s marginalized were left to fight these battles on their own, resulting in little to no changes from the powers-that-be. What could have happened if the same A-List angered by a Grease airing did the exact same for all those other issues? How much better would members of this community be better protected and represented? It’s a haunting question to ask.
To be fair, I also disagreed with CBS’s decision. I agree with Jeremy Jordan and others that say airing a Tony highlight show would be the better option. No offense, but the airing of a dated movie with problematic messaging wouldn’t be my first or last choice to replace Broadway’s biggest night. So I won’t criticize them for voicing their displeasure at this specific issue. But it would be wonderful to see the same level of outrage at real issues that are plaguing or victimizing their colleagues.
I can only imagine the progress that could be made if that happened.