Critic under fire for racist review of 'The Secret Garden'
Aaron Lazar, Sierra Boggess, Emily Jewel Hoder, Derrick Davis, Julia Lester, John-Michael Lyles, and Reese Levine in The Secret Garden (Photo: Matthew Murphy)
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
A critic is under fire for racist comments he wrote in a review of the Broadway-bound revival of ‘The Secret Garden’, which is currently playing at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre. The comments included criticizing the casting of black actors, stating that one of them “looks and acts like he should be rafting with Huck and Jim down the Mississippi.”
To say that critic Bondo Wyszpolski of Easy Reader News didn’t like the production of ‘The Secret Garden’ would be somewhat of an understatement. In his review, he called the show “dreadful,” “tedious,” and “uninspiring”.
Wyszpolski could have stopped there, but his ego wouldn’t prevent him from calling out the casting of black actors in the show, which he referred to as “atrocious’.
He didn’t like that actor Derrick Davis had been cast as Archibald Craven. The role has traditionally been cast with white men in the role. This type of casting is what Wyszpolski prefers because he said that Davis’’ casting ‘makes about as much sense as putting Brad Pitt in the role of Jackie Robinson and saying, “Hey, what’s the problem?”
Then, he goes after actor John-Michael Lyles. Lyles is playing the role of Dicken, another traditionally cast with white men. Wyszpolski states, “And there’s dreadlocked Dickon, who looks and acts like he should be rafting with Huck and Jim down the Mississippi.”
Wyszpolski says both men, “talent aside, stick out like sore thumbs.”
It goes without saying that Wyszpolski’s comments are racist. No matter how talented both men are, their race is a problem. The criticism of an actor’s race is way out of bounds and violates every bit of theatre criticism ethics I can think of. Sadly, Wyszpolski isn’t the first, and he won’t be the last.
Bondo Wyszpolski
Wyszpolski’s comments, which thankfully are being called out on social media, reveal a glaring issue as theatre casting continues to evolve - white critics can’t get past the inclusive casting of shows. Funny enough, Wyszpolski seems to have never seen ‘The Secret Garden’ before, making his comments much more racist.
I’m shocked at his comments and even more shocked they made it past the editorial process. Oh wait, Wyszpolski is the editor. That’s why his racism went unchecked.
While some out there might say that Wyszpolski’s idiocy doesn’t matter, no one reads Easy Reader News, or that we should ignore it - the problem is that Wyszpolski’s comments will only continue to encourage racism in theatre. These things need to be called out when they happen. This is when audiences need to broaden their horizons, not to be reminded that casting Black actors in assumed "default-White” roles is wrong or “sticks out like a sore thumb.”
I hope that publisher, Kevin Cody, takes note of this and doesn’t ever allow Bondo Wyszpolski to review a show for his publication again. If you feel the same, you can email Cody at kevin@easyreadernews.com.