Actress Samantha Massell, who is Jewish and starred in the 2015 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, expressed disappointment in the casting decision in an Instagram post shared to her Story, and seen by The Messenger, last week.
“I have no doubt that Katerina is freaking terrific and a wonderful gal. I have no doubt that she is more than capable of leading a [national] tour. But if you consider yourself an advocate for representation in casting and you’re [A-OK] with this (or celebrating it), you need to check yourself,” Massell wrote in part. “At a time when anti-semitism is at an all time high since the Holocaust, this choice is reckless and harmful. It breaks my heart.” …
Caissie Levy, who starred in the recent Jewish drama Leopoldstadt, shared Massell’s Story and wrote, “So weird that everyone’s being silent about this! Ohhhhhh hang on, it’s about Jews? Who cares about their representation? Ah, right. No one.”
Lindsay Pearce and Talia Suskauer, who both starred in the musical Wicked, also shared messages, seen by The Messenger, on their respective Instagram Stories criticizing the casting decision. Pearce asked followers, “Why is there no upstart?,” while Suskauer said in part, “It is so detrimental to have a non-Jew playing a Jewish icon and playing at a Jewish stereotype around the country.”
[If the entertainment industry wants to fetishize representation, excluding Jews from that practice seems pretty strange. That’s especially true of a part and play in which Jewish stereotypes play a rather large role. On the whole, I’d prefer to stick with Stanley Tucci’s approach — acting is acting, period. But if the industry insists on representation in all other areas, why are the Jews an exception? — Ed]
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