The re-occurring treatment that critics bestow upon actors and actresses in the theater division the entertainment industry, is nothing short of an unnecessary form of discrimination. Theater is one of the most competitive categories of acting. Actors and actresses come from all over the world to audition for specific parts. Usually, there is no natural physical requirements for the actors.

Although such musicals as “Legally Blonde” do require a blonde lead, actors with different hair colors are not discriminated against or given any less of a chance than their peers. Once the actors audition, the directors and producers go through the long process of casting the roles. The actors go through various callbacks; most times the actors must audition 7-12 times to get the main part. This process may be long, but it is the only way the directors and producers are able to find the actor that fits the role the best. This decision deals with important factors such as vocal range, acting skills, looks, height, and if the director can see the character in the actor.

Although some of the factors include looks and height, this is mostly only used regarding special plays or musicals like “The Color Purple,” which revolves around the injustices that African Americans have faced through the years. as a result of the play’s dynamic and purpose, the lead of an African American cannot be played by a Caucasian or someone of any other race. The factor of height involves the fact that most directors and producers prefer having a male lead that is taller than the female lead for choreography purposes and recording purposes. However, these circumstances did not occur in the cases of Carrie Hope Fletcher, Alysha Umphress, and Diana Huey.

When Senior Year Gets Ugly – Carrie Hope

The most recent case of this behavior occurred on September 13th of this year, to the young aspiring actress, Carrie Hope Fletcher. Miss Fletcher had recently received the lead role of Veronica Sawyer in the musical “Heathers.” The musical is based on the cult-classic 80s movie “Heathers,” where the part of Veronica Sawyer is played by award-winning actress Winona Ryder. The story expresses the life of a young girl starting her senior year of high school and trying to fit in with the popular crowd. Veronica goes through a series of far-fetched events in her life that are unusual in her circumstances. Some of these events include staging a murder, faking her own death, and the destruction of her own high school.

Although Winona Ryder is known to be a very pretty and skinny actress, the part of Veronica Sawyer has no specific physical requirements. Although some may argue that the part must be played by a woman or a person with brown hair, there are no true requirements for the part of Veronica Sawyer. Other than Winona Ryder, the part of Veronica was also played by Barrett Wilbert Weed in the original Broadway cast production of “Heathers”. The production was discontinued as a Broadway production, but was recently renewed as a professional production in  Theatre Royal Haymarket in London, England.

The London production currently stars well-known actress and singer Carrie Hope Fletcher and has received outstanding reviews from the press.  However, the extremely talented Miss Fletcher has received hate from some fan reviews, regarding her looks and figure. Miss Fletcher was obviously upset about the hate she was receiving, especially since she did not have control over her appearance.

“Someone said, for example, ‘When did they decide Veronica Sawyer would be so fat and unattractive?’ That was one that hit me quite hard. I was on holiday with my family and I decided for the next few days I was just going to turn everything off because I was getting really upset.” -Carrie Hope Fletcher, from an interview with BBC NEWS.

The Popular Crowd

This information was shocking to the 25-year-old actress, and to most around her. The role of Veronica has none of the so-called “requirements” that these fans are complaining about. The purpose of having a character like Veronica is that everyone can be beautiful, but it’s what the inside that counts. Veronica had always wanted to be with the “popular crowd”, but when she finally did, she realized that although these girls were beautiful on the outside, they were cruel and ugly inside, and her mission was then to break from that stereotype. Her character is supposed to show to the audience that anyone can make it, and that everyone is beautiful. The character of Veronica can be portrayed by people of any race, gender, shape, or sexuality without it affecting the character at all. The only important factor is that the actress who plays Veronica must be a soprano to enable her to reach the notes expected of her character.

This video shows other people playing Veronica singing the same note in the same song, and how difficult it is to reach it. 

Carrie Hope Fletcher is now spreading her love to everyone and anyone who needs it and is not paying attention to the so-called “hate comments” going at her at social media. However, this same type of discrimination has been happening in the theater community for years. Diana Huey was criticized last year, after she was cast as “Ariel”, from “The Little Mermaid”. When fans heard about this incident, many wondered why such a talented sophisticated woman was being criticized this way.

I'm so proud to be from #mukilteo and of the cast and crew of #5thlittlemermaid @5thAveTheatre! Thanks @KING5Evening! #hometownpride https://t.co/pMtWcLci9p

— Diana Huey (@DianaHuey) December 7, 2016

Can Ariel be Asian? – Diana Huey

Diana Huey was furthermore criticized by many fans because of her ethnicity. Most were focusing on the fact that “Ariel” was played firstly by an American woman, therefore the character could not be played by an Asian woman, but should be played by an American woman. Even though Diana Huey is in fact fully American, the fans could not accept her. Another fact that I found interesting is that Ariel is not Asian or American, but was originally from Denmark, but of course, no one has spoken about that detail. After the backlash, Huey has received a lot of support from directors, actors, and others in the theater community.

“She was a good actress, she was the right age, she sings it like nobody else, we probably saw 50 Ariels, and Diana really sang it the best.” Says director Glenn Casale, from Buffalo News.

Another support comes from people who are obviously confused and disgusted on why Huey was even criticized.

“1. Can she sing? 2. Can she dance? 3. It’s a friggin’ mermaid.” Says Executive Director Maiko Tanaka, from Buffalo News.

This video will show just how beautiful Diana Huey can sing:

Her voice is strong, confident, and so far from any of the other averagely good actors and actresses out there. Diana Huey should not be shot down for her ethnicity, but rather celebrated for her talent and triumph.

Body Type Makes it or Breaks It – Alysha Umphress

Now, I could go on and on about all these specific cases of injustice in the arts, but I would like to leave the readers with just one more example. The case of Alysha Umphress is one that is not only very controversial but extremely unreasonable. In a critique in the New York Times, written by writer Laura Collins-Hughes, Alysha is accused of wearing costumes that according to the writer, don’t look good on her because of her “body type”.

The criticism although not direct, clearly was downgrading Alysha’s talent, and praising another woman’s talent, only for the purpose of “looking good in a costume.”

“is bigger than the other women onstage, and the costume designer, Alejo Vietti, doesn’t seem to have known how to work with that, dressing her in an unnecessarily unflattering way.” Writes  Laura Collins-Hughes from The New York Times, taken from The Huffington Post.

Miss Umphress immediately claps back on social media with the following message (first tweet linked).

https://twitter.com/Cristalzheat/status/1021418512219344902

https://twitter.com/BranUran/status/1021537826264031237

https://twitter.com/CaissieLevy/status/1021444831434952704

Alysha is an extremely talented artist and is respected among the theater community, which may seem obvious by all the support she has been receiving (to get a better perspective, watch the video performance linked further up in this article). And even after all this backlash,  the people are happy to know that Alysha still continues to perform and spread her talent with the world.

Talent Above Everything

These instances are only examples of what happens constantly in the world of performing arts. But really, this unacceptable behavior happens everywhere, at school, work, social environments, and most of all social media. Social media is supposed to be a platform where everyone is free to express themselves and share their creativity with the planet. However, it has turned into a nester of prejudice, injustice, and discrimination. Carrie Hope Fletcher is not “fat” or “ugly”, she is beautiful because she’s confident in her own body. Diana Huey is Asian and is also Ariel, and those two factors being together is not only possible, but is empowering, and enchanting. Alysha Umphress did not dress in an “unflattering” costume for her body shape, but was wearing and totally showing off a beautiful costume, that all the other actresses were also wearing. It should be allowed to look however you want and still be able to do what you love. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and I only hope that someday that we will be able to see Talent above anything else.