A recently released survey on the ethnic makeup of Broadway performers made for an interesting comparison with another survey this month on the composition of Broadway audiences. (The former survey examines the 2015-16 season and the latter 2016-17, but the trend is broadly the same.) The Asian American Performers Action Coalition found that minority actors accounted for 35% of all roles on Broadway in the 2015-16 season. The vast majority were blacks, who represented 23% of all roles, with Latinos at 7% and Asians at 4%. That is, blacks are significantly overrepresented on the Broadway stage given that they are 13.3% of the US population (July 2016 census estimate), while Latinos (17.8% of population) are significantly underrepresented and Asians (5.7%) more or less balanced.

The survey also notes that minorities account for 56% of the New York City population, raising the question: who the heck is the majority? In any event, as the other survey by the Broadway League shows, this is not the percentage you find in the theaters. A whopping 76.8% of Broadway audiences last season were white, well over both their New York numbers (where, as we have seen, they are a minority) and their 61.3% ratio of the US population. Asians are also overrepresented at 8.4%. In contrast, both Latinos and blacks are pitifully underrepresented at 7.1% and 3.4%, the latter only around one-quarter their ratio of the US population. That is, those last two categories together account for around 30% of the population and 30% of Broadway roles but only around 10% of Broadway viewers.

In other words, minorities other than Asians (however ‘Asians’ is defined) are simply not showing up in the theater. Perhaps that’s partly a function of culture, or maybe so-called color-blind casting isn’t especially attractive to, say, black audiences, who may not relish watching blacks acting in virtual whiteface. I predict, for example, that blacks will be an even lower-than-usual percentage of the audience at this season’s upcoming revival of Carousel, despite a black performer playing one of musical theater’s most iconic roles. That said, I don’t see a lot of minorities even at plays with minority themes and casts unless they have big stars, so maybe the problem is elsewhere.

More than anything, I think it’s a pretty safe assumption that blacks and Hispanics have simply been priced out. Producers can bleat on about multi-racial casting and diversity all they want, but their avaricious pricing pretty much ensures that minorities will remain on stage and not in the seats – theaters on the audience side of the footlights are about the least diverse places in America. That includes the mega-hit Hamilton, where the number of minority actors on stage (practically everyone) nearly equaled the number of minorities in the audience recently in LA. If theaters were a political district, the producers would find themselves in court for gerrymandering. The horrific premium pricing that has taken over Broadway is not only unaffordable to a huge segment of the minority population for specific shows – Hamilton charges over $1,000 for its top seats – but risks turning them off theater entirely. The second survey above found that the average audience member had a household income of $194,940. I find that a startling statistic in itself.

The urgent business for the Broadway community is not putting minorities on stage and making them pretend to be white, like the zombied blacks in the film Get Out. The numbers to now suggest that this does nothing to draw those audiences. The issue is finding a way to bring theater off its elite perch and back to the people. Hiring minority writers and creative staff would be a much better way to accomplish that than PC-driven casting, and that might actually be happening in theaters outside Broadway. But the audience numbers remain discouraging. Until minority audiences start showing an interest in the art, minority performers will continue to be minstrels playing for largely white crowds. I don’t see how that advances the art in any shape or form.

Here are charts of the figures quoted above.

Broadway audiences in 2016-17 season

• 76.8% white (61.3% of US population as of July 2016)
• 8.4% Asian (5.7%)
• 7.1% Hispanic/Latino (17.8%)
• 3.4% black (13.3%)
• 4.3% Middle Eastern, mixed, other

(source: Broadway League)

Minority performers in 2015-16 season

• Minority actors: 35% of all roles (24% 2013-14, 30% 2014-15)
  • Blacks: 23% of all roles
  • Latinos: 7%
  • Asians: 4%
• Minority actors (plays): 16%
  • Blacks: 14% of all play roles
• Minorities: 56% of NYC population (!) in 2010 census

(source: Asian American Performers Action Coalition)