Casting Māori actor Matu Ngaropo to play the role of the first president of the United States — George Washington — in the Australian production of the hit musical Hamilton might appear surprising at first glance.
Key points:
- Hamilton purposely reimagines the founding fathers as men of colour
- George Washington, the first US president, was a slave owner
- Actors say being part of a diverse cast "means everything"
But the Tony-award winning production purposely challenges stereotypes by exploring the themes of race, immigration and colonisation by reimagining the US's founding fathers as men of colour.
Ngaropo said playing the role was an honour, but not without its challenges, in part due to Washington's problematic history as a slave owner.
"I guess that's something that I will have to find and also have my own journey of reconciliation with — being an Indigenous man," Ngaropo said.
"That's not just for me to have that conversation, that is a conversation for the entire company to have."
It's a journey actor Christopher Jackson, who played Washington in the original Broadway cast of the musical, also had to come to terms with.
"It's something I spent a lot of time and a lot of angst trying to figure out how I reconcile being in this man's skin," Jackson told Vanity Fair magazine in 2016.
"As a black man, I just couldn't put it together."
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There is a scene at the end of Hamilton where the cast come together and look out at the audience while singing the song, Who lives, who dies, who tells your story, which is about the legacies the characters leave behind.
As the character Eliza Schuyler sings of continuing George Washington's legacy by building the Washington Monument and "I speak out against slavery", Jackson, who plays Washington, steps out of the spotlight on stage.
Jackson told Vanity Fair: "It instantly felt like, for me as an actor that I justified, I was able to draw a direct relation between Chris the actor and being George Washington."
While Australia does not have the same legacy of slavery as the US does, Aboriginal people were subjected to slavery practices and stolen wages, while tens of thousands of Pacific Islanders in the 19th century were taken — often by force or trickery — to work on plantations in Queensland in what has been described as slave-like conditions.
The musical, created by American composer and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, who rose from poverty to become one of the founding fathers of the US.
Ngaropo is just one of the many Indigenous actors to have landed a role in the Australian production, set to premiere at Sydney's Lyric Theatre next March.
"It's incredibly important for me that there are Indigenous people in this company from all around the Pacific, Australasia, and also from Asia … because our society is ... so much more of what we usually get to see," he said.
Ngaropo believes the theatre can be a space to have tough conversations on identity, representation and history.
"Everybody deserves the opportunity to see their difference reflected to them up there on stage.
"The theatre is the space where we can all talk about what is going on in the world, and I'm incredibly proud and excited to be in a company that is reflecting that."
Rare opportunity for Pasifika and First Nations actors to be together on stage
Shaka Cook, an actor and Yinhawangka and Yinjibarndi man, has been cast in the dual role of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison for the Australian run of the musical.
Cook has spent time this year living back on country in Western Australia's Pilbara region, working as an archaeological heritage surveyor for mining companies in the region.
"I get to be out with my elders, and learn more of my culture, and see more of my land, it's incredible," he told the ABC's RN Drive program.
"Being a traditional owner … if we find cultural areas with high significance, we do recordings and write up reports, and hopefully a lot of those areas that we find to be very significant, we can protect [them] from mining."
He said he was home in the Pilbara when he got the call.
He said it was amazing to be a part of such a diverse cast with people from all different backgrounds playing historical characters.
The 35-person cast includes performers of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander backgrounds as well as Samoan, Maori, Filipino, Jamaican, South African, Nigerian, Egyptian, Japanese and Italian backgrounds.
That diversity was also a hallmark of the original American cast.
Among the other First Nations actors cast are Torres Strait Islander Tainga Savage in the ensemble, along with standby Callan Purcell, a Wiradjuri man.
Pasifika performers include Akina Edmonds, who is of Maori-Japanese descent and has been cast as Angelica Schuyler.
Playing her sister will be New Zealander of Pasifika heritage Elandrah Eramiha, with the dual role of Maria Reynolds and Peggy Schuyler.
There will also be Australians of Samoan heritage — Iosefa Laga'aia, Kirrah Amosa, and Jasmine Smith-Sua — in the ensemble cast.
Ngaropo said being part of such a "beautifully diverse" cast "means everything".
"I'm really open to everyone's perspectives on how we move forward in a really respectful way," Ngaropo said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTExLTE3L2hhbWlsdG9uLW11c2ljYWwtaW5kaWdlbm91cy1hY3RvcnMtcGxheS1pZGVudGl0eS1yYWNlLzEyODgxMTUy0gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEyODgxMTUy?oc=5
2020-11-16 18:59:00Z
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