At a recent performance of the hit musical Hamilton, actor Brandon Victor Dixon directly addressed Vice-President-elect Mike Pence in the audience, delivering a message on behalf of the cast. “We, sir, are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us,” Dixon said. The address drew swift criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, who tweeted that the theatre should always be a safe place and demanded an apology.
While singling out an audience member is unusual on Broadway, theatre historians say the political message follows a 2,400-year-old convention. Peter Davis, professor of theatre history at the University of Illinois, points to ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, who satirised political elites in his 425 BC comedy The Acharnians. “There’s a long tradition of controversy in theatre,” Davis said.
In the US, the tradition continued with plays such as South Pacific, which confronted racism in the 1940s, and the rock musical Hair, which opposed the Vietnam War. Later, The Normal Heart and Angels in America challenged President Ronald Reagan’s silence on the Aids crisis. “When has the theatre been not political?” asked Kevin Wetmore, theatre professor at Loyola Marymount University.
Despite this history, some critics argue that mainstream Broadway has become less challenging for commercial reasons. Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, vice president of the International Association of Theatre Critics, noted that producers must appeal to wide audiences to cover high costs. However, Hamilton is seen as an exception, blending political themes with popularity. “It rewrites the narrative in so many different ways,” Jenkins said.
