A statement from The Rose Theater:
When we cast “Disney’s Frozen,” we cast the best performer for the role. That is how we have always cast our productions, and it is how we will always cast them.
We are aware that a cast photo has drawn racist responses on social media. We want to be direct: those responses are unwelcome, and they will not be engaged with here or anywhere. We condemn them as should any person with a conscience.
We anticipate that some responses will arrive dressed more politely, as concerns about “differences from the film” or worries that we are being “woke.” We want to be equally direct about those: a Black actress playing Elsa is a casting decision rooted in that individual’s singular talent. The magic of live theater has always been that the story lives in the performer, not in a predetermined image of what that performer should look like. That has been true since the first story was ever told onstage.
Elsa is a character about power, isolation, self-accep...