After first playing the roles in the West End production, Billy Porter and Marisha Wallace have recently begun performances in the Broadway revival of CABARET as The Emcee and Sally Bowles.
Since they joined the show at the August Wilson Theatre, replacing Orville Peck and Eva Noblezada, Billy Porter has become the focus of intense, widespread social media criticism both for his performance and comments he made about the role during press engagements.
In this theatre drama recap I'm offering some insights into the ways in which Billy's performance varies from his predecessors and considering bigger questions about what it means to responsibly review.
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00:00 | introduction
03:33 | backstory / context
12:01 | the Billy Porter backlash
23:29 | the implications of race