A local Minnesota theater has canceled a production of Roger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella because its cast was ‘too white’.
Chanhassen Dinner Theatres was scheduled to stage the show later this year before its artistic director stepped in to slam its lack of diversity.
‘It was 98 percent white, ‘ the artistic director, Michael Brindisi, told the Pioneer Press on Wednesday after looking at who had been cast.
However, Chanhassen – located southwest of Minneapolis – has a population that is overwhelming white, and the racial demographics of the cast were not strikingly different from the city as a whole.
According to the most recent census, 92.5 percent of people in Chanhassen are white. Less than 3 percent of residents are Hispanic, while 1.1 percent are black.
No photos of the Cinderella cast were officially released before the show was scrapped.
In a statement released on Monday, the theater stated: ‘After careful consideration and with our ongoing commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, we have made the decision to cancel our upcoming production.
While some cast members were upset by the news, Brinidisi says that most ‘respected the very hard decision we had to make.’
Chanhassen Dinner Theatres will replace Cinderella with a more diverse adaptation of Footloose, now scheduled for 2022.
