High School cancels 'Hunchback Production'

Teacher, former amateur actor and middle-aged white guy here. Also the parent of people who were recently teenagers.

I'm of the opinion that getting a person of the right physical appearance for the part is the best/ right thing to do, but I'm also not going to be upset if someone exceptional gets cast who misses a couple of beats. However, in a school that is one third poc, it would seem a no-brainer to cast someone who looks like the character if they can sing and act. I also think the students over-reacted but with their hearts in the right places. The parent of the girl cast as Esmerelda also seemed quite sensible. The school pulling the production and trying for something else appeared to be trying to fix a divisive situation. The problem arose when people outside the school community became involved, people with absolutely no horse in that race.

I hate stories that try to pillory schools and members of school communities for trying to solve problems that are unique to their experience. We all have similar memories of school but our schools were all different: when a problem like this arises one school's solution is very different to another, even when there's only a small distance between them. For people not to recognise that this was a school solving a problem in a way that worked for their community is extremely frustrating. And when knucking jutfobs from places like The Daily Storm(in a teacup)er or Not-very-Breitbart get involved it seems to give licence to keyboard warriors to get involved.

At the end of the day (whoops, wrong musical) the school appears to have worked out a solution that suited most people concerned.

PC gone power crazy.