Brandon Victor
Dixon, actor in the hit musical Hamilton, addresses Donald Trump’s
vice-president elect who was booed by the audience at the hit
Broadway show in New York. The actor called on Pence to ‘defend us
and uphold our inalienable rights … we hope that this show has
inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all
of us’
Mike
Pence booed at Hamilton performance, then hears diversity plea
After
audience jeered vice-president elect at New York musical, actor
addressed him from stage: ‘We are the diverse Americans anxious you
will not protect us’
Joanna
Walters in New York
Saturday
19 November 2016 06.32 GMT
The US
vice-president elect, Mike Pence, was booed by a theater audience
when he attended the hit hip-hop musical Hamilton in New York on
Friday night – and then had a message about protecting diversity
delivered to him from the stage after the curtain call.
As Pence,
president-elect Donald Trump’s chosen deputy, turned up for the
Broadway show at the Richard Rogers Theater and entered the
auditorium, video taken by onlookers and posted to social media
picked up some audience members cheering him, then more people booing
him.
Pence walked down
the aisle towards his seat and waved briefly as people in the theater
clearly began to realize who he was. Then the boos began.
The show was
occasionally disrupted by more loud booing at Pence. The irony of a
strong conservative who opposes many gay rights attending a hip-hop
musical with a pointedly diverse cast was not lost on patrons, as
noted in an early report by Variety magazine.
At first it was
thought Pence had left the show at the interval, but it later turned
out that he had returned to his seat, possibly after the lights went
down, at the beginning of the second act in an attempt to minimize
disruption.
Pence ended up
watching the whole show but as he was about to leave the theater at
the end of the curtain call a member of the cast called him back.
Brandon Dixon, who
plays vice-president Aaron Burr, stepped forward and took out a piece
of paper.
He thanked the
audience for seeing the show, then said: “Vice-president Mike
Pence, I see you walking out, but I hope you will hear us, just a few
moments.”
As some quiet boos
emanated from the audience as it began to disperse, Dixon hushed the
audience and delivered a message.
“There is nothing
to boo here, ladies and gentlemen, we are sharing a story of love,”
he said.
He continued: “Mike
Pence, we welcome you here. We are the diverse Americans who are
alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us,
our planet, our children, our parents.”
Many of the
remaining audience began to cheer softly as Dixon, who is African
American, pointed towards Pence.
“Or defend us and
uphold our inalienable rights … we hope that this show has inspired
you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us,”
he continued, to rising cheers.
“We thank you for
sharing this wonderful American story, told by a diverse group of men
and women of different colors, creeds and orientations,” he
concluded.
It was not clear
whether Pence heard the whole address or made any response.
The show was created
by Lin-Manuel Miranda, whom it turned into a superstar. He had a long
run as the lead playing US founding father Alexander Hamilton.
Miranda relinquished
the part earlier this year to the actor Javier Munoz, his understudy.
Munoz is openly gay
and HIV-positive. He has made a point of speaking out about living
with HIV since 2002 and how he hopes to diminish the stigma around
HIV and Aids.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário