Les Miserables and Mary Poppins producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh slams idea of giving transgender people roles in classic shows as 'gimmick casting'
- Cameron Mackintosh said shows shouldn't be rewritten for transgender actors
- Producer of Les Miserables and Mary Poppins argued it would damage storylines
- Said casting transwomen as leads is 'trying to force something that isn't natural'
- Added it would be 'gimmick casting' because it 'isn't inherently there in the story'
Lead producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh has said classic West End musicals should not be rewritten to make leading roles transgender as he hit out at 'gimmick casting.'
The billionaire West End titan, 73, who owns eight West End venues and has produced hits such as Les Miserables, Phantom Of The Opera and Hamilton, said changing established shows to include transgender people would damage the integrity of the story.
He told The Telegraph: 'You can't implant something that is not inherently there in the story or character, that's what I think.
'Just to do that, that becomes gimmick casting. It's trying to force something that isn't natural.'
Lead producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh, 73, has said classic West End musicals like Hamilton and Mary Poppins should not be rewritten to make leading ladies transgender as he hit out at 'gimmick casting'
He continued: 'The thing that matters is that you've got to have a strong story and a good score.
'But you've also got to assume not everybody knows it, even if it's a famous story, and that somebody coming to the show can understand it and make sense of it.
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'I try to make sure that whatever talent we have, the story should always shine through.'
Meanwhile Sir Cameron said he wouldn't support a transgender leading lady in Mary Poppins because the original story is 'not about that, that was not the story of that family.'
Sir Cameron said he wouldn't support a transgender leading lady in Mary Poppins because the original story is 'not about that, that was not the story of that family'
Instead, Sir Cameron argued that writers from younger generations could create work to include transgender leads.
Last year, a transgender actress refused to star in a new West End play - an adaptation of the novel Breakfast On Pluto - in a row about casting.
Kate O'Donnell had been cast as the mother of the lead character, Patrick/Pussy Braden, in a new musical version of Patrick McCabe's book at the Donmar Warehouse in London.
The novel, which was shortlisted for the 1998 Booker Prize, tells the story of a trans woman's escape from a fictional Irish town and alcoholic foster mother.
Instead of casting transgender people in roles in classic musicals like Les Miserables, Sir Cameron argued that writers from younger generations could create work to include specially written parts
O'Donnell was due to play Ma Braden, who is not a trans character, but pulled out of the production in protest after the part went to Irish actor Fra Free.
O'Donnell told BBC News: 'I could not be in a show where a trans woman is once again seen as a main a dress as this perpetuates the idea that this is what a trans woman is and leads to violence, even death.
'I know that the production has countered the uproar about this: they did try to cast a trans person. But I would suggest that they didn't try hard enough.
'I was offered the part and realised with the heaviest of hearts - because West End theatre production roles do not come along every day, especially when you're a trans performer - that I was going to have to decline the role.'
In a post on Twitter, O'Donnell added: 'While @Donmar Warehouse are thrilled the trans community [are] less thrilled once again we are left out of the telling of a trans story.
'I was cast to play Pussy's adopted Mother but had to decline due to a cis man being cast to play her. It's been a sh*t few days.'
The actress said that the show's producers didn't try hard enough to find a trans performer for the role.
In a statement, the show's producers said: 'The partners offered Kate O'Donnell the role of Ma Braden in line with their usual casting processes.
'Kate declined the role and we all respect her decision.'
