Hi Amy, I appreciate your attention to language and educating your audience on this subject. This isn’t a criticism, just something you might want to know, I believe you used the term ‘cisgendered’ in this video. In the same way that we don’t use ‘transgendered’, because nothing happened to us, ‘cisgendered’ isn’t really grammatically correct. ❤️
So just to understand for my own self, you're saying its cisgender and transgender correct? Drop the ed at the end. Or am I mistaken? As a cisgender person trying to be a good ally and friend I want to get it right.
Its frustrating because the production could have said something like " We tried to incorporate a non binary story line but ultimately came to the decision that we are not suited to properly address this topic." and that would have been fine.
@@Elenyiorene Writing is not that simple. Especially for theatre, you need to see it properly put on in some cases to get a proper sense if something works.
I agree. I didn't realize how much erasure they did from the ART to Broadway. With that being said, i find it odd that for a character that doesn't want to fit into any boxes, everyone is trying to put them in a box around what they believe non binary should be. its odd.
@@Heroshii15 Nope, you're wrong. Literally all you need to do a modicum of research to avoid it. The wrong way is something that is VERY easy to avoid, you just have to try, they didn't even make an attempt, which is how they ended up with the wrong way.
i went to see jlp on broadway in january of 2020 with two friends of mine, one of which is a non-binary lesbian. after the show, they talked about how heavily they related to jo from her lesbian storyline. watching this video now, it’s truly devastating how that relation could have been so much stronger for them if jo’s original storyline was kept.
Storylines are constantly changed from out of town trials to Broadway openings. The non - binary lesbian storyline is still an amazing one and the fact that your friends related to it, just shows how important the story was.
as a nonbinary person, JLP has ALWAYS skeeved me out by what I’ve heard about it (it felt like they were trying to get so many brownie points by shoving a million sensitive topics into one two hour show), but hearing about what they’ve done to it now, I’m literally sick to my stomach. even the ART production clips handle being nonbinary and people not accepting your identity poorly, from my perspective. and holy shit, WHEN will we get rid of the stupid “bisexual cheater” trope?!??!? this almost feels like the 13 Reasons Why of theatre- wanting to handle SO many extremely sensitive topics and putting in so little effort to actually handle them well.
Thank you for talking about this Amy, as a non-binary person this situation has upset me so much. Jo is a character I really could have seen myself playing and I'm so upset.
I’m a trans girl who’s currently majoring in musical theater, and I have first hand experience seeing how hard to see the lack of trans talent performing in theater. I recently got booked for my first professional musical, where I am understudying a cis girl role. I’m glad I got booked for something, but I’m still upset of how hard it is to find a job as a trans performer.
@@RaindropsOnLichen Hi, I’m not attempting to speak for the trans community so if you are trans and feel this is incorrect for sure let me know. Frankly not wanting someone to were your identity as a costume is reason enough. Trans people deserve to see accurate and thoughtful representation on stage and the way that happens is by having members of the trans community involved in all points of production and actually in the roles of trans characters. But were I to borrow your logic, I still don’t think it works. If we are saying that actors should be allowed play any role, we are ignoring the fact that trans performers are often excluded from this. There are not enough roles, opportunities and representation for trans performers. Presently there is a severe lack of trans roles and many casting directors would *wrongly* not even consider a trans performers for a “cis” role. There is a disproportion in opportunity, meaning that your thought that anyone has the opportunity to audition and obtain any role is misguided. There is no space for cis actors in trans roles.
I've been trying to figure out why this whole thing hurt so much and it just dawned on me. The theater is historically where LBGTQ+ are generally accepted - and celebrated even. The theater is a space for us to feel seen, heard, and safe. For a production to erase us and gaslight us this way feels like a stab in the back. What a huge betrayal.
One of my friends was non binary and they watched your channel, they died last week so I just want to thank you for bringing me and my friend together over something we both loved.
I came out as enby about a year ago now. Some of my friends actually call me Jo haha. I really related to Jo when I first watched JLP, i'm around the same age as the characters are supposed to be, i'm a lesbian (trixic, idk what the right terms are for enbys i prefer lesbian but ik some ppl don't like it pls don't @ me over it) and my mum is a TERF so I really felt the struggle they were going through. The show has some really great representation for people in all different circumstances and situations and it felt really nice for that to include me too. When I finally heard about this whole situation the worst thing was I wasn't really surprised. Like, an enby character played by an enby actor in mainstream media seemed...impossible. I mean, I live in the UK i'm not even allowed to legally change my pronouns to they/them. I'm just tired of feeling like I have to constantly explain and validate my existence to people, I shouldn't have to pull out scientific studies so that people agree that I'm allowed to have rights. Seeing Jo really made it feel like maybe people actually cared about trans and enby folks but...I guess this proves that a lot of people really don't. Thank you for making this video, it's really helpful to have someone with such a big platform who clearly cares so much speak up about something like this. Stay safe loves
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and sorry with me. I’m so sorry for the difficulty with your mum. I’m sending you all my love and support ♥️♥️♥️
@@DK-go6nw as a demigirl lesbian, yep! Did you know that the white stripe in the flag represents non binaries? (Both the attraction to them and being non binary)
@@candiedcockroaches actually it represents gender non conformity (as in expression not identity) as the lipstick flag excluded butch lesbians. The orange stripe represents unique relationships to women and womanhood which the creator has elaborated means lesbians who don't identify with the term women ie. non binary lesbians. It's a common misconception as the white stripe in the trans flag does represent nb folks. Hope this helped!
I'm really glad people haven't been defending the situation by saying "but look, a lesbian, so we're being inclusive!" I always appreciate when people can criticize marginalized characters because they aren't perfect either and can't be treated that way
Thank you for this. As a trans guy I have always felt that I couldn't act in theatre and was restricted to the technical side. I really hope that more people realize this is an issue
Kinda reminds me of the whole thing with Sia's music. They said they worked with the child mind institute advisory board when that whole film was just misrepresentation. As a person on the autism spectrum that hurt me. Jagged little pill should have known better.
Even worse, that "child mind institute advisory board" was the organization Autism Speaks, which has a bit of a damning reputation in the past for treating autism itself as a second hand life ruining menace that must be eradicated("second hand" meaning it puts the worry's of not having a "normal child/life" on the parents, effectively making out their child and child's diagnosis as some sort of burdon(as this since pulled ad they did a few years back indicates(be warned, language can be very triggering): ua-cam.com/video/9UgLnWJFGHQ/v-deo.html ), and "eradicated" meaning a good portion of their funds have gone to finding a "cure" for autism itself), and, on top of all that, seems to pretty much function without ANY people who are on the autism spectrum involved with how to organization operates. Speaking as also someone on the high functioning end of the Autism spectrum(what used to be referred to as Asperger's syndrome in my case), I have conversed with other people on the spectrum in these group meets we do for a very good help group called Campus Life(which is aimed to help community college/college students on the autism spectrum, like me, with things ranging from school work to social interaction) and we all collectively agreed with the shared sentiment that Autism Speaks is pretty much more of a hate group than what it's stated purpose implies. Here are some videos posted criticizing Autism speaks, some of which are done by people on the autism spectrum themselves: ua-cam.com/video/ez936r2F35U/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/5Va_XXoD5LE/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/TKcWEtAsAWk/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/KGKqtyg4iLE/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/uM2RfOcpcOY/v-deo.html Sorry If I became overbearing with all this, but it's sort of a research that I myself have been doing since I intend to write my own musicals someday(I am much inspired by the works of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim(Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, etc.), the playwrights and directors he's worked with, Jason Robert Brown, William Finn, Lin Manuel Miranda, Dave Malloy, and all the other artist inspired by the first listed), based on my own personal experience being on the autism spectrum(the first focussed on my experience in high school, and the second focused on community college), and I hope to do my best at giving a more nuanced perspective of some people(even if it only ends up boiling down to people like me) on the autism spectrum that does it's best to ignore the stereotypes done in media with the likes of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. Even though, while saying this, I myself have a biased favoring for someone like Abed Nadir from Community(which is highlighted, for me, knowing that the show's creator, Dan Harmon(who now works with Justin Roland on Rick and Morty), talked about how he ended discovering for himself that he was on the autism spectrum while writing the character of Abed), or Christopher Boone from the play The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Nightime(with it's score by Adrian Sutton also inspiring the music and orchestrations I intend to write: ua-cam.com/video/neebApcsn4Y/v-deo.html ). Basically, I thought I could share what I have been gathering for myself and see what you(as well as anyone who views this comment) may think of it. :)
Just to add some stuff to the timeline- I saw the first weekend of previews on Broadway and that first they/them monologue was still in the show-, along with a few other ART elements- Jo was definitely still a non-binary character. I was blown away- so excited for the representation, especially because Jo was so strong. I heard things had changed by the next week
@@AmyLovatt1 thanks for making this video!! I’ve been upset about the change since I heard, but I had no idea how long this has been going on and just how many changes have happened.
I also saw the show very early on in previews and remember many of the ART elements, and I fully walked out seeing Jo as non-binary / gender non-conforming. I got terribly confused later on when all of this news about the show erasing that aspect on Broadway (since, ya know, that's where I saw it), and I'm glad to see a full explanation of the timeline. It's so frustrating that they A. felt the need to erase that from Jo's storyline and B. felt the need to LIE about it afterwards
As someone who is non binary I remember hearing about this and it really hurt because Jo was a character that I saw myself in. It just sucks because non binary representation is so small that I haven't found another character since then that I can relate to
I don't now if this will help, but if you can and want to, there's a musical called head over heels, and I think it has a non binary character in it! I hope you like it. but you are right, there is not enough representation, and its disappointing that JLP, being one of the few shows that have tried to address this topic, ended up doing it completely wrong.
So write, produce, and direct your own story and include those characters! This ridiculous outcry over a play that was revised (which happens ALL THE TIME) having upset so many people because they don't feel included!? lol Write your own dam story then and stop trashing the talent, hard work and dedication of others! Talk about entitlement
I recently started using she/they pronouns and my dream is to be on the West End and I’m really worried about how that will effect the roles I get so thank you for making this video. 💖
hey amy, i'm a genderfluid teen and i've been dreaming of working on broadway since i was 7 years old. i've been terrified since i came out that i would have no hope of working in theatre. i wanted to say thank you for this video, because it's cis allies like you that give me hope that one day, i'll have just as great of a chance to be onstage as my cis peers
Hi. I am sure you're a fantastic person and actor and I also hope that you will find work in Broadway. Got your back, dude (in a gender neutral way). Go ahead and make the entire theatre community proud.
VERY THIS VERY THIS Trans exclusion is MASSIVE in theatre, and as a trans woman who gave up on being a jobbing actor to work as a creative because there was, and still is, no work for trans people in theatre, this entire situation opened a lot of wounds. Trans stories have not been told in major commercial theatre, and there are no more excuses! Even in small scale, fringe or otherwise, trans stories are rarely told, and trans actors are MASSIVELY erased and excluded. As far as I’m aware, only ONE major commercial musical has casted a trans woman in a leading role (also the only musical to have a trans woman originate a role) and that musical was Head Over Heels in 2018. Three years ago. I’m sorry I’m angry, thank you so much for talking about this, we love you in the trans community and thank you for using your platform 🏳️⚧️💕
Actually, Wicked also casted a trans woman to play Madame Morrible. Her name is Alexandra Billings, she was originally cast in September 2019, started playing the role in January 2020 and will still be playing the role when the show reopens in September this year ;) Hopefully, more widely known and loved shows will start doing this and normalise casting trans people without any distinction of role.
I don't know the show, but as a nonbinary person the scenes you showed from the original really resonated with me, especially the last one where Jo's girlfriend essentially just dismisses their gender identity, suggesting she's always thought that, really, Jo is a girl. Pretty ironic that that's what the show's doing to their audience now
Thank you for talking about this and essentially breaking it down for me! I've looked stuff up about the situation previously, but I must admit that hearing the scenes side by side really clicked for me, and made me understand the harm that was done way more. To the people (especially the trans and non-binary folks) who have spoken out on this: thank you so much for your generosity and patience and willingness to explain why this is harmful. To my fellow cisgender, heterosexual white males: we're the group that has a ridiculous amount of representation, and the voice that (unfortunately still) carries the most power and impact. Let us use that voice to firmly ask and demand for more stories told and more roles cast for and from groups that do not (yet) have that massive representation, that they too can feel included, feel recognised and can relate to stories on stage, on screen or anywhere else.
Very happy you are doing this and that you have a link for donations, it is a very beautiful and meaningful gesture and a good way to get people on board.
I think the Tony awards are a huge contributor to these continuous acts of transphobia on Broadway. The Tony’s is incredibly binary when it comes to gender. I think the clearest example of this is the fact that instead of combining the Best Leading Actor categories this year (which would have given them a complete category of 4 actors) they opted to keep the awards gendered and have Aaron Tveit nominated in his own category. I think JLP recognized this and realized that Lauren Patten could get them a Tony nomination. Casting an enby performer in the role wouldn’t have gotten them a nomination because there is no category for them. The priority was never about the story but about the awards. This is why we see a lot of TGNC actors as understudies when they should be full time in roles. The whole system excludes non binary actors.
that's so true! I was just thinking to myself: wait, these Tony, Oscar or any other award show categories are problematic, what happens if they'd want to nominee a nonbinary actor, and you're right, they most likely wouldn't to avoid the controversy and they also wouldn't make a new category right before the awards
As a trans-feminine genderqueer individual I both agree with this but also worry that the major award shows are going to just give awards consistently to men they recognize the name of as apposed to actually voting for whoever the best is that year. Which they already 8/10 times give the award to whatever show has all the buzz as apposed to actually watching all nominated shows and judging based on acting ability.
I’m not non binary myself but big big respect for Amy she always talks about things well and respectfully whilst being entertaining and kind honestly such a good person as well as youtuber thanks for making these videos you’re a class one Amy much love
It's so sad how much incredibly talented theatre directors/producers there are that have such interesting and new ideas, but the small amount of these dream jobs are taken by such exclusionary people.
They've just announced an Aussie tour & I really wanna go see it but I wanna see who they announce for the cast before I buy tickets. Not biggest Alanis Moriestte fan but ive heard the musical was popular so I was thinking of seeing it then I heard about the changes & everything so I've just paused on buying tickets atm. But idk if I will tbh. Sydney was meant to have Hedwig & the angry inch in February/March but it got cancelled bc a cis man who is bi was going to play the role & people wanted a transgender or non binary person in the role so it got cancelled so I wouldn't be shocked if it maybe did get cancelled like hedwig did if they choose cis gender person
@@charlietheis4048 yeah it was for a certain festival event in Sydney that month so guess that's why they didn't wanna do it later in the year. I forget what it was called but they only announced the shows like maybe a month or 2 before the show then like a few weeks before the first show it was canceled. But would of been great if they did it for later in the year with trans person or non binary person
The audition brief for the Sydney production is on their website and it's... interesting. The words they use to describe who they're looking to cast as Jo are intentionally vague. It also claims that the show is the did their best to "craft a narrative that is both responsible and authentic". I don't trust it.
I just want to thank you for doing everything you're doing with your channel. I started following you because it was fun, now I follow you because it's important for me. It's important what you're doing, and as you said, don't be afraid to mess up, we're all learning everyday. Love your content❣️
As a nonbinary person, I am so thankful for you, using your platform to highlight this issue (and other issues as well) - a lot of us don’t have much of an online following, so finding allies in those who do is honestly making my day. Thanks Amy 💛
This reminds me of Dear Evan Hansen. I love the songs, but as someone with Depression and Anxiety, there are quite a few problems with the musical and the messages it can send people.
Thank you for making this video, Amy. I'm a huge fan of JLP and of the character of Jo specifically. I knew there was some drama and issues going on about the show but I didn't fully understand the whole story. I had no idea about the past production before broadway and how they cut the storyline of Jo. Thank you for helping me understand
Thank you so much for making this video Amy! 💖 Everything you said is so accurate and I really hope JLP and other show producers do better. There's no excuse anymore.
I didn’t know that this was going on till now but Good God, the blatant erasure and gaslighting from the company is absolutely disgusting to the point that I’m absolutely heartbroken and frustrated for the non-binary and trans community as a cis woman.
I’ve been waiting for this one!!! I’ve been following this story for a while and it’s great to have a video that I can send my friends who haven’t heard about how messed up this is and want to know about it. I’m personally CIS so I can’t imagine how awful this truly is but when I first heard about it I got sick to my stomach Edit:I TYPED HAVE WHEN I MEANT HAVENT
Oh yikes. Thank you for talking about this, I'm not up to date with the goings on with behind the scenes of musicals, so this is the first I'm hearing about this. This is heartbreaking and horrifying that broadway and the production team would do this.
I just watched a bootleg of this show with Ezra performing and the whole way through felt that Jo fell somewhere outside of the gender binary and wondered why that wasn’t in the storyline, so thank you so much for your video. As a non-binary trans person I definitely feel that we lost so much in the original storyline being changed and erased.
Amy this was such a fantastic video! The way you spoke about the trans and nonbinary community was so polite and well-informed. Jagged Little Pill is my absolute favourite musical but I had no idea about this issue until now, this has been so informative and devastating at the same time. Thank you for spreading awareness, love you
I'm so glad people are talking about this. Saw the show on Broadway and while the performances/music were stellar, the plot was a mess. It was less a cohesive story and more like they were just trying to tick off as many boxes on a social justice checklist as possible, never scratching below the surface on any of them. Very much came across as performative wokeness. I found the character of Jo to be the least fleshed out and she had such little stage time up to You Oughtta Know that the moment seemed wholly unearned. After hearing about the enby erasing rewrite it suddenly made sense why her character seemed to fall flat. On a related note I just this week saw a fb post about JLPs reopening. I posted a comment asking if they were going to address the issues around Jo. Not only did they not respond but they deleted my comment and blocked me from their page. So that tells you how much they actually care about social issues....
Yes to all of this. This show changed my life and reassured me that I would have a place on Broadway and could pursue this career. I was one of those conversations at the stage door, and seeing Lauren consistently speak about how she was just humoring us really hurts, because it’s simply not true. The creative team is using her as a puppet to fix the problem thar they caused, and gate keeping the entire trans community. It’s messed up, and they need to do better. They need to write that narrative back into the show and publicly acknowledge what they did.
I swear I heard this so often (yes I am massively late sorry) lately and it hurts me. It's really just making me want to help people tell their stories. I can script things but I want to do it right and properly so I can only tell my polyamory - bisexual life story... that does not mean, however, that I don't want to listen and learn. I really truly hope that you get to see your story told properly one day.
As I non-binary person, I thank you for including the “it’s ok to mess up, try your best to help!” bit. I’ve seen a lot of people keep quiet or ignore trans issues out of fear of slipping up. I would also like to thank you for amplifying our voices with your platform instead of trying to speak for us. This is not really related but, I’m hoping to see some good trans representation in the upcoming West Side Story film, as Ezra Menas was cast as Anybodys... though I don’t know if that’s too much to hope for. Anyway, loved your video (and Eugene’s cameos)! :D
When I first heard the soundtrack for the show I had assumed that jo was non-binary and that was just really affirming for me given that I was questioning my gender at the time, and my parents were, and still are, h0m0ph0bic and I wasn’t able to explore my gender through clothing or anything. But after hearing about this situation it just saddens me. I had always related to Jo’s story but learning about the fact that they erased the fact that the character was non-binary it just hurts. The show just hit so many points for me, from what it’s like being the one black person in your community, to Jo being non-binary, this is in no way trying to defend the show btw, it just felt nice to feel seen . I hate that they completely diluted Jo’s story line. I honestly don’t know what I’m trying to say here, I feel like I’m just word vomiting, but I do really hope that they fix what they did rather than ignore it.
I haven't heard of this show. But I am glad u are talking about it. I HOPE enough people talk about this they change it back to how its supposed to be!!
THANK YOU FOR TALKING ABOUT THIS. You have never shied away from discussing important issues and helping to inform fellow Broadway fans, and it genuinely means so much.
THANK YOU Amy for talking about this. As a nonbinary person this is so so important to me and it means so much to me that you took the time to address it
The side by side comparisons were so helpful, thanks for putting this together so we can clearly and exactly see that they are 100% LYING about this. Wow.
Thank you for making this video. I had heard rumblings about this but I didn’t understand what was going on or the gravity of the situation. The examples you included were really helpful.
Hi Amy, I’d just like to say thank you so much for using your wonderful platform to bring attention to this. I did this exact topic for my Gold Arts Award, Unit 1 Part D. It would mean the world to me if you just read this and for you to know how important and inspirational you are to me. I am a long term fan of your wonderful channel. After recently coming out as a transgender girl, I have always turned to your channel for guidance or as an escape that has been my one solace. I just wanted to let you know how much it means to me that you have made this video and how precise and dedicated you are. I am turning 17 soon and I haven’t fully discovered my full and true identity as a girl, but everyday brings new challenges and affirms more and more who I am. Your videos have been the absolute guiding force between most of my discoveries and finding about myself. Thank you for accepting me and everyone into your lovely heart. You are such a talented inspiration to me in every way. Your strength, wisdom and courage are a constant reminder of how I strive to be. I appreciate everything that you do. I have always found making friends difficult and I am so grateful to you for making me feel so loved and accepted in every way and it makes me feel free to be who I am. So once again thank you, you wonderful, amazing, talented person. Loads and loads and loads of love to you, now and always. Your devoted fan, Nimueh xxxxxxxxxxxxx❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
Oh my goodness, thank you so much. You’ve totally brightened my day! This comment honestly means such a lot to me! I’m so glad you’re finding who you are and looking forward to the future!! I’m sending all my love and support your way! ♥️♥️♥️
I had no idea of the content of this show. Thank you so much for sharing what's going on! As an afab nb person who never saw themself in the art form they were obsessed with , the a.c.t production clips also had me close to gender euphoria. This travesty needs to be more widely known.
Thank you for talking about this, Amy. I wouldn't have known about this without your video. As a non-binary lesbian I really love how much you care and call erasure is for what it is!
Thank you for using your platform to spread awareness about such important issues such as this. I really respect you as a creator and I think you're just brilliant x
Amy, I am a cis girl (she/her) and I didn't know about this at all (i'm french so we never hear anything about broadway here) and i want to thank you for this video. I can't believe something like this is happening in 2021, but it's thanks to people like you that we are able to make changes. I do hope they will reconsider the casting and the story, and if not, we should all boycott this new version of the show. And like you said it's bad that they erased a nb character, but then telling the fans they imagined it?? The audacity i swear
thanks for talking about this! im trans and a musical theatre fan (although i know next to nothing about JLP), however i seem to have some super ability to always be the last person on earth to hear about news. i've seen some occasional things about this on social media recently, but i've not come across any thorough explanations of the situation. so, thanks for explaining everything in this video!
Thank you for doing this. Also this is somewhat related and you may cover this later in the video (I'm writing this in the beginning), but a trans woman is playing Madame Morrible on Broadway (or soon will be, Broadway's not open).
Thank you for shedding your light on this. I wasn't sure on the whole picture on what was going on. I hope if/when it transfers to the West End, they take the opportunity to make it right and cast it properly
I'm really glad you talked about this. I knew some details but not as many as you had here, and tho I loved JLP its so disappointing seeing the show do this BS. And noting the ART differences REALLY helped show the progress that could have been made
As a trans nonbinary person, I just want to say thank you so much for making this video Amy, it genuinely made me cry to see someone talking about this with such care and compassion.
Thanks so much for this video! I'm a trans boy and I somehow haven't heard of this but I've heard about a lot of other transphobia in the broadway and acting community which really upsets me. Subbed to the channel
Thank you for making this video. I'm a such a huge fan of the musical and I really wasn't aware of this issue until a few weeks ago. As a trans person it hurts me that I support this musical for so long, but now I'm encouraged to do my own research on the issue.
as a trans person, i just want to say how deeply i appreciate you speaking out about this. it means so much that there are people out there willing not only to speak up on behalf on the trans community, but to do so without speaking over us
Thank you for this video I knew about the character changes but didn't know about the trying to pretend the nonbinary storyline didn't happen. as disabled gay man i feel very strongly about accurate representation in entertainment as well .thanks again for your video and for being a virtual theater geek with me.
i always got weird vibes from jlp which might be why i never looked into it at all despite some of my friends telling me to watch the boot but i had no idea it was originally about a nb lesbian.. it's honestly kinda devastating to know that there could have been a main character in a broadway show who actually represents me for the first time IN HISTORY if it hadn't been written out :(( tysm for this video
so glad I came across your video! I had only heard the music & seen a slime tutorial of this show, & I legit had NO IDEA that Jo was supposed to represent a non-binary character.... sounds like the show not only ignored those context clues, but actively pushed against that portrayal. that sucks so much. thanks again, this is an important issue for me to be aware of, if I want to be an informed & understanding ally 🖤
Hi Amy, I appreciate your attention to language and educating your audience on this subject. This isn’t a criticism, just something you might want to know, I believe you used the term ‘cisgendered’ in this video. In the same way that we don’t use ‘transgendered’, because nothing happened to us, ‘cisgendered’ isn’t really grammatically correct. ❤️
Oh my apologies!! Thank you for letting me know!!
So just to understand for my own self, you're saying its cisgender and transgender correct? Drop the ed at the end. Or am I mistaken? As a cisgender person trying to be a good ally and friend I want to get it right.
@@pingidjit Yep! Exactly :)
@@pingidjit yeah it’s just cisgender and transgender :)
@@pingidjit Yep! Being trans or cis is an adjective! Using it as a noun or verb is incorrect and is often used in a derogatory way.
Its frustrating because the production could have said something like " We tried to incorporate a non binary story line but ultimately came to the decision that we are not suited to properly address this topic." and that would have been fine.
Honestly nah, they should've come to that conclusion before the show was ever on, during workshops.
@@Elenyiorene Writing is not that simple. Especially for theatre, you need to see it properly put on in some cases to get a proper sense if something works.
I agree. I didn't realize how much erasure they did from the ART to Broadway. With that being said, i find it odd that for a character that doesn't want to fit into any boxes, everyone is trying to put them in a box around what they believe non binary should be. its odd.
"Theres no right way to tell someone's story" yeah but there is definitely a wrong way
Exactly!!!
Louder for the people in the back!
That just makes it sound like it's not something worth attempting.
@@Heroshii15 Nope, you're wrong. Literally all you need to do a modicum of research to avoid it. The wrong way is something that is VERY easy to avoid, you just have to try, they didn't even make an attempt, which is how they ended up with the wrong way.
i went to see jlp on broadway in january of 2020 with two friends of mine, one of which is a non-binary lesbian. after the show, they talked about how heavily they related to jo from her lesbian storyline. watching this video now, it’s truly devastating how that relation could have been so much stronger for them if jo’s original storyline was kept.
Storylines are constantly changed from out of town trials to Broadway openings. The non - binary lesbian storyline is still an amazing one and the fact that your friends related to it, just shows how important the story was.
Jagged Little Pill could have literally just owned up to their mistakes and admit that they hecked up instead of gaslighting its entire fan base.
Really, how hard could it possibly be?!
as a nonbinary person, JLP has ALWAYS skeeved me out by what I’ve heard about it (it felt like they were trying to get so many brownie points by shoving a million sensitive topics into one two hour show), but hearing about what they’ve done to it now, I’m literally sick to my stomach. even the ART production clips handle being nonbinary and people not accepting your identity poorly, from my perspective. and holy shit, WHEN will we get rid of the stupid “bisexual cheater” trope?!??!? this almost feels like the 13 Reasons Why of theatre- wanting to handle SO many extremely sensitive topics and putting in so little effort to actually handle them well.
You nailed it, there are my thoughts exactly! I tried to watch a bootleg version of it and I honestly couldn't get through it.
"13 Reasons Why of Theatre" is the PERFECT way to describe this show!
Well said!
not to mention the bisexual cheater is a Black woman and, in the Broadway production, darkskinned... its not sitting right with me at alllll
Welcome to Diablo Cody's writing
Thank you for talking about this Amy, as a non-binary person this situation has upset me so much. Jo is a character I really could have seen myself playing and I'm so upset.
I’m a trans girl who’s currently majoring in musical theater, and I have first hand experience seeing how hard to see the lack of trans talent performing in theater.
I recently got booked for my first professional musical, where I am understudying a cis girl role. I’m glad I got booked for something, but I’m still upset of how hard it is to find a job as a trans performer.
@@RaindropsOnLichen
Hi, I’m not attempting to speak for the trans community so if you are trans and feel this is incorrect for sure let me know.
Frankly not wanting someone to were your identity as a costume is reason enough. Trans people deserve to see accurate and thoughtful representation on stage and the way that happens is by having members of the trans community involved in all points of production and actually in the roles of trans characters.
But were I to borrow your logic, I still don’t think it works. If we are saying that actors should be allowed play any role, we are ignoring the fact that trans performers are often excluded from this. There are not enough roles, opportunities and representation for trans performers. Presently there is a severe lack of trans roles and many casting directors would *wrongly* not even consider a trans performers for a “cis” role. There is a disproportion in opportunity, meaning that your thought that anyone has the opportunity to audition and obtain any role is misguided. There is no space for cis actors in trans roles.
As a non-binary person this hurt so deeply
I am so so sorry. My love and heart goes to you.
As a non binary person thank you for talking on this, we need more representation in theatre and media in general 🥰
Seriously, if not in theater, where?!
I've been trying to figure out why this whole thing hurt so much and it just dawned on me. The theater is historically where LBGTQ+ are generally accepted - and celebrated even. The theater is a space for us to feel seen, heard, and safe. For a production to erase us and gaslight us this way feels like a stab in the back. What a huge betrayal.
Thank you so much for talking about this, Amy!!
I’m so glad someone is talking about this, because no one else is
Legit,, this is the first time I'm hearing any of this about the show.
One of my friends was non binary and they watched your channel, they died last week so I just want to thank you for bringing me and my friend together over something we both loved.
Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry to hear that Niamh! I’m sending you all my love and the same to their family ♥️♥️♥️♥️
I came out as enby about a year ago now. Some of my friends actually call me Jo haha. I really related to Jo when I first watched JLP, i'm around the same age as the characters are supposed to be, i'm a lesbian (trixic, idk what the right terms are for enbys i prefer lesbian but ik some ppl don't like it pls don't @ me over it) and my mum is a TERF so I really felt the struggle they were going through. The show has some really great representation for people in all different circumstances and situations and it felt really nice for that to include me too. When I finally heard about this whole situation the worst thing was I wasn't really surprised. Like, an enby character played by an enby actor in mainstream media seemed...impossible. I mean, I live in the UK i'm not even allowed to legally change my pronouns to they/them. I'm just tired of feeling like I have to constantly explain and validate my existence to people, I shouldn't have to pull out scientific studies so that people agree that I'm allowed to have rights. Seeing Jo really made it feel like maybe people actually cared about trans and enby folks but...I guess this proves that a lot of people really don't. Thank you for making this video, it's really helpful to have someone with such a big platform who clearly cares so much speak up about something like this. Stay safe loves
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and sorry with me. I’m so sorry for the difficulty with your mum. I’m sending you all my love and support ♥️♥️♥️
From one non-binary lesbian to another, lesbian is a perfectly fine label! Lesbian just means non-men who are only attracted to non-men!
@@DK-go6nw as a demigirl lesbian, yep! Did you know that the white stripe in the flag represents non binaries? (Both the attraction to them and being non binary)
@@candiedcockroaches yeah!
@@candiedcockroaches actually it represents gender non conformity (as in expression not identity) as the lipstick flag excluded butch lesbians. The orange stripe represents unique relationships to women and womanhood which the creator has elaborated means lesbians who don't identify with the term women ie. non binary lesbians. It's a common misconception as the white stripe in the trans flag does represent nb folks. Hope this helped!
I'm really glad people haven't been defending the situation by saying "but look, a lesbian, so we're being inclusive!" I always appreciate when people can criticize marginalized characters because they aren't perfect either and can't be treated that way
Thank you for this. As a trans guy I have always felt that I couldn't act in theatre and was restricted to the technical side. I really hope that more people realize this is an issue
Kinda reminds me of the whole thing with Sia's music. They said they worked with the child mind institute advisory board when that whole film was just misrepresentation. As a person on the autism spectrum that hurt me. Jagged little pill should have known better.
Even worse, that "child mind institute advisory board" was the organization Autism Speaks, which has a bit of a damning reputation in the past for treating autism itself as a second hand life ruining menace that must be eradicated("second hand" meaning it puts the worry's of not having a "normal child/life" on the parents, effectively making out their child and child's diagnosis as some sort of burdon(as this since pulled ad they did a few years back indicates(be warned, language can be very triggering): ua-cam.com/video/9UgLnWJFGHQ/v-deo.html ), and "eradicated" meaning a good portion of their funds have gone to finding a "cure" for autism itself), and, on top of all that, seems to pretty much function without ANY people who are on the autism spectrum involved with how to organization operates.
Speaking as also someone on the high functioning end of the Autism spectrum(what used to be referred to as Asperger's syndrome in my case), I have conversed with other people on the spectrum in these group meets we do for a very good help group called Campus Life(which is aimed to help community college/college students on the autism spectrum, like me, with things ranging from school work to social interaction) and we all collectively agreed with the shared sentiment that Autism Speaks is pretty much more of a hate group than what it's stated purpose implies.
Here are some videos posted criticizing Autism speaks, some of which are done by people on the autism spectrum themselves:
ua-cam.com/video/ez936r2F35U/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/5Va_XXoD5LE/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/TKcWEtAsAWk/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/KGKqtyg4iLE/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/uM2RfOcpcOY/v-deo.html
Sorry If I became overbearing with all this, but it's sort of a research that I myself have been doing since I intend to write my own musicals someday(I am much inspired by the works of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim(Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, etc.), the playwrights and directors he's worked with, Jason Robert Brown, William Finn, Lin Manuel Miranda, Dave Malloy, and all the other artist inspired by the first listed), based on my own personal experience being on the autism spectrum(the first focussed on my experience in high school, and the second focused on community college), and I hope to do my best at giving a more nuanced perspective of some people(even if it only ends up boiling down to people like me) on the autism spectrum that does it's best to ignore the stereotypes done in media with the likes of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. Even though, while saying this, I myself have a biased favoring for someone like Abed Nadir from Community(which is highlighted, for me, knowing that the show's creator, Dan Harmon(who now works with Justin Roland on Rick and Morty), talked about how he ended discovering for himself that he was on the autism spectrum while writing the character of Abed), or Christopher Boone from the play The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Nightime(with it's score by Adrian Sutton also inspiring the music and orchestrations I intend to write: ua-cam.com/video/neebApcsn4Y/v-deo.html ).
Basically, I thought I could share what I have been gathering for myself and see what you(as well as anyone who views this comment) may think of it. :)
Just to add some stuff to the timeline- I saw the first weekend of previews on Broadway and that first they/them monologue was still in the show-, along with a few other ART elements- Jo was definitely still a non-binary character. I was blown away- so excited for the representation, especially because Jo was so strong. I heard things had changed by the next week
Oh my goodness, thank you for adding that!! ♥️
@@AmyLovatt1 thanks for making this video!! I’ve been upset about the change since I heard, but I had no idea how long this has been going on and just how many changes have happened.
I also saw the show very early on in previews and remember many of the ART elements, and I fully walked out seeing Jo as non-binary / gender non-conforming. I got terribly confused later on when all of this news about the show erasing that aspect on Broadway (since, ya know, that's where I saw it), and I'm glad to see a full explanation of the timeline. It's so frustrating that they A. felt the need to erase that from Jo's storyline and B. felt the need to LIE about it afterwards
@@katelyn2306 Me as well! I saw the show in previews and fully understood Jo to be non-binary.
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"they talked about the need for responsible story-telling." well, isn't that ironic.
As someone who is non binary I remember hearing about this and it really hurt because Jo was a character that I saw myself in. It just sucks because non binary representation is so small that I haven't found another character since then that I can relate to
I don't now if this will help, but if you can and want to, there's a musical called head over heels, and I think it has a non binary character in it! I hope you like it. but you are right, there is not enough representation, and its disappointing that JLP, being one of the few shows that have tried to address this topic, ended up doing it completely wrong.
This is going to be irrelevant but... I love your profile picture
So write, produce, and direct your own story and include those characters! This ridiculous outcry over a play that was revised (which happens ALL THE TIME) having upset so many people because they don't feel included!? lol Write your own dam story then and stop trashing the talent, hard work and dedication of others! Talk about entitlement
@@Reelglad Why don't you go write yourself into a corner and don't come out until you learn to actually listen to nonbinary people?
I recently started using she/they pronouns and my dream is to be on the West End and I’m really worried about how that will effect the roles I get so thank you for making this video. 💖
hey amy, i'm a genderfluid teen and i've been dreaming of working on broadway since i was 7 years old. i've been terrified since i came out that i would have no hope of working in theatre. i wanted to say thank you for this video, because it's cis allies like you that give me hope that one day, i'll have just as great of a chance to be onstage as my cis peers
Hi. I am sure you're a fantastic person and actor and I also hope that you will find work in Broadway. Got your back, dude (in a gender neutral way). Go ahead and make the entire theatre community proud.
oh they messed up BAD BAD. Thanks for covering this. I literally had no idea this was even happenning.
hi i'm the creator of the thread at 9:24! thank you so much for including my thread in this and for talking about this!
VERY THIS VERY THIS
Trans exclusion is MASSIVE in theatre, and as a trans woman who gave up on being a jobbing actor to work as a creative because there was, and still is, no work for trans people in theatre, this entire situation opened a lot of wounds. Trans stories have not been told in major commercial theatre, and there are no more excuses! Even in small scale, fringe or otherwise, trans stories are rarely told, and trans actors are MASSIVELY erased and excluded.
As far as I’m aware, only ONE major commercial musical has casted a trans woman in a leading role (also the only musical to have a trans woman originate a role) and that musical was Head Over Heels in 2018. Three years ago.
I’m sorry I’m angry, thank you so much for talking about this, we love you in the trans community and thank you for using your platform 🏳️⚧️💕
Actually, Wicked also casted a trans woman to play Madame Morrible. Her name is Alexandra Billings, she was originally cast in September 2019, started playing the role in January 2020 and will still be playing the role when the show reopens in September this year ;) Hopefully, more widely known and loved shows will start doing this and normalise casting trans people without any distinction of role.
@@mariejoris2052 the fact that this is not well known is part of the problem
I don't know the show, but as a nonbinary person the scenes you showed from the original really resonated with me, especially the last one where Jo's girlfriend essentially just dismisses their gender identity, suggesting she's always thought that, really, Jo is a girl. Pretty ironic that that's what the show's doing to their audience now
Thank you for talking about this and essentially breaking it down for me! I've looked stuff up about the situation previously, but I must admit that hearing the scenes side by side really clicked for me, and made me understand the harm that was done way more.
To the people (especially the trans and non-binary folks) who have spoken out on this: thank you so much for your generosity and patience and willingness to explain why this is harmful.
To my fellow cisgender, heterosexual white males: we're the group that has a ridiculous amount of representation, and the voice that (unfortunately still) carries the most power and impact. Let us use that voice to firmly ask and demand for more stories told and more roles cast for and from groups that do not (yet) have that massive representation, that they too can feel included, feel recognised and can relate to stories on stage, on screen or anywhere else.
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Very happy you are doing this and that you have a link for donations, it is a very beautiful and meaningful gesture and a good way to get people on board.
I had no clue this was going on at all, thanks for using your platform to help spread awareness about this
I think the Tony awards are a huge contributor to these continuous acts of transphobia on Broadway. The Tony’s is incredibly binary when it comes to gender. I think the clearest example of this is the fact that instead of combining the Best Leading Actor categories this year (which would have given them a complete category of 4 actors) they opted to keep the awards gendered and have Aaron Tveit nominated in his own category. I think JLP recognized this and realized that Lauren Patten could get them a Tony nomination. Casting an enby performer in the role wouldn’t have gotten them a nomination because there is no category for them. The priority was never about the story but about the awards. This is why we see a lot of TGNC actors as understudies when they should be full time in roles. The whole system excludes non binary actors.
Damn thats probably it
Why does aaron have his own category?
@@DisabledAtDisney He was the only one nominated for Best Leading Actor in a Musical at the Tonys this year
that's so true! I was just thinking to myself: wait, these Tony, Oscar or any other award show categories are problematic, what happens if they'd want to nominee a nonbinary actor, and you're right, they most likely wouldn't to avoid the controversy and they also wouldn't make a new category right before the awards
As a trans-feminine genderqueer individual I both agree with this but also worry that the major award shows are going to just give awards consistently to men they recognize the name of as apposed to actually voting for whoever the best is that year. Which they already 8/10 times give the award to whatever show has all the buzz as apposed to actually watching all nominated shows and judging based on acting ability.
Ahhhhh the pronoun use! Thanks you Amy! 🥰
I’m not non binary myself but big big respect for Amy she always talks about things well and respectfully whilst being entertaining and kind honestly such a good person as well as youtuber thanks for making these videos you’re a class one Amy much love
I’m W
It's so sad how much incredibly talented theatre directors/producers there are that have such interesting and new ideas, but the small amount of these dream jobs are taken by such exclusionary people.
They've just announced an Aussie tour & I really wanna go see it but I wanna see who they announce for the cast before I buy tickets. Not biggest Alanis Moriestte fan but ive heard the musical was popular so I was thinking of seeing it then I heard about the changes & everything so I've just paused on buying tickets atm. But idk if I will tbh.
Sydney was meant to have Hedwig & the angry inch in February/March but it got cancelled bc a cis man who is bi was going to play the role & people wanted a transgender or non binary person in the role so it got cancelled so I wouldn't be shocked if it maybe did get cancelled like hedwig did if they choose cis gender person
the fact that they would rather cancel a whole show than cast appropriate actors, I-
@@charlietheis4048 yeah it was for a certain festival event in Sydney that month so guess that's why they didn't wanna do it later in the year. I forget what it was called but they only announced the shows like maybe a month or 2 before the show then like a few weeks before the first show it was canceled. But would of been great if they did it for later in the year with trans person or non binary person
The audition brief for the Sydney production is on their website and it's... interesting. The words they use to describe who they're looking to cast as Jo are intentionally vague. It also claims that the show is the did their best to "craft a narrative that is both responsible and authentic". I don't trust it.
Amazing video Amy!!!! As a trans man thank you for talking about this issue 🥰
I just want to thank you for doing everything you're doing with your channel. I started following you because it was fun, now I follow you because it's important for me. It's important what you're doing, and as you said, don't be afraid to mess up, we're all learning everyday. Love your content❣️
As a nonbinary person, I am so thankful for you, using your platform to highlight this issue (and other issues as well) - a lot of us don’t have much of an online following, so finding allies in those who do is honestly making my day. Thanks Amy 💛
This reminds me of Dear Evan Hansen. I love the songs, but as someone with Depression and Anxiety, there are quite a few problems with the musical and the messages it can send people.
I didn't know any of this was going on (Jagged Little Pill wasn't on my radar). Thanks for sharing and for linking more info x
such a great video ! :) this is such an important topic thank you for talking about it
Also just want to say that the version I saw had Ezra Menas on for Jo, and they blew it out of the water. Incredibly talented individual.
Thank you for making this video, Amy. I'm a huge fan of JLP and of the character of Jo specifically. I knew there was some drama and issues going on about the show but I didn't fully understand the whole story. I had no idea about the past production before broadway and how they cut the storyline of Jo.
Thank you for helping me understand
Thank you so much for making this video Amy! 💖 Everything you said is so accurate and I really hope JLP and other show producers do better. There's no excuse anymore.
I didn’t know that this was going on till now but Good God, the blatant erasure and gaslighting from the company is absolutely disgusting to the point that I’m absolutely heartbroken and frustrated for the non-binary and trans community as a cis woman.
I’ve been waiting for this one!!! I’ve been following this story for a while and it’s great to have a video that I can send my friends who haven’t heard about how messed up this is and want to know about it. I’m personally CIS so I can’t imagine how awful this truly is but when I first heard about it I got sick to my stomach
Edit:I TYPED HAVE WHEN I MEANT HAVENT
Oh yikes. Thank you for talking about this, I'm not up to date with the goings on with behind the scenes of musicals, so this is the first I'm hearing about this. This is heartbreaking and horrifying that broadway and the production team would do this.
I just watched a bootleg of this show with Ezra performing and the whole way through felt that Jo fell somewhere outside of the gender binary and wondered why that wasn’t in the storyline, so thank you so much for your video. As a non-binary trans person I definitely feel that we lost so much in the original storyline being changed and erased.
As a non binary person I love that all the top comments start with “as a non binary person.” Thank you for listening
Amy this was such a fantastic video! The way you spoke about the trans and nonbinary community was so polite and well-informed. Jagged Little Pill is my absolute favourite musical but I had no idea about this issue until now, this has been so informative and devastating at the same time. Thank you for spreading awareness, love you
This is horrible, I've been avoiding the whole thing because it hurts. Thank you for covering this so sensitively.
I'm so glad people are talking about this. Saw the show on Broadway and while the performances/music were stellar, the plot was a mess. It was less a cohesive story and more like they were just trying to tick off as many boxes on a social justice checklist as possible, never scratching below the surface on any of them. Very much came across as performative wokeness. I found the character of Jo to be the least fleshed out and she had such little stage time up to You Oughtta Know that the moment seemed wholly unearned. After hearing about the enby erasing rewrite it suddenly made sense why her character seemed to fall flat.
On a related note I just this week saw a fb post about JLPs reopening. I posted a comment asking if they were going to address the issues around Jo. Not only did they not respond but they deleted my comment and blocked me from their page. So that tells you how much they actually care about social issues....
Thank you so much for this video, this is so well researched and well presented.
Oh my god thank you so much for talking about this. I'm not trans but it is just so important.
Thank you so much Amy, this is so important 💛🤍💜🖤
Yes to all of this. This show changed my life and reassured me that I would have a place on Broadway and could pursue this career. I was one of those conversations at the stage door, and seeing Lauren consistently speak about how she was just humoring us really hurts, because it’s simply not true. The creative team is using her as a puppet to fix the problem thar they caused, and gate keeping the entire trans community. It’s messed up, and they need to do better. They need to write that narrative back into the show and publicly acknowledge what they did.
It must be so heartbreaking to see her turn on what she said to you!! I’m so sorry that happened!! ♥️
I swear I heard this so often (yes I am massively late sorry) lately and it hurts me. It's really just making me want to help people tell their stories. I can script things but I want to do it right and properly so I can only tell my polyamory - bisexual life story... that does not mean, however, that I don't want to listen and learn.
I really truly hope that you get to see your story told properly one day.
i had no idea about this (don’t know much about the show) and as a non-binary lesbian i am absolutely appalled. thank you for bringing light to this x
As I non-binary person, I thank you for including the “it’s ok to mess up, try your best to help!” bit. I’ve seen a lot of people keep quiet or ignore trans issues out of fear of slipping up. I would also like to thank you for amplifying our voices with your platform instead of trying to speak for us. This is not really related but, I’m hoping to see some good trans representation in the upcoming West Side Story film, as Ezra Menas was cast as Anybodys... though I don’t know if that’s too much to hope for. Anyway, loved your video (and Eugene’s cameos)! :D
Thank you Amy, I didn't know this was happening. Without you I wouldn't have known. As a transman I want to say with my whole heart thank you.
Thank you for raising awareness on this! I had no idea Jo's initial identity was nonbinary and clearly, the production didn't want people to know
When I first heard the soundtrack for the show I had assumed that jo was non-binary and that was just really affirming for me given that I was questioning my gender at the time, and my parents were, and still are, h0m0ph0bic and I wasn’t able to explore my gender through clothing or anything. But after hearing about this situation it just saddens me. I had always related to Jo’s story but learning about the fact that they erased the fact that the character was non-binary it just hurts. The show just hit so many points for me, from what it’s like being the one black person in your community, to Jo being non-binary, this is in no way trying to defend the show btw, it just felt nice to feel seen . I hate that they completely diluted Jo’s story line. I honestly don’t know what I’m trying to say here, I feel like I’m just word vomiting, but I do really hope that they fix what they did rather than ignore it.
I haven't heard of this show. But I am glad u are talking about it. I HOPE enough people talk about this they change it back to how its supposed to be!!
THANK YOU FOR TALKING ABOUT THIS. You have never shied away from discussing important issues and helping to inform fellow Broadway fans, and it genuinely means so much.
THANK YOU Amy for talking about this. As a nonbinary person this is so so important to me and it means so much to me that you took the time to address it
I did not know this! omg. thank you for sharing this. you explained this very respectfully and eloquently...
The side by side comparisons were so helpful, thanks for putting this together so we can clearly and exactly see that they are 100% LYING about this. Wow.
Thank you for being brave enough to talk about this topic
Thank you for making this video. I had heard rumblings about this but I didn’t understand what was going on or the gravity of the situation. The examples you included were really helpful.
Hi Amy, I’d just like to say thank you so much for using your wonderful platform to bring attention to this. I did this exact topic for my Gold Arts Award, Unit 1 Part D. It would mean the world to me if you just read this and for you to know how important and inspirational you are to me. I am a long term fan of your wonderful channel. After recently coming out as a transgender girl, I have always turned to your channel for guidance or as an escape that has been my one solace. I just wanted to let you know how much it means to me that you have made this video and how precise and dedicated you are. I am turning 17 soon and I haven’t fully discovered my full and true identity as a girl, but everyday brings new challenges and affirms more and more who I am. Your videos have been the absolute guiding force between most of my discoveries and finding about myself. Thank you for accepting me and everyone into your lovely heart. You are such a talented inspiration to me in every way. Your strength, wisdom and courage are a constant reminder of how I strive to be. I appreciate everything that you do. I have always found making friends difficult and I am so grateful to you for making me feel so loved and accepted in every way and it makes me feel free to be who I am. So once again thank you, you wonderful, amazing, talented person. Loads and loads and loads of love to you, now and always. Your devoted fan, Nimueh xxxxxxxxxxxxx❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
Oh my goodness, thank you so much. You’ve totally brightened my day! This comment honestly means such a lot to me! I’m so glad you’re finding who you are and looking forward to the future!! I’m sending all my love and support your way! ♥️♥️♥️
I love how your cat wanders through your videos and then jumps places with your edit cuts!
I had no idea of the content of this show. Thank you so much for sharing what's going on! As an afab nb person who never saw themself in the art form they were obsessed with , the a.c.t production clips also had me close to gender euphoria. This travesty needs to be more widely known.
Thank you for talking about this, Amy. I wouldn't have known about this without your video. As a non-binary lesbian I really love how much you care and call erasure is for what it is!
Thank you for using your platform to spread awareness about such important issues such as this. I really respect you as a creator and I think you're just brilliant x
I love this video Amy! Thank you for spreading this story. It's given me a lot to think about
Amy, I am a cis girl (she/her) and I didn't know about this at all (i'm french so we never hear anything about broadway here) and i want to thank you for this video. I can't believe something like this is happening in 2021, but it's thanks to people like you that we are able to make changes. I do hope they will reconsider the casting and the story, and if not, we should all boycott this new version of the show. And like you said it's bad that they erased a nb character, but then telling the fans they imagined it?? The audacity i swear
thanks for talking about this! im trans and a musical theatre fan (although i know next to nothing about JLP), however i seem to have some super ability to always be the last person on earth to hear about news. i've seen some occasional things about this on social media recently, but i've not come across any thorough explanations of the situation. so, thanks for explaining everything in this video!
Thank you for talking about this, it’s super important it’s discussed and just an awfully sad situation
This is all just so sad. If they really wanted to re-write in order to keep Lauren, there are other options.
most definitely!
Thank you for doing this. Also this is somewhat related and you may cover this later in the video (I'm writing this in the beginning), but a trans woman is playing Madame Morrible on Broadway (or soon will be, Broadway's not open).
Thank you for sharing your words and your research and your kindness.
Thank you for shedding your light on this. I wasn't sure on the whole picture on what was going on. I hope if/when it transfers to the West End, they take the opportunity to make it right and cast it properly
I'm really glad you talked about this. I knew some details but not as many as you had here, and tho I loved JLP its so disappointing seeing the show do this BS. And noting the ART differences REALLY helped show the progress that could have been made
As a trans nonbinary person, I just want to say thank you so much for making this video Amy, it genuinely made me cry to see someone talking about this with such care and compassion.
Thanks so much for this video! I'm a trans boy and I somehow haven't heard of this but I've heard about a lot of other transphobia in the broadway and acting community which really upsets me. Subbed to the channel
Amy, you're a gem and I'm happy to be in a community with you. Thank you so much for calling out obvious bs
It also sucks that one of the only black characters in the show has the "bisexuals are cheaters trope"
Thank you for making this video. I'm a such a huge fan of the musical and I really wasn't aware of this issue until a few weeks ago. As a trans person it hurts me that I support this musical for so long, but now I'm encouraged to do my own research on the issue.
Thanks for using your platform to talk about this
Oh my god I have been listening to the Jagged Little Pill album this morning
ahhhh this is so important I’ve been waiting for someone to talk about this! also first lol
as a trans person, i just want to say how deeply i appreciate you speaking out about this. it means so much that there are people out there willing not only to speak up on behalf on the trans community, but to do so without speaking over us
Thank you for this video I knew about the character changes but didn't know about the trying to pretend the nonbinary storyline didn't happen. as disabled gay man i feel very strongly about accurate representation in entertainment as well .thanks again for your video and for being a virtual theater geek with me.
This is such a well-done and well-phrased video! Thank you Amy❤️
You put so much work into this Amy thank you thank you thanks
As a nonbinary person named Jo, this made me particularly upset. Thank you so much for calling attention to this!
I’m non binary and love that you made this video and how clear it is how genuinely you care
This is a great video explaining the whole situation, thanks for speaking out about this.
i always got weird vibes from jlp which might be why i never looked into it at all despite some of my friends telling me to watch the boot but i had no idea it was originally about a nb lesbian.. it's honestly kinda devastating to know that there could have been a main character in a broadway show who actually represents me for the first time IN HISTORY if it hadn't been written out :(( tysm for this video
so glad I came across your video! I had only heard the music & seen a slime tutorial of this show, & I legit had NO IDEA that Jo was supposed to represent a non-binary character.... sounds like the show not only ignored those context clues, but actively pushed against that portrayal. that sucks so much. thanks again, this is an important issue for me to be aware of, if I want to be an informed & understanding ally 🖤