Todrick Hall says he expected his new off-Broadway musical, “Midnight,” to stir up some controversy — just not the kind it has actually produced.
Hall wrote, directed, created and stars in the show, which is set in the 19th-century American South and running at New York’s Daryl Roth Theatre. He plays Rail, an enslaved man who falls in love with his next-door neighbor, a white plantation owner named Richard.
The production has been drawing full houses, but it has also drawn criticism. Hall has been accused of rewriting the history of slavery and using “black trauma” for entertainment, with critics arguing the show turns the horrors of slavery into fantasy for the sake of theater.
In an exclusive interview with Page Six, Hall addressed the reaction directly.
“I’m grateful that it has sparked any conversation. I’ve gone to see so many musicals. My partner and I saw like 178 musicals together in the few years that we were together … It didn’t make us sit down and have like thought-provoking conversations as human beings. It didn’t challenge us, and there’s a space for that,” he said.
Hall said the idea for “Midnight” came to him during the pandemic, as he was following the Black Lives Matter movement. He chose to set the story during slavery, he said, because he wanted to begin at the origin point of racial division in America.
“It is the place where we were at the most divided … we’ve ever been. And the seeds that were planted then, are still in existence today,” he said. “There were so many factors, but I think in order to understand where we are now, it’s always best to, like Maria says in ‘Sound of Music,’ let’s start at the very beginning.”
Hall has used social media to respond to critics, saying he feels compelled to stand behind the work.
“I think this show deserves to be heard, and so, when I heard criticisms, I was like … I’m gonna stand up and respectfully try to give my opinion … But I’m not OK with someone going on social media and declaring on behalf of everyone who exists on the planet that’s black, that a musical is not for them,” he said.
He added that he sees a wide range of people attending the show nightly.
“I’m watching in real life, every night, black people, brown people, white people, Asian people, old people, young people, queer people, straight people, all types of people, coming [to this show],” Hall said.
Asked how he hopes audiences — particularly black and queer theatergoers — will receive the musical, Hall said he doesn’t want the show reduced to a single interpretation.
“I don’t know that I want them to receive it in any other way than just to say, ‘Look at the sheer amount of work that has been put into the show,'” he said. “To minimize something that has such intricate melodies and story arcs and characters, and twists and turns … I don’t want it to be put into a box.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login