back in my les mis era

the 40th anniversary album of les mis pre-order is out, and on this, jordan shaw (the black actor playing enjolras) has been replaced with a white actor. the entire thing is directly recorded from the stage 40th show, and yet they've cut out jordan and replaced him with james gish. ONLY jordans songs have been changed!! no shade to james because he's also extremely talented but hes not jordan? he didn't play enjolras in the 40th? and the fact that only jordans songs have been changed makes this just UGH. this is terrible and we need to do something about it

i am also not the type of person to say "we need to do something about this" and stay silent, so do something! I sure as hell am!!! make a fuss about this!! post about it and yell about it and find the "contact us" page on the distributor form, and if you're feeling kind, shoot jordan a kind word on insta at jordanshawuk. this is bullshit and something needs to be done.

There are already cast albums of Les Mis with actors and actresses of color in leading roles. Each of the filmed concerts – 10th Anniversary, 25th Anniversary, and the 2019 Staged Concert – includes performers of color in leading roles. This very same cast recording still features a black Éponine and a black Cosette! So why should Cameron Mackintosh replace a black Enjolras with a white one?

Unless the decision honestly wasn't motivated by race, my best guess is that Sir Cameron knows how central a character Enjolras has become to the Les Mis fandom – more than he is to the actual plot – and he also knows that Enjolras's sex appeal to straight female and gay male fans is a huge aspect of the character's popularity. And he must have decided that a black actor wouldn't have enough sex appeal to white fans, which would make the album less marketable. A disgusting thought, but it's the only motive I can think of that remotely makes sense from a business standpoint.

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