By Pat Savage
A brand new revival of the classic musical West Side Story debut than the Broadway Theatre last week. And since this is America in the 21st century, it was accompanied by what else — protests.
At least 100 protesters outside we’re insisting the cast member Amar Ramasar be dropped from the show. He had previously been fired, then rehired, in the wake of a controversy while he was dancing for the New York City Ballet about nude photos and sexually explicit texts.
Yelling ‘Hey hey ho ho, Amar Ramasar has got to go,’ the protesters could barely be heard above cheers for the show, and the arrival of celebrities such as Andrea Martin, director Julie Taymor, Vanessa Hudgens, Alec Baldwin and Iman.
Alexandra Waterbury, a former student with the City Ballet’s affiliated school, the School of American Ballet, “alleged in 2018 that Ramasar and two other men shared nude photos of her, taken without her knowledge, with other men in the company,” ABC News reported. “Since, then, there’s been a petition to remove Ramasar from “West Side Story,” where he plays Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. Producers in a statement last week backed the actor, noting that the incident took place in a different workplace and “has been both fully adjudicated and definitively concluded according to the specific rules of that workplace.”
“There is zero consideration being given to his potentially being terminated from this workplace, as there has been no transgression of any kind, ever, in this workplace,” the statement read.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Actors Equity said it has been monitoring the situation at the production. “Everyone at ‘West Side Story’ should be able to go to work and perform feeling safe and protected in their workplace. Equity has been in communication with the general manager and the members of the show. As a union, Equity’s role is to ensure that our members are protected in the workplace and we take that responsibility very seriously,” Actors’ Equity Association Executive Director Mary McColl said in the statement.
“As protests have been growing, the producers of “West Side Story” have stuck by Ramasar, saying last week that there was “zero consideration being given to his potentially being terminated from this workplace, as there has been no transgression of any kind, ever, in this workplace,” wrote broadwaynews.com. The production had previously spoken to Ramasar’s “good standing” within Equity and the union’s support of his “employment eligibility.” However, Equity has said it plays no part in hiring decisions and was not aware of Ramasar’s casting before it was announced.”
