Okieriete Onaodowan Speaks on GREAT COMET Controversy, Says Show Didn't 'Take the Time to Cultivate' Diversity

Since leaving the Broadway production of NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, Okieriete Onaodowan has been mostly quiet on the controversy that saw his run as the titular Pierre end with confusion, outrage, and uncertainty.

However, earlier this week, Onadowan spoke with Forbes editor Zack O'Malley Greenburg at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit in Boston about his experiences in HAMILTON and GREAT COMET, and on what it means to have a platform.

Onadowan admitted that when he joined GREAT COMET it was an important moment as he appeared opposite Denée Benton, and two African-American performers were playing "white Russian aristocrats."

"Two black leads playing not black people--it was an important moment for the Broadway community to say diversity is possible and it's here," he said.

However, he said that, in his opinion, there is more to creating an environment that nurtures diversity than just color-blind casting.

"You have to cultivate diversity for it to work, and I feel the GREAT COMET didn't take the time to cultivate it. They didn't want to invest in it," Onadowan said. "That's how diversity becomes a gimmick or device, when it is introduced but not supported."

To read the full article on Onadowan's Forbes appearance, click here.

About THE GREAT COMET

THE GREAT COMET originally starred multi-platinum recording artist Josh Groban in his Broadway debut. Inspired by a 70-page slice of War and Peace, this "vibrant, thrillingly imagined new musical" (The New York Times) is "stunning and blazingly original" (Entertainment Weekly) and brings us just inches from Tolstoy's brash young lovers as they light up Moscow in a "heaven-sent fireball" (The New York Times) of romance and passion.

Natasha is young, Anatole is hot, and Andrey isn't here... but what about Pierre? Natasha is a beautiful ingénue visiting Moscow while she waits for her beloved fiancé Andrey to return from the war. In a moment of indiscretion, she is seduced by the dashing (but already married) Anatole and her position in society is ruined. Her only hope lies with Pierre (Groban), the lonely outsider whose love and compassion for Natasha may be the key to her redemption... and to the renewal of his own soul.

Created by Dave Malloy (Ghost Quartet, Preludes) and directed by Rachel Chavkin, NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 began previews on October 18, and officially opened Monday, November 14, 2016.