Leonard Bernstein's daughter questions 'political correctness' of West Side Story casting

Leonard Bernstein would have thought it politically correct to the point of ridiculousness that a white singer had to withdraw from a BBC Proms performance of West Side Story, his daughter has suggested.

Sierra Boggess, the Broadway and West End star, quit the role of Maria in April following complaints that casting a non-Latina face was the latest example of “whitewashing”. The character is Puerto Rican.

Boggess said she had realised that taking the role “would once again deny Latinas the opportunity to sing this score, as well as deny the importance of seeing themselves represented on stage.”

Jamie Bernstein, one of the late composer’s three children, was asked by Radio Times what her father would have made of the furore.

She said: “I think he’d have appreciated the fact that the whole industry, musical theatre and the performing arts in general, is becoming so much more mindful of issues having to do with diversity, and race and tolerance.

“In this particular instance he’d have respected the cast member who withdrew for the reasons she withdrew, but at the same time I wonder whether he would feel that everybody was overcompensating with their political correctness to the point where it could become ridiculous. But it is very hard to parse these issues.”

Boggess has been replaced by Mikaela Bennett, a young Juilliard graduate who has performed as Maria with the New York Philharmonic and is believed to be of mixed heritage.

The BBC Prom marks the 100th anniversary of Bernstein’s birth. His daughter said she has not tired of the songs, despite hearing them so many times.

“The lucky thing about West Side Story is how fantastic it is. Think how tough it would be if it were dreary and we had to listen to it 1,000 times. But it’s one of the greatest works around and it doesn’t get old. It really doesn’t,” she said.