#i wasn't in the jlp fandom at the time of this all happening but i was in the “i'm a massive theatre nerd” internet existence

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really the lore itself has two paths: there's the nonbinary erasure of Jo (Lauren Patten's character) (making Jo into someone questioning their gender or just a gender nonconforming woman, but prior to the Broadway run they were explicitly nonbinary. Celia Rose Gooding (who played Frankie in the obc) left the production prior to its Broadway return and mentioned the pain the production had caused to trans and nonbinary individuals. Then the producers denied that fact about the character, saying that Jo was a woman from the beginning), but then there's the mistreatment of cast members by the production (production staff asked Nora Schell to delay a surgery for their PCOS). Nora Schell and iris menas (who did perform as Jo at some point during the Broadway run) (there may or may not be a video out there of the full show with them) (they were also Anybodys in 2021 West Side Story w/ Rachel Zegler) left the production together. the broadway production then hired diversity officers nad did try to put the work in but of course all this work came around Tony's season (the 74th tonys were such a... something. Aaron Tveit was the ONLY actor nominated for best performance by a leading actor in a musical for moulin rouge. so of course he won. but that's beside the point. lightning thief was not nominated. that upset people. this is all beside the point) (Lauren Patten [Jo] won supporting actress in a musical) (Celia Rose Gooding was nominated in the same category) (Antonio Cipriano was also in JLP and he's friends with Rachel Zegler. iirc Rachel and Celia are friends) (Celia Rose Gooding's mom is LaChanze which is also wild!) (LaChanze original Broadway Ti Moune and Celie, among many more credits) THEN there's the Australian production casting a nonbinary performer as Jo which caused some internet people to get in a fuss over the "erasure" of cis women who like to dress masc which ????

anyway.