I absolutely believe it’s not only good but necessary to cast actors of all “types” as leading or romantic roles, but what I don’t necessarily like is when theatres make a big hullaballoo of being like, “She’s a real UNCONVENTIONAL leading lady” or “For this production, we didn’t want her to be a TYPICAL INGENUE” or “This version of the character is FUNNY and SASSY, she’s not just this DELICATE ROMANTIC LITTLE FLOWER!” paired with, “We’re used to seeing this character in a beautiful fancy gown, but this character is a Modern Woman, so we put her in a pants suit!”
Like, I am always waiting for people to ask, “So, uh, what makes her an unconventional leading lady? Why isn’t she a typical ingenue?” Because the answer is invariably just that she’s not white, she’s above a size 8, or both.
And I have no problem with modernizing roles by focusing on the humor and strength/ feistiness of the female leads, or putting romantic roles in pants or other more traditionally ‘masculine’ attire, but when I ONLY see this done with actors who are people of color or plus size/ mid-size, it starts to feel a little hmmmm.