Harvard students rewrite classic musical to remove yellowface

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Harvard students rewrite classic musical to remove yellowface

A group of Harvard students rewrote the script of a romantic comedy musical to feature a plot about goat-herding set in dystopian London, arguing the original script contained racist tropes.

The revamped play, performed last month by the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players, kept the original score from the musical The Mikado but included a different script to avoid featuring Japanese stereotypes and racist interpretations. Instead of telling the tale of a man’s search for love, The Milk Made instead focused on the futuristic story of an Asian boat worker seeking to herd goats in Chinese-dominated London.

The changes were primarily made to avoid the use of yellowface, when white actors don makeup and traditional clothing to portray an Asian character, a practice that is considered highly offensive in modern circles.

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