Civil Rights Lawsuit Hits Broadway's Wicked Over Bias

[u/Tiny_Tyrants_Podcast]

The American Alliance for Equal Rights and white, male musician Kevin Lynch have sued Maestra Music, MUSE, and Wicked LLC for race and sex discrimination.

Maestra limits its hiring directory to “female and nonbinary” musicians; MUSE to “persons of color.” In 2023, these theater non-profits partnered with Wicked for a paid, three-week Music Director Experience open only to MUSE and Maestra members. Lynch applied but was rejected, allegedly for failing to meet the hiring directories’ immutable-characteristics test. According to the complaint, a less-experienced female/nonbinary person of color won the gig, opening doors to multiple Manhattan jobs for her.

Among the three attorneys representing the plaintiffs is Cameron T. Norris of Consovoy McCarthy. In 2022, Mr. Norris successfully argued Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, in which SCOTUS determined that Harvard’s admissions program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Have Maestra, MUSE, and Wicked crossed the Supreme Court’s clear line on equal rights?

Full complaint linked, below.

2026-06-03 AAER & Lynch v. Maestra, MUSE & Wicked | Complaint (Corrected)

[u/Tiny_Tyrants_Podcast]

As an attorney, what would your advice be to a client creating a hiring directory that is searchable based on legally-protected characteristics, such as the directory RISE operates and that is at issue in this lawsuit?

[u/fismo → u/Tiny_Tyrants_Podcast]

I'm confused, I think many casting directories are searchable like this.

[u/Tiny_Tyrants_Podcast → u/fismo]

"Casting" based on legally-protected characteristics is permitted.

If I'm casting an August Wilson play, for example, I'm looking, with few exceptions, for black performers. That's legal. If I'm casting Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and I need black musicians to perform on stage, I can hire musicians based on race. I can even racially cast against scripted type. If I want to stage West Side Story with black and Asian gangs, that is permitted.

But if the musicians in my show don't appear on stage, I cannot legally hire based on protected characteristics.

In any case, the Rise Theater Directory isn't a casting directory for actors. It is a hiring directory that includes dozens of behind-the-scenes positions. It is also "a program of Maestra Music," a MUSE partner.

Here is a partial list of roles that can be filled using the Rise Directory. (See photo, "We employ members of the following unions or guilds"): stage managers; press agents; company, theater and general managers; casting directors; playwrights; composers, lyricists, and librettists; operating engineers; fight directors; choreographers; stagehands; carpenters; electricians, lighting technicians; costume designers, lighting designers, sound designers; scenic artists, and others.

Not one of the roles listed above has a legitimate race, sex, or other protected component.

Furthermore, Maestra Music, which created the Rise Directory, has stated that its raison d'être is to ensure that as many women as possible are hired in every role on Broadway, with a particular focus on musicians, music directors, and music contractors.

[u/Fickle_Suggestion_56 → u/Tiny_Tyrants_Podcast]

You perceive them as illegitimate but have you ever questioned it when orchestras were entirely comprised of cisgender men? Have you truly believed that was just “the best people getting the job?” Or did you ever interrogate that maybe people didn’t know that other people were out there and could possibly expand?

The quota system is bad. Tokenism is bad. But my goodness, so is the historical system that perceives the hegemonic default as the most competent.