Time Out ran a feature on Gayle Rankin and Ato Blankson-Wood in March, and Ato said this: "“This production has chosen to cast Cliff as a Black man and I don’t think we’re really shying away from that in any way. I feel like we’re good at cultural amnesia—forgetting there were Black queer people in Berlin in 1930 who were artists. My take on Cliff is centered around honoring those people.”