Many of the show's problems have made the news, including a postponement due to what the theater called "conversations and commitments around equity and anti-racism," which led to a weeklong attempt to "decenter whiteness." Walter sits at the heart of the plot, and the show has been in development for more than half a decade. What could they do in a week? Then, seemingly hours before the first preview, Ari'el Stachel, who had been playing Tarek for the six-year-long workshop process, left the production by "mutual decision." (Ahmad Maksoud now plays the part.) Whatever conversations, whatever adjustments the team was making were clearly melting down. The Public's decision to produce The Visitor goes back ages. I can imagine how the original choice radiated relevance—we need to address the cruelty of our immigration system—and following through on a long-term commitment to a group of artists is a moral decision. But when the material becomes odious to the people making it, surely the answer is not to make a show that apologizes for itself as it's happening. This shrinking quality is what makes The Visitor so difficult to watch. The dancing detainees or the cheesy drum circle (don't ask) are at least ridiculous, but among the principals, there's an unamusing fog of shame rolling off the actors and seeping into the audience. David Hyde Pierce plays Walter, and he's left alone on stage to sing the show's 11 o'clock number: It's such a poor, pathetic sight: One old man, one errant knight Awakened to this world at last. But if there is a god, well, then A thousand old and tired white men A million old and scared white men Will wake up just like me — And fast. Clearly the effort to decenter white men hasn't gone great. But that, in and of itself, isn't the trouble here. The show has begun to turn its anger inwards, and a musical must have confidence to survive. The world got into the rehearsal room; the confrontation tore this project apart. As its performances continue, the voices will get surer, and the odd uncertain wobbles will perhaps resolve as the company settles into production and puts those mid-October fights behind them. But the musical itself has also been shaped by those struggles, pummeled by them, humiliated by them. And that's what we're left with—the sound of a show that doesn't believe in what it's doing anymore.