Tomorrow, TFP will be moderating a panel at ComicCon entitled:
GAYSIANS! Visibility, Voice & Victory!
With Panelists: Yuhua, Telly Leung, Mike Curato, & James Tom
Pride Lounge at The Javits Center Room 1C01-02 at 3PM EST
Produced by Chip Duckett
We are going to be chatting all things about the world of intersection and support across the rainbow and how to #RepresentAsian.
Next up – since PRIDE is everywhere and is ongoing – ALEC MAPA, America’s FAVORITE GAYSIAN SWEETHEART is Coming to Palm Springs in November, and you do NOT want to miss it!
Believe TFP, she’d go if she could!
He has sent you a message…and since she doesn’t want to speak for anyone….we’ll let him say it himself:
The Fairy Princess really hates to be proven correct – but here we go – Maybe Happy Ending, which won the TONY Award for Best Musical this past year, and for it’s star, Darren Criss, has announced that it is seeking replacements for the Broadway production and robots not being Asian presenting is the hill the Producers are going to die on…
So that, as they say, is that.
(Say what you will about R&H, their shows in the current day cannot be done professionally without #AANHPI performers, and their foundation stands by it.)
Yes, all the things you are feeling are justified.
However, it is not the performers’ fault – and TFP stands by that. They didn’t write this casting notice.
Worth noting that the breakdown for James lists the character’s background as Korean, but the actor playing him does not have to be.
If anyone of the AANHPI diaspora goes in, and is asked about their racial identity- THAT is expressly forbidden for CDs to do by the CSA -Casting Society of America.
If that happens, there is an internal review and members are disciplined if violations occur.
Ahem.
Now, if TFP were to think about it – she would warn folks about getting down in the dumps about this situation – she does love a good think – she would say this is your chance to RISE UP – she would say that ALLLLLL the AEA AANHPI performers who are right for this show should go to the EPA – which is
Weds October 15th from 10AM- 6PM
Pearl Studios – 500 Eighth Ave
Holding is in 404, and the audition room is 402
In the audition room will be Craig Burns and Jimmy Larkin.
Get there early and sign up – etc. etc. etc….TFP believes in you, you can do it.
Go hold your musical theater ground…
We, of the AANHPI community who are not ‘right’ for this show, salute you….
Go show them what you are made of in the Year of the Snake….you got this!
TFP knows you will SLAY ALL DAY!!!!
Ok, ok, ok here is the point – It’s only a defeat if you don’t show up and show out.
The Fairy Princess realizes it has been a few weeks now since the replacement Casting at Maybe Happy Ending was announced, and the Broadway community- fans and professionals – is divided.
She has had several conversations with close friends, who do not share her lineage, who honestly do not see the issue with a character who is not a human being played by a Caucasian. Those comments were extremely frustrating for her.
Here is what she wants to point out to people- these robots, also known as HelperBots are humanoid-like robots. They look like Family members. The show is set in South Korea. If it was supposed to be a world that is intersectional, shouldn’t the show be set in Narnia or something?
Just as The Nightingale was set in ‘Mythic China’, apparently MHE is now set in ‘Mythic South Korea’. A place that doesn’t exist – EXCEPT IT DOES!
KPOP stars party on Jeju Isand! It is a real place.
Many people commenting have not seen the show, due to outrageous ticket prices., and TFP feels like they are picturing Rosie from the Jetsons.
This is not a Rosie situation.
By any means.
This is a Producer decision, and clearly the producer is digging their heels in. They have used their considerable influence and ability to sign checks and sent forth all manner of people of color – to advocate for a non-AANHPI HelperBot to become accepted as part of the shows’s Zeitgeist.
This is for several reasons, but ultimately it becomes clear that the reason for this change is not just Stunt Castng on Broadway- this is for the life of his investment in the show ad infinitum.
This is for the licensing of the show to regional theaters and high school schools who may not have an Asian population.
As many will have realized if one does not have an AANHPI population, it would be ludicrous to do this show in a regional theater or high school, however if the erasure starts on Broadway, TFP is sure the erasure will continue and expand to the entire company in regions where they do not have a population to serve the story.
Cue all the non-Asian Christmas Eve’s that have swept the nation in regional productions of Avenue Q.
Which yes, TFP, Ann Harada & Bobby Lopez have spoken out against.
To the high schools that produced Miss Saigon without an Asian Kim.
Cue professional, and non-professional and high school productions of Pacific Overtures, The King & I, South Pacific, & Flower Drum Song and…and…THE MIKADO!!!!
Thus, it is right for AANHPI actors to protest, to cry, to have these conversations, because at the end of the day, it is about respect. The conversations are about visibility, and claiming our place in America’s landscape.
This conversation just reiterates to many of us that ‘we’ only have a place in American theatre on white forbearance.
On white tolerance.
On white people viewing us as exotic and occasionally necessary.
Which, is painful.
As much as sometimes people rail against the chestnut shows, The King & I, Flower Drum Song, South Pacific, one of the greatest writers from musical theater, Oscar Hammerstein, tried to give us a place in American theater.
He was a man of his time, and so the portrayals reflect that, but they were never meant to be the only portrayals.
It was simply a building block, for Americans to realize that Asian performers are just as talented, just as adept, just as deserving of a place on our stages as anyone else. Hammerstein never meant that his shows would be the end of the conversation, they were supposed to be the beginning.
Oscar Hammerstein was not without personal motivation in this, because he had two grandchildren who were adopted who were Asian. As any good grandparent does, he looked to the future to make sure that they would be able to go to the theater and see themselves. Or at least see stories in which versions of themselves could be seen. He was looking to give them a place.
Which is why it remains painful to AANHPI’s, to realize what we have been ‘sold’ in terms of inclusion and presence by a small beautifully written musical, delicate and precise, set in Seoul, Korea – is still only allowing us ‘a place’ on White forbearance.
That our ability to participate in a story that seems to reflect us in our experiences, very much depends on who is producing.
By the way, TFP does not advocate for DNA Casting- a HelperBot could be anyone of the AANHPI diaspora- however she does believe that HelperBots are definitively Asian in origin.
Please don’t start with racist, intolerant ‘takes’ that allow the basic issue of respect to get lost in a word salad.
There is an issue on Broadway when a Actor of Color steps into a role that has until very recently, been played by a Caucasian.
We have seen this with the backlash against roles in Cabaret, Gypsy, Sunset Blvd– with people arguing false historical narratives that could be dispelled with a Google search as to time period and existence.
White theatergoers take every opportunity to downplay the contributions of Actors of Color, even if they haven’t seen the show- for example, TFP saw Cabaret this past Wednesday at the matinee, and it was absolutely brilliant.
Vocally, it was sound. She stands by that comment as a voice major from Carnegie Mellon. Some may call it bias, but she would not speak on this issue if there was even the slightest bit of doubt that notes were not being hit, or roles were not being fulfilled.
However, and she has stated this on TikTok, it was the best sung version of Cabaret that she has seen in literally years.
YEARS!
(She blames Sam Mendes for deciding Sally is a bad singer – great singers can wind up in poor circumstances, doesn’t affect the singing.)
However, white forbearance is quite tricky- if Actors of color do ‘too much’ people turn away in disgust from a ‘woke’ performance.
If Actors of color do not do the classic shows that they have long been seen in, and insist that they have a right to own these new roles, as with Maybe Happy Ending, we are again told we have overstepped, we are too much, and in advocating for ourselves, we have made white audiences and white producers, uncomfortable and that we are actively trying to close the show- which is not the case at all.
No one wants Maybe Happy Ending to close.
No one wants anyone to be worried about their job security or their ability to support their families.
What AANHPI actors want, what the world should want, is that the show will continue to highlight the vast diversity and talent that is available. We want to inhabit a show where ‘we’ would organically be accepted as being necessary.
TFP usually describes diversity and the breakdowns by using simple math – yes, ‘very Asian’, she knows.
If all the musicals in the world numbered 100- 85 would be able to be done using only white actors. Ten of them would be designated a specific towards the Black community and their experiences, 2.5 would be inclined to be Latinx experiences, and 2.5 would ‘go towards’ AANHPI experiences- there would be none that are representative of indigenous experiences.
Those are loose percentages- TFP simply wanted to show how tenuous the representation is– and it is.
When one starts to break down the demographics of body type and gender and age, the numbers become far more worrisome- and that is American Musical theater.
Older people are designated as wise sages that the ingenues only come to for counsel, there is almost no representation of disability- and indeed when Ali Stroker won her Tony, there was no ramp to get her to the stage from the audience.
No one saw that as a problem?
Musical theater is wonderful, but musical theater is troubled.
Some of this came organically – meaning the way it was it was developed. However, America has evolved, and while Broadway has tried to keep pace with it, the directors and producers that advocate for inclusion are few and far between.
It is getting slightly better, and TFP does not want to downplay the rise of female directors and producers, and what a large impact they have had on the conversation so far, and what they will do in the future.
There is hope, but not this round of this conversation.
However, what we have seen is that only certain people will stand with us on this matter, and that as much as we love to watch the rise of younger Talent, this particular elevation comes at a tremendous cost for community that has so little in the first place.
In the past several weeks, TFP has listened to her coworkers as they cried, not out of weakness, but out of frustration.
Some have announced their intention to leave the business, and these people include Broadway veterans who have long entertained you and made you smile.
They have told TFP that America does not want them, that American theatre does not care if they are there.
In fact, while she is not a violent person, if one more well meaning person tells her a robot has no ethnicity, she may punch them in the face.
You have been warned.
The AANHPI community, especially our males, have seen themselves devalued in this announcement, while TFP does not think it was intentional, there could have been a correction, and it was not taken.
If there is ‘no way’ of changing it, perhaps it is intentional.
It is also indicative of what this Administration is allowing in terms of understanding and tolerance.
There are workshops giving TFP hope right now, BD Wong’s letter is giving hope right now, Michael K. Lee’s social media posts all the way from South Korea, Drama Desk Winner and Korean adoptee Deborah S. Craig’s open letter, Award winning Alec Mapa’s social media posts, Telly Leung’s open letter, Conrad Ricamora’s scholarship for AANHPI males giving hope right now, Lauren Yee’s Community Night sponsored by Signature Theater, but there is a river of sadness running beneath all of that.
Even with over 2K signatures of support for BD Wong’s letter- we are sad.
TFP wanted to acknowledge that there is very little to be done, because in the theater we only vote with our tickets.
We do not attack actors, because they are our coworkers, we do not attack people of various religious groups, we do not dox anyone.
We are understanding of the fact that no Actor hires themselves.
We understand that this is a producing decision, and a producing decision only.
We do not wish any harm on anyone, no one should feel unsafe going to a Broadway show, either in the audience or working in the show.
We ‘only’ vote with our tickets.
The end.
She has heard people say ‘ it is only nine weeks’ – to those who would say that, she asked them if they would be OK being erased for nine weeks?
No one ‘wins’ here- AANHPIs are just reminded of a painful truth, and we will survive, because we always have.
However, as NEA grants dry up for small theaters that represent minority interests, like Pan Asian Rep, Ma-Yi Theater, The National Black Theater, Classic Theatre of Harlem, Silk Road Rising, Repertorío Español, INTAR Theater and others…limiting our ability to play roles that are representative of ‘us’, we must acknowledge that there is an element of our existence as professionals that is always at risk, because of what?
Guess.
Perhaps there will be hope going forward, perhaps the Town Hall that has been floated about will happen…who knows?
TFP will admit this is a rough patch coming off a super high from The Tony Awards.
Your feelings are valid and you are able to both mourn AND move forward- it is important you do both.
She is sending you love and a warm hug.
Sondheim wrote ‘No one is alone’, and Bobby Lopez & Jeff Marx wrote ‘Everything in life is only for now’
Whitney Houston sang, ‘It’s not right, but it’s ok’
(Sing the next line- go ahead- you know it. You will feel better)
Lin-ManuelMiranda told us to ‘Rise up’.
This is rough, but it will not sink us
It will be what it will be, we just cannot trust anyone on the production side again. Of course there will be exceptions to that – maybe.
The Fairy Princess knows the Broadway AANHPI Community is hurting about the decision to cast a non-Asian performer into a role that had been originated on Broadway by an Asian descended performer.
No matter how much they ‘whitesplain’ this decision – and here are some examples:
The character is a robot. Robots are ordered, anyone can order any kind of robot they want.
In previous workshops the casting was all over the place and they tried many different scenarios for who was to be the robot
Asians are gatekeeping
TFP is not going to dwell on those examples, nor address them because…they are toxic.
Producers can choose to say what they want, and they can even order the cast to go along with this but here is what is being set up by a show that won, in part, for it’s diversity.
TFP has spent the last 14 years writing about diversity for AANHPIs and to see this happen makes her want to…
However TFP thought she would point out that TONY NOMINEE CONRAD RICAMORA of STAGE, TELEVISION, and FILM has decided he is investing in education.
Specifically he is funding a scholarship for AANHPI MALES pursuing a BFA or MFA in Theater – sorry ladies, but they have not made Claire white, yet – called ‘THE RIGHT TO BE THERE: A scholarship for Asian American Male Actors”
He is beginning the fund with $5K of his own money, and then will match other donations up to the first $10,000. Even if you do not believe in you, AANHPIs, even if your Family, and the Industry has quite clearly decided that the world does not need you – CONRAD RICAMORA thinks it does.
TFP does as well.
See who else ‘liked’ his post – go take a look, THE QUEEN.
Just sayin’
Here is why TFP cares so much – she has a son.
He deserves to see himself represented. He deserves to sit at a show and see a variation of himself as a dynamic lead. TFP‘s son is of mixed Korean descent, (although he is looking like he could play DDK’s son in that photo) and he was absolutely looking forward to seeing MAYBE HAPPY ENDING – and when he heard the new casting announced on Sirius Broadway XM, he yelled, “Wait – isn’t that part Asian?“
We will not be going to see MHE until there is an AANHPI male in the role. We are choosing to vote with our ticket sales. After all, Mommy saw it that way, and she wishes her son to see it ‘that way’. The whole point of bringing her kid to theater is for him to have an authentic sense of self.
By the way – for those who have stated that this casting ‘is only 9 weeks’ or who have, because of employment issues, needed to react positively to this news on social media….ok.
That’s your view, that we are all ‘post-racial’.
If the show was really post-racial, then it would have never been set in South Korea. An actual place.
If the show was really post-racial then there would be no need to use Asian names or places.
If the show was really post-racial then Jeju Island and the Love Hotel and all the dialogue – “He looks like James, oh he looks like James, he looks like James too” – would not take a seemingly racial turn if anyone of any background spoke it.
It’s funny because Oliver is AANHPI. That is the reason that joke is charming, if he is not AANHPI it becomes…troublesome.
We do not live in a post-racial world.
TFP does not carry a color copy of her passport and have her son do the same because the world in which we now live is post racial. She did not have to get Global Entry and carry it everywhere she goes to further prove she is a US citizen, because the world, the New York, the United States she lives in is a post racial beacon of love and kindness.
We have an invasive cancer in our country right now, and this casting is the first small freckle of melanoma that we are seeing in a while – mostly, theater has been ‘ok’ for a bit – people seemed to be getting it, that ‘representation matters’, and while not everyone was on board with that – most people were, and it was so nice. It was a nice feeling.
AANHPI Theater no longer has that feeling.
It’s so bad, Playwright, Lauren Yee had to arrange for a Community night!
Thank you Lauren and Signature Theater for hosting.
Pretty soon, the role of Claire will also be played by a Non Asian.
Of course it will.
It will start with Broadway, and then as it goes down the chain and is licensed out, Claire will be blonde. That’s why her name is Claire.
The audience is being prepped to expect this because even though the Producers acknowledge the beauty and strength and appeal of having an AANHPI Cast, and legitimately used DEI talking points in their TONY Award campaign, it seemed there was always an intention to not use an AANHPI casting
Even after a tremendous development process that included workshops and productions outside of the USA the writers decided that the best way to tell the story was with Claire and Oliver being ‘AANHPI coded”
Which is TFP’s point – because it does not make sense that people from a homogenous culture who are looking to put robots in place of family members to care for them would choose to pick robots that looked like an entirely different group – the producers are still going to do it.
Because…
Will it serve the story?
The only way we will know is ticket sales. The audience will buy in or it will not.
However do not lose hope – because even as much as the world has the new embattled Superman, full of flaws and choosing honor – AANHPI America has Conrad Ricamora.
Right now, Conrad Ricamora is ‘our’ Superman. Another Mixed Race Asian Actor who is succeeding, and leaving the door open for those coming behind him.
The Fairy Princess got up this morning to find that the Producers of Maybe Happy Ending, the TONY Award winning production of MAYBE HAPPY ENDING, which is set in Seoul, Korea – intends to replace Darren Criss, who is of Asian descent, with Andrew Barth Feldman – who is an Evan from Dear Evan Hansen, and in, in real life, the boyfriend of Helen J. Shen, who stars in this show.
(They made that part of the marketing, which is the only reason TFP mentions it)
Was Zach Piser (star of KPOP the musical, and a Broadway Evan Hansen, & recently closed on Bway, REDWOOD) not available?
It is giving – for those of you who know TFP is Australian, real throwback vibes of the Sydney Opera House production of The King & I, starring Lisa McCune and HER then boyfriend, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, as The King of Siam. Teddy was not Asian. Teddy is still not Asian. He teaches now in Adelaide.
It was whitewashing then, and it is whitewashing now.
Look, there are some kickass people in Maybe Happy Ending, and Helen J. Shen is one of them – so this is not to come down on ANY of the Actors in the show.
Actors go where they are hired, and right now, the Producers have made this decision to hire a non Asian-descended actor to replace an Asian descended actor – when there is LEGIT AANHPH TALENT ALL OVER BROADWAY!
Has folks feeling all…
However the tone deafness of this casting is particularly painful because:
The show has been touted for it’s casting
This upcoming Broadway season does not, as of yet – seem to have ANY AANHPI leads other than Keanu Reeves, and that is only if you can afford the $150-$950 tickets now available for WAITING FOR GODOT – so frankly, Maybe Happy Ending is ‘it’ for representation right now
AANHPIs just had a remarkable winning TONY season, and now, poof – it goes away just like that
Maybe Happy Ending does not need ‘stars’ – it doesn’t. Whoever plays Oliver becomes, de facto, a Broadway star.
Again, was Zach Piser busy? Cuz…
Ahem.
(No, Zach Piser has no idea TFP is throwing his hat into the ring for this show, it is without his consent, and one should acknowledge that – he is a suggestion based on Mr. Criss and who could replace him, and fulfill all the requirements – particularly having lead a Broadway cast before and having a fan base.)
TFP thinks replacing Darren Criss, who is a mixed Asian descended Actor with someone likeZach Piser, ALSO a mixed Asian descended Actor who has been on Broadway and headlined shows – truth be told the VERY SAME show that Mr. Feldman headlined, would have been a…stronger choice.
TFP was not going to randomly throw out names, however…perhaps she should..now these names are not specifically Korean – because we do not segregate on Broadway and TFP is against any kind of ‘blood quantum’ aspect of an AANHPI Actor excluding themselves from a role based on where one’s grandparents come from.
However she will throw out names – all have been in Broadway shows, all have had great reviews and impact and are very talented – and this is a few, not ALL –
However – and you can look them up:
Michael K. Lee,Kelvin Moon Loh, Marc delaCruz, Raymond J. Lee, Telly Leung, Kevin Woo, Eddy Lee, Conrad Ricamora, Timothy H. Lee, Kennedy Kanagawa, Abraham Lim, Joshua Lee, James Kho, Jinwoo Jung, John Yi etc, etc, etc…
They all should have been considered, because the show really does not make sense with a non AANHPI Helper Bot.
It just does not make sense.
The show takes place in a semi-distant future in Seoul.
Seoul is in South Korea.
Do we really need to go to one of TFP‘s parlor tricks and pull out a map?
FFS
See, that’s Korea – and it is located in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea – right below it is Japan. In between Japan and South Korea, specifically Seoul is Jeju Island – which plays a major part in the storyline. The Helper Bots drive a car from Seoul to the ferry at Jeju to see the fireflies.
However as performed, this show has always had AANHPI people in the lead roles of Oliver and Claire.
Despite where it is set, there IS a ‘white guy”.
Yes there is one role, Gil Brently, played by Dez Duron who is an amalgam of a white jazz pop singers like Frank Sinatra, like Dean Martin, like Michael Bublè – that is where we see ‘white representation’. In a show set in South Korea. ENTIRELY set in South Korea.
Otherwise the cast is entirely AANHPI – and it has been that way since the show opened and won TONY Awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction, Best Book, Best Score – yadda yadda, Congratulations on all of that…
TFP is a HUGE FAN of all the cast of MAYBE HAPPY ENDING.
She will share a photo now to acknowledge the HUGE PERSONAL RISK she is taking in writing about this at all, because this is NOT an attack on any of the actors coming in to the show, or currently in the show.
It is not right to ignore it either – and kudos to the Producers for shooting TFP’s BP right into the stratosphere with this announcement.
TFP thinks what happened is an ‘accident’ of proximity – there is a Broadway actor, he is around all the time, there is a role the Producers need to fill for 9 weeks – 2 months and a week, and they figure, “Why not?” – after all vocally it is a match and this is the point that TFP thinks it hung on:
Helper Bots are not an ‘actual thing’, they are a made up thing, and Helper Bots are something people in this musical ‘order for purchase’, so yes, ostensibly these South Korean owners – these South Korean owners of the Helper Bots ‘could’ order a non-Korean appearing robot.
To serve all needs in a very Korean household.
Because there is nothing Koreans from Korea like more than diaspora in their homes….
Helper Bots are clearly a South Korean ‘thing’ because the owners that they show of these robots are of South Korean Descent. There has been a climate issue or climate crisis, and that is affecting how people are able to live without assistance, it could also be post the 4B movement in Korea which results population decline. The writers do not ‘spell it out’, but clearly, there is an issue there.
That is their background, and here are who plays the ‘owners’ of these Helper Bots – Arden Cho, who is killing it now as the voice of Rumi in KPOP Demon Hunters on Netflix, is Helper Bot Claire’s owner.
Marcus Choi is Helper Bot Oliver’s owner.
So while TFP can almost ‘hear’ what the justification is for this casting, she thinks that it does not fulfill the the classic way in which actors/directors break down a piece – which is:
WHO – who is this character including physical description, likes, dislikes, cultural background
WHAT – what is the circumstance in which this character is appearing
WHEN – when in the time of the show, when in the time of the writer’s career, and when specifically in the character’s life is this happening
WHERE – physical location generally and then, specifically, and then nuances – in his apartment, in the kitchen, at noon…etc
WHY – why today? Why this moment? Why is whatever happening, why is it happening now?
HOW– How did they get to this point, in the show, in the moment
Now, there have been quotes from the creative team, so there is nothing to be done, except reiterate that this casting does not make sense to TFP, but she can only assume they wanted to use the real life element to propel ticket sales, which, hey – it’s not show friendship, it is show business.
Also, folks may be angry with one of the creators signing off on this- Hue Park, but TFP wants to remind everyone that Creatives who come from a mostly homogeneous country do not travel outside their country with the intent of ‘representing’ for, in this case, AANHPIs.
We have seen this again and again from Filmmakers and Writers of the Asian diaspora- so this should not be a surprise- just an oddly familiar disappointment.
‘We’ cannot honestly be that angry with Mr. Park because he is not going to ‘get ‘ it- and, one supposes we should not expect him to- although he did study at NYU and the show literally campaigned on diversity.
In which case, it was never about representation- it was always about a check.
She still thinks it is a mistake.
It ends Michael Arden’s record of being the one director who felt like a safe space to People of Color – and this may not even be his choice. However by pulling a quote from him and the composing team and putting it in the press release, it is giving them no choice but to go stand behind it. The check has to clear.
TFP does not think this is a choice by Casting Director Bernie Telsey or his team, they have long been a champion of diversity on Broadway and beyond. In some respects Broadway only started to change when Bernie Telsey came on the scene, and TFP does not say that lightly.
The casting of RENT changed things. It changed things for her personally and for her friends, she saw it – so no, she does not hold casting responsible. They were instructed to bring the actor in for a music run through and then send over a contract.
This is quite clearly a Producer choice.
However TFP will add- if the hook was AANHPI Casting, but the intention was not to keep it once the awards were awarded- DO NOT SET THE SHOW IN SOUTH KOREA, A REAL and ACTUAL PLACE!
If a non AANHPI Cast was going to come up- then do not have them travel from Seoul to Jejun Island, make up somewhere and have them travel from A to B. Do not name anything for Korean culture- because it MAKES NO SENSE!
Key producers for Maybe Happy Ending include Jeffrey Richards, HunterArnold, and Darren Criss. Other producers include Rebecca Gold, Spencer Ross, Adam Zotovich, Kayla Greenspan, M/B/P Productions, Fahs Productions, Ken Greiner, Ruth Hendel, Willette and Manny Klausner, Cody Lassen, Mix and Match Productions, The Nederlander Organization, and Jacob Stuckelman & John Albert Harris.
Lotta names there, we’ll have to remember them….particularly Hunter Arnold…
TFP ventures a guess that for the next few months, the audience for this show will look different. It robs the soul from the production set in Seoul, and that is a shame.
None of the cast has anything to do with it, so please do not harass anyone. We only ‘vote’ on Broadway by purchasing a ticket, so that is all you can do – vote with your ticket choices.
TICKET CHOICES ONLY – do NOT enact hideous internet trolling on any of the Actors and the Creative Team of this show please – there HAS to be a standard here, there HAS to be. Theater MUST hold itself to a higher standard than The House and Congress and certainly, The White House.
You can be sad about it – TFP is sad about it – but making the lives of people who live to entertain you miserable, is NOT IT – get it?
IF you DO want to see a show, starring an AANHPI – you can join TFP this Sunday at The Cutting Room and see ALEC MAPA as he rolls out his next comedy special at 7PM
44 East 32nd Street, NYC, NY 10016 (2120 691-1900
All right then, another day, another time to be AANHPI and be…wistful.
Rather a slap coming right off a very exciting Awards season, but hey – hopefully they will feel the difference and make amends.
People can only learn at the rate they learn, and that is it.
The Fairy Princess has been looking at announced shows for the upcoming Fall, Winter, and Spring season, and in terms of AANHPI representation…things are looking a bit
Which is only to be expected, as it is very hard to top this year, with TONY Awards going to AANHPIs in record numbers. “Our” Award winners in the performance categories literally doubled from 3 to 6.
We had lead players in Broadway plays and musicals of AANHPI descent at a ratio that was shocking, and it is natural that those numbers we ‘readjust’ for this coming season. This is where folks think, ‘Ok, we fixed it’ in terms of diversity in casting.
Last time they ‘fixed it’ like this was, frankly, in 2016 when Hamilton won.
Yes, Hamilton won and just like that casting was ‘solved’.
In point of fact, Broadway did not have a lot of representation going on for the following two years because…everyone felt the issues were fixed.
Were they?
Well let’s see who won in 2017 – Ben Platt, Kevin Kline, Bette Midler, Laurie Metcalf, Gavin Creel, Rachel Bay Jones, Cynthia Nixon to name a few.
In 2018 there was The Band’s Visit, which diversified things a bit, lovely to see – so the names changed somewhat and the TONY winners were Tony Shaloub, Andrew Garfield, Katrina Lenk, Glenda Jackson, Nathan Lane, Ari’el Stachel, Lindsay Mendez and Laurie Metcalf
So…yes, you will see the occasional person as part of a cast, your friends who are in shows are not suddenly being released, you can still see them, TFP is talking new shows on the horizon…
There is not, at the moment, a slated AANHPI cast coming to Broadway in the 2025/26 season that has been announced. (yet)
There is a role in Queen of Versailles that has representation, but we shall have to wait till it opens.
TFP wants to warn folks who will again, be optimistic as to what this means going forward – that ‘inclusion in casting’ is never ‘solved’. Sometimes Broadway looks like it is an ‘all-play’ and sometimes it looks like a PWI.
Life is a pendulum, sometimes it swings towards and sometimes it swings away. Looking objectively at the casts that have been announced for Broadway, TFP is thinking you will find more of ‘your/our’ stories Off Broadway.
Do not forget to support theater companies like Pan Asian Rep, Ma-Yi, and others because right now, with the NEA Grants either being postponed or pemanently frozen, ‘we’ are going to have to support the theater we want to see.
You have to enjoy what you have when you have it, and hope to push the bar forward so that options are always available.
Meanwhile let’s check in with ‘our’ TONY winners, what is going on, and how long is everyone staying….
Past TONY Winner, Lea Salonga, has closed OLD FRIENDS on Broadway and is in the Philippines doing the Sondheim classic, INTO THE WOODS. She is also set to receive her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – we do not have a date yet, but that is very exciting.
Marco Paguia is still at Buena Vista Social Club leading the orchestra. He won for Best Orchestrations. The show is selling out, and he is staying at the helm musically.
Nicole Scherzinger will be closing Sunset Blvd, the show she won Best Actress in a Musical for on July 20, 2025. It was always a limited run, we just do not have another Hawaiian, Ukranian, Filipina superstar to fill in with a show, and well, that’s life.
Darren Criss, who won Best Actor in a Musical for Maybe Happy Ending, for his role of Oliver – will be leaving his show on August 31, 2025.
Maybe Happy Ending won Best Direction of a Musical for Michael Arden, Best Book of a Musical for Hue Park & Will Aronson, Best Original Score of a Musical for Park & Aronson, Best Scenic Design for Dana Laffey & George Reeve, and it will stay open on Broadway.
The cast is largely AANHPI. However no clue as to how long the Original Broadway Company (Helen J. Shen, Marcus Choi, Dez Duron, Daniel May, Steve Huynh, Hannah Kevitt, Claire Kwon, Christopher James Tamayo) will stay, although we wish them SRO crowds in perpetuity.
Ms. Shen has been announced as part of the cast of the feature film, The Devil Wears Prada 2, also announced as part of that cast is TONY Nominee for 2025 in Oh! Mary,Conrad Ricamora.
Traci Thoms is returning as well, and if “Lily’ doesn’t walk in swinging that now vintage Marc Jacobs blue tote…well, heads will roll.
Congrats to them.
Francis Jue, who won for Best Supporting Actor in a Play for his role in Yellow Face written by David Henry Hwang, a show that is already closed, will next appear in TARTUFFE, as Cleante, which is a new version by playwright Lucas Hnath.
It will be at NYTW and that is Off-Broadway, his co-stars include Matthew Broderick, David Cross, Emily Davis, Bianca del Rio, Amber Gray, Ryan Haddad, Lisa Kron and Ufomadu. It will be directed by Obie winner, Sara Benson.
In fact, reflecting on Mr. Jue, who has now that gleaming TONY Award, that even in this moment ‘at the top’, his next announced project is placing him where he ‘lives’ – doing interesting work Off Broadway.
He has had a 35 year career as an actor. Mr. Jue is a ‘playwright’s actor’ – meaning an actor playwrights like to work with, one that brings to life new works in a way that defines them ever afterward. He has worked for playwrights like David Henry Hwang, Lauren Yee, Hansol Jung,Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Kevin So, William Shakespeare, and on and on.
He has ‘changed the stage’ for anyone who seen his work. He is Francis Jue, he was always working. He has a list of awards and nominations as long as your arm – in fact, there is no more honored modern day Actor of Asian heritage than Francis Jue.
The reason that the audience cheered so loudly at the Tonys were because Francis Jue embodies what it is to be an actor. He is a journeyman – ever moving forward, wandering new vistas, exploring new roles. He has done dramas, comedy, television, film, Broadway plays AND Broadway musicals.
He came to the profession in college, and has moved organically through the world – not relying on connections or who his parents were to build his career. He built his career on his body of work. He is a true gentleman of the theater, combining performing with service to Actors Equity Association on occasion – he lives, eats, and breathes theater, and it was lovely that theater recognized it.
That is why everyone cheered.
Now they need to give him another TONY Award worthy role on Broadway. It would be amazing if Cambodian Rock Band came to Broadway…just sayin….cough cough
Congratulations Mr. Jue!
TFP knows that Alvin Ing is cheering for you along with the rest of us.
(Knowing Alvin, he was probably annoyed it took this long, which is why TFP picked this cat meme.)
You can STILL seen AANHPI representation on the stages in New York!
TFP will list a few below:
This is not meant to be depressing, Folks – if you live in NYC, or even if you do not, you can see TWELFTH NIGHT with Sandra Oh – PBS is going to be making the production available to everyone on November 14th at 9 p.m.
If you live in New York, you can go to the newly renovated Delcourte Theater in Central Park from August 7 to September 14, 2025 and line up to see if you can get the free tickets to that evening’s performance.
The cast is as follows: Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler-Fergusan, Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, Daphne Rubin Vega, Junior Nyong’o, Khris Davis, John Ellison Conlee, Ariyan Kassam, Valentino Musumeci, Moses Sumney, Kapil Talkwalker, Joe Tapper, Dario Alvarez, Jaina Rose Jallow, Precious Omigie, Chinna Palmer, Nathan M. Ramsey, Jasmine Sharma, Julian Tushabe, Adrian Villegas, Ada Westfall, and Mia Wurgaft.
You can go to the immersive re-imagined Phantom of the Opera, called MASQUERADE at 218 W.57th Street and see Anna Zavelson, Telly Leung, Raymond J. Lee, Riley Noland, Francesca Mehrotra, and Satomi Hoffman. This cast includes former Phantoms and Christines from the Broadway production run, and is all enclosed in a 5 story renovated building – redone to resemble the Paris Opera House.
Cocktail dress and masquerade mask are required, while there will be complimentary mask available as well as available to purchase. It is a 21 and over ‘event’, but guests 16 and up will be allowed to attend during special performances during previews. They ask that high heels not be worn, as part of the experience is the Paris Catacombs under the Opera house.
You will be planted right into the plot of the show and Diane Paulus (Waitress, 1776, Porgy and Bess, Pippin, Jagged Little Pill) is directing. Ms. Paulus is of Japanese and American descent. She directed it! The whole thing!
Quite a lot of representation of all kinds in that cast – so, likely it is time for theater to give it up to the female directors, who have been KILLING it for the past twenty years with very little recognition.
TFP is talking Leigh Siverman, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Whitney White, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Tina Landau, Rachel Chavkin, Lucy Moss, Sammi Cannold, May Andrales, Marianne Elliot and many more
You can see Keanu Reeves – on Broadway! In Waiting for Godot!
Opening September 28th at The Hudson Theater.
Previews begin Sept 13 and they have a hard out on January 4, 2026.
Currently he is ‘our’ only lead on the Bway, so …go and see him if you can afford the tickets.
TFP just checked and they go from about $480-$900.
All the representation- none of the discounts.
Welp, we shall see if AANHPIs buy those tix…but TFP is not optimistic.
You could ALSO go see Alec Mapa – who actually was in the Original Broadway Company with Francis Jue of M. Butterfly – perform his upcoming comedy special on Sunday July 27th at 7 pm. The show will be at The Cutting Room, 44 E32nd Street, NYC NY 10016 and tickets are available here.
You can also go seeJOY! The musical Off Broadway and check out Jaygee Macapugay, last seen in the cast of SUFFS on Broadway – which will be running until August 17, 2025.
She plays Joy’s Father’s new Girlfriend, Lorraine – as Joy invents the Miracle Mop.
Finally, If you have some extra cash but no time to attend right now, you could also throw some money towards actor David Lee Huynh, who is workshopping a play – https://givebutter.com/2eWUM3
Ok that is it, and TFP is outta here, enjoy your summer and your last days of Democracy while we watch all our rights be taken away by a House and Congress and SCOTUS who delight in cruelty and enabling a sociopath.
The Fairy Princess has a few ‘ride or dies’ in her life – her kid, Alec Mapa…you get the picture?
There are a few more, she won’t name them at the current time – they may get in trouble by association, and then be internet cancelled.…or whatever the kids call it now…one outing as someone who knows her irl, and someone will PULL THE LEVER!
(she loves them too much to identify them, but they know who they are)
Which is why when Alec told TFP he was coming back to New York to revisit and revise his show, HA, PENIS! which she had seen last year, she was delighted. She is more than happy to send out the “BABE, buy a ticket‘ signal on her blog.
She was at the last show, she will be at this one.
It is that good – and you can read this review here, if you don’t believe her.
She wants to PARTICULARLY encourage the AANHPI’s of the LGBTQIA+ community to attend. She wants a packed NY Audience for this show, because he deserves it. He’s coming back from dealing with cancer, and giving you laughs for %^& sake!
What a trooper!
Listen, Alec Mapa has been pushing the envelope of humor and representation for over 25 years – likely something he said or seeing him on television helped you adjust to being out and AANHPI in your early days.
As much as he’s current, and hilarious, and moving, and open – he’s also one of our gems, shining brightly as he gets his next comedy special together.
AANHPI representation dominated the TONY Awards this year – but Broadway is not all there is – go see this show, it’s hilarious.
He is up there representing Asian queerness for the last several decades, starting at a time when it was literally dangerous to do it, the least we can do is pack the house like it’s a casino with a buffet in Atlantic City where you are promised a photo next to a cutout of two TONY Award winners, Nicole Sherzinger and Darrin Criss!
Sunday, July 27 at 7pm – New York, NY The Cutting Room (44 E. 32nd Street New York, NY 10016). Tickets at www.SpinCycleNYC.com
If you take the 3pm ferry back – oh yes, TFP checked the schedule, you have plenty of time for a shower, or power nap, and make it to the show.
The Fairy Princess wants to acknowledge that when she called the 2024-2025 season ‘the most’ AANHPI season on Broadway without a show being set in an Asian country…she was RIGHT! Let the gloating begin!
While she cannot take credit for ANY of it, and one shouldn’t, she admits to being overwhelmed when the nominations were announced. She did not even write about it. It was personally moving, and it was hard to put words to the feeling of, “I may be done here’, as representation on Broadway was all that TFP ever wanted.
She wanted it for herself, but overwhemingly, she wanted to for her son. She did not want her child to grow up and only see his three stages of life represented in The King and I, and think that was all he could do in life, should he choose performing. So she started writing, and now, as he turns 13 in a week, all she can think is that what she chose to do to change the conversation, it was worth it.
He will never have to worry, should he choose performance (although she is Asian enough to hope he does not, and everyone needs a lawyer or a dermatologist) he will have a wide range of things to choose from, and he has inspirations, and people moving mountains he will never know that existed.
Names of people she has known forever, who have doggedly pursued their dreams when most would have told them, “it will never happen’.
Those people were wrong.
To that, TFP says HA!
We must acknowledge that Daniel Dae Kim is the first in the Lead Male Category of Play to be nominated. THE. FIRST. EVER. MAN. OF. ASIAN. DESCENT. to be nominated as the LEAD in a Play. DDK has been, has HAD to be, an actor, a producer, and an advocate for representation – and that, is actually what this blog is about, but give the man his flowers…he deserves them.
It took 78 years of TONY Award ceremonies for this moment.
Allow TFP to list the AANHPI Nominees, for a moment please…
Best Musical: Maybe Happy Ending (Starring Helen J. Shen, Darren Criss)
Best Musical: Operation Mincemeat (starring Claire-Marie Hall)
Best Musical Revival: Sunset Blvd (starring Nicole Scherzinger)
Best Play Revival: Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang
Best Lead Actor in a Play: Daniel Dae Kim
Best Lead Actress in a Musical: Nicole Sherzinger
Best Lead Actor in a Musical: Darren Criss
Best Direction of a Musical: Saheem Ali
Best Featured Actor in a Play: Francis Jue, Yellow Face
Best Featured Actor in a Play: Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!
Best Book of a Musical: Hue Park (& Will Aronson) Maybe Happy Ending
Best Scenic Design of a Musical: (Dane Laffrey)Maybe Happy Ending
Best Lighting Design of a Play: David Bengali (& Heather Gilbert) – Good Night and Good Luck
Best Costume Design of a Play: Brenda Abbandandolo – Good Night & Good Luck
Best Orchestrations: Marco Paguia – Buena Vista Social Club
Best Original Score: Hue Park (& Will Aronson) – Maybe Happy Ending
Best Costume Design of a Musical: Clint Ramos – Maybe Happy Ending
Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Ruey Horng Sun (& Scott Zielinski) – Floyd Collins
In addition, you are perfectly able to go and see Lea Salonga on Broadway now in OLD FRIENDS, which is a Sondheim revue, although it seems an injustice to call it that – TFP saw it in London, it is remarkable.
(If the work stars AANHPI performers, TFP has included it on that list. If the designer is working in conjunction with another person, she has put brackets around the partner who is not Asian. If the person nominated is of Asian descent, but the play/musical is not – TFP has included it on the list. If the nominee is mixed Asian descent, in all parts of that diaspora, she has included it on this list.)
Truly, it is the list of her dreams. Did it irk her that the men have 6 nominations in the leads of musicals and the women have 5? Yes. Is there room for ONE more for the women….absolutely there is.
Ahem.
That list would not be possible, even ten years ago because AANHPIs did not have access like they have now. TFP repeats, that list would not have been possible 10 years ago because we did not have interest from either the public or the producers ten years ago in ‘our’ stories. TFP has been writing this blog for 14 years, and when she started, a list like the above was unthinkable.
It just would not have happened – and you cannot impose the open-ness of now onto the closed-ness of then. That is a very weird thing to her, to constantly go back and act like people have not changed, Broadway has not changed, and audiences have not changed in 14 years. She understands that ‘the kids’ who are very vocal about speaking up and out NOW, insist it all would have been different sooner if ‘we’ (the ones who were around back then, and before) had railed against the dying of the light at the time – and we did, but that list is GENERATIONAL CHANGE.
People have to be ready for change – and as we can tell from this last election – where they could have propelled us forward by voting for the Bi-racial Lawyer who was a prosecutor and always the best questioner on ANY inquiry panel she was on, and who was selected to be ONE heartbeat away from the Presidency – who would have taken seriously revisions on health care, vaccinations, tax relief, housing, who had plans all day long – and they voted for the Sundowning Tarriff Bogeyman and his makeup loving “I can’t be racist because I am married to a woman of color’ clown car of a disaster side piece.
Because white America was not ready to admit the white guy was unqualified, and she was qualified.
Yes, they are ignorant and racist. Yes, they are. However they were not ready to admit that, and so here we are, America.
So when TFP tells you, a list like that has taken deliberate and repeated attacks on the ‘establishment’ of white theater over and over and over, just by EXISTING – you should believe her. It has been a GROUP project by people like Ralph B. Peña, Tisa Chang, Baayork Lee, Mia Katigbak, DHH, Jon Lawrence Rivera, Roger Tang, AAPAC, East West Players, Lodestone, SLANT, NAAP, Pan Asian, NAATCO, Ma-Yi, Silk Road Rising, CAATA, MAM, Artists at Play, Grateful Crane Ensemble, Kumu Kahua Theatre, Pangea World Theater, TeAda, Theater Mu, A Squared and whoever else has contributed to this – she means it.
It took EVERYONE to change that narrative that AANHPIs could not act, or sing, or dance unless they were doing Flower Drum Song or King & I or Miss Saigon or Bollywood Dreams.
It is OPPORTUNITY and ACCESS meeting ‘the moment’.
WHICH IS WHY when TFP read the article in the New Yorker, she had some thoughts on one very specific section (well, she had thoughts on the whole thing, but most of that was that someone needed a nap or a cocktail…)
Now, placing a two-hander play next to a musical was not a great producing decision, but perhaps the theater was the only one available. However, she should not have taken it upon herself to contact the Producers of Hell’s Kitchen directly. That is and will always be, a producer discussion. That is a conversation that actors can and should never be involved in, because it falls outside the parameters of what is your responsibility as an actor.
The theaters are close together and they are old, however there is much that can be done, and again – THAT IS A PRODUCER DISCUSSION, STAY IN YOUR LANE.
So the ‘clap-back’ by Ms. Lewis was warranted. That is why Audra McDonald liked it – because ‘get off my lawn’ is not the right energy for Broadway.
If you act up and act out then you take your licks – you open that door, be prepared for someone to close it for you.
It was this next part that TFP really did not like:
Comparing your 28 Broadway shows, as a person who attended Julliard, and who has, as a white actress (yes, yes, even when she started, she would have been seen as a white actress, though in the 1800’s that was not the case because her family hails from Sicily) been offered things on a scale that is almost unheard of ALL her life….that is not the look, M’am.
She is confusing access with talent level.
Which, TFP wants to remind you, that Kecia Lewis has TEN Broadway shows as an African American woman living her life in the Predominantly White Industry that is Broadway. There are very few people that can claim 10 Broadway shows to their credit, so it is not a flex to compare 28 to 10.
Ms. Lewis did not have the ACCESS that Patti LuPone had, ever. She never, ever had it. She DESERVED it – but it was not available to her because, and TFP is going to say this AGAIN for the folks in the back – BROADWAY IS A PREDOMINANTLY WHITE INDUSTRY!
In fact, they BOTH won Best Featured Actress in a Musical – Ms. LuPone in 2022, and Ms. Lewis in 2024. Two years apart. To be so dismissive of a colleague that is, by definition of that award alone, in the same category as you?
Ms. Lewis started performing on Broadway AT AGE 18!
18!
Ms. LuPone did not perform on Broadway at 18, she was in Julliard at 18.
Journeys are always different – some are harder than others.
Ms. LuPone had career ups and downs – however with as many fights as she has gotten in with cast members and producers – would she have been allowed to continue those ups and downs post the Andrew Lloyd Webber Sunset Blvd debacle if she was a Black woman?
Patti LuPone trashed a dressing room. She sued Andrew Lloyd Webber. Over a role. She has called former cast mates names in the press. She left the Union because she didn’t feel like paying and then abruptly came back with a new show. She moans about the folks who come and see Broadway shows and the space they take up.
TFP has no doubt she can be a wonderful colleague and super fun to get drinks with, but if she had that rep, as a woman of color – would she have been allowed to continue at the level she has?
It is just a question.
A question from a Mixed Asian Woman who watched all her classmates bounce to Broadway before she did because she did not fit a body type or a look that most thought of as Asian – so there were very few shows she could ‘fit’ into – even though she could see herself in all of them. Then she started writing and pointing out disparities and Broadway CDs said “no thanks’ for THREE years.
Just as an example.
Just food for thought.
Because TFP has seen what this industry does to POC who speak up.
TFP could say more. She could.
This is simply a woman who cannot see her privilege who continues to lash out, not realizing the damage she is doing to herself and her reputation. These are two colleagues she is lashing out at, in a ridiculous and unfair way. She doesn’t want to do Broadway again? TFP does not think that will be an issue, though she has enjoyed her performances for years.
As they say in COMPANY ‘I think there’s a time to come to New York and a time to leave”
Let’s discuss someone who is sticking around…Ms. Kecia Lewis!
However, as it turns out, TFP saw the luminescent Ms. Lewis SEVERAL times in her life on the stage INCLUDING just this past Saturday night on Broadway. She and her son were in the front row (they punk’d her at TKTS, y’all cuz the guy just said “i have two in the orchestra’ and didn’t say where) and Ms. Lewis was a revelation and a dream, she sang that stage up and down, and put us all in our places as we watched her perform in HELL’s KITCHEN.
The entire cast was FIRE, and you would think if sound was SUCH an issue, TFP would be deaf, being in the front row.
She is not deaf. The sound was particularly well managed from the front of house perspective.
She also got to see her son be totally captivated by Ms. Lewis and the cast’s performances, which, honestly is a win for a parent. He loved it. Particularly because he plays piano, and Ms. Lewis’s character teaches piano in the show.
Ms. Lewis and her ten Broadway shows and her TONY award in 2024 is a testament to her staying in the industry as it changed, and being the change she wanted to see. The two journeys are not comparable. That is all TFP wanted to say.
TFP is going to end by reminding people that access is not talent – and they should never be confused.
Some of the greatest performers the world does not know, have never been on Broadway because of access – very often there is little they can do to change it.
That is the way the world works, but to paraphrase Lorrell Robinson in Dreamgirls…from one Long Island gal to another….
The Fairy Princess was going about her day here in the dystopian hellscape that is the American theater/country and as she does, she often wonders “What fresh hell will be unleashed today?” As always, the news pudits prove her right at some point during the day.
Though she is encouraged by the election of Pope Leo XIV, an American from the Southside of Chicago. A dual citizen of Peru and the USA, shethinks he has the cajones to take on the current administration – he has degrees in mathematics from Villanova and in canon law, bravi tutti– Go Pope Leo! (please don’t make her shake her head in rage at you at any point with warped views on LGBTQIA+ or women. Ahem, she means, Amen) She should also point out, he was elected by the most diverse conclave, ever – and apparently this is what the world wants, let America – poor old battered Lady Liberty – catch the lifeline the church is attempting to throw at them – because this ‘first hundred days’ feels like a thousand.
Besides the cancelling of the National Endowment of the Arts, and Elmo, and all the other ways in which people who speak their minds who also happen to be artists are being threatened financially in a blanket mass defunding, the takeover of The Kennedy Center is one of the most egregious and early thrusts of the GOP sword into people who have the ability to think for themselves. The country watched in horror as beloved artists and shows that are guaranteed to make money for TKC either withdrew or were cancelled.
We, and by ‘we’, TFP means America, were told that there would be somewhat of a Make Musicals Great Again movement, and only what the Administration deemed ‘wholesome’ and ‘reflecting family values’ would be shown there.
You know what is most egregious about the cancellation of Finn? The Kennedy Center commissioned it in 2023.
TFP joked with her friends that musicals would be re-written and she tossed around titles like, “Annie get your AK-47”, “Oklahomophbic”, “Kool-AidJuice”, “Toupeè”, “Underage Girls”, “Hands on a Trans Body” or “JD Vance, Tiny Red Dwarf Star” – you get her meaning. (Have fun with those).
We saw ‘theater people’ of all kinds – even in the military, ‘protest’ this administration and sing from Les Miserablés, and the world applauded and wondered when people were actually going to do something. Like, when – the world asks – are Americans going to re-claim democracy from kleptocracy? When are elected officials on both sides going to rise up (sing that Hamilton clip here please)? When do seated elected officials relinquish their ‘proximity to power’ in favor of common human decency?
When, oh when, do the members of Congress and the Senate universally acknowledge that letting a businessman known for his lack of concern for his employees, the safety of his customers, and his blatant amorality was a grift of the highest order?
The American public knew prior to the ‘salute’, but it seems like some still choose to stick their heads in the sand. They let it continue – so now the man who lets people burn to death in cars is out to steal Senior’s Social Security to pay for billionaire’s sending their friends to space.
When is the revolution?
We may have to wait a while.
Particularly when it comes to places that Artists have effectively ‘lost’, like, The Kennedy Center.
The first evening was to be a gala fundraiser for The Kennedy Center. The performers were given the option to NOT sing that evening for the fundraiser as the POTUS will attend. In response to the news that 10-12 cast members have chosen not to perform on June 11th, newly appointed Director of the Kennedy Center Richard Grenfell released this statement:
“Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won’t be welcomed. In fact, we think it would be important to ‘out’ those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn’t hire – and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience. The Kennedy Center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other and never ask who someone voted for, but instead enjoys a performance together.”
Which, is a threat.
It is also important to note that threatening people who sing and dance for a living has to put one on the fast pass to the Hadestown that is NOT the musical, but TFP digresses. Please go ride your patriarchy pony elsewhere, Sir, we want none of that nonsense in the theater, thank you!
It is important to note that giving the option to not perform for that particular fundraiser would have been a decision made by the producers of that show.
Actors took the option. They did not release a statement, they did not infringe on the ability to sell tickets – they simply opted out. They took the offer presented – even though they do not then get paid for that show. They took a financial, personal ‘hit’, because they just could not – and it is completely within their rights to do so.
Given that the current administration is openly hostile to LGBTQIA+ and women, it is not a surprise to anyone that some artists would choose not to perform for those patrons who enable hate. Those patrons coming on ‘overpriced fundraiser day’ to demonstrate their fealty to the giant orange have actively tried to hurt people in this country. This very exclusive crowd with their votes and with their funding – they paid for all the things to be put in place that we see across this nation – defunding veterans benefits, taking history out of school, trying to close libraries and eliminating health care in rural areas, refusing to pay for feeding children at schools….this audience is made up of people who wanted that to happen.
How do you sing about revolution for over two hours for a smug crowd who laughs and delights at cruelty? Who revel in the news that American citizens have been deported and terrorized to foreign countries? That people who do not appear Caucasian are regularly attacked on the streets for no reason other than they are not Caucasian?
Look at the words of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” –
How could you bring yourself to sing to an audience about standing up to tyranny when they are extreme bigots with endless financial power who will pay for the active subjugation of the American public?
It is ONE performance for an audience full of Marjorie Taylor Greenes.
A regular audience is always a mixed bag – no performer goes out on stage and says “Well, I am only singing for Democrats and Independents” – That is not how ‘this’ works. Ever. NO performer does that.
But a fundraiser? Where ticket prices are $2 MILLION dollars and you get a photo with POTUS?
People who will pay $2 Million dollars to sit through a musical they do not understand just to get a photo with the Orange?
So the company members who were OFFERED a chance to skip the show, chose to take the option….
…and they are now being threatened with career termination.
Some Producers that are on and about ‘The Broadway’ are not liberal and left leaning.
This ‘threat’ could be quite crippling to those performers, and yes, there could be retaliation. As we have seen amplified in this Administration, if you have money, you can do anything to anyone without consequences. Singers who do do musicals set in 1815-1832 in France, kind of a nichè career, so yes, they could absolutely be in a tight bind when this tour ends.
In the name of Sondheim – if we are having a McCarthy era redux, TFP feels that we should have had more of a warning.
(Oh wait, we DID, they published their project, but no one thought it mattered. Now they are hauling off elected officials in New Jersey who are out and about performing their duties, literally hauling them off.)
As much as the current Administration bullies and attempts to bend the laws to benefit their pocketbooks, there will always be those whose moral compass will not allow them internal peace if they go along with what they have been ordered to do.
There are people who will say no.
It is the people who will say no, who will save this country.
They are singing every night for the French values of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, – which mean, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity – and you expect them to ‘shut up and sing’ for that fundraising audience? That particular one?
Performers are more than Broadway tune singing bots. They are individuals with agency. They get to choose who they sing for – their talent is not guaranteed for the price of a ticket. No one can ‘make’ anyone sing who chooses not to – and their Producers are smart to offer an alternative – not that TFP thinks anyone would sink the show on purpose – that is just not in performer DNA.
All that is guaranteed by a ticket is a show – and the show will go on regardless.
It is called “understudies’ and ‘covers’, and the show will go on.
The Administration wanted their ‘show ponies’ – they may not get them. That cast is chock full of amazing talent – a show will be performed nontheless. They bought a ticket to Les Miserablès – and that show will be seen.
As to the Individuals who will not be onstage that night – TFP salutes you.
To be publicly threatened and still stand up is a courage TFP wishes on members of Congress and the Senate, who KNOW that what is happening in our country is wrong, and who still sit, enabling it.
Never forget, that for as many conservative Producers who will take directives from a Government, there are just as many if not more, who will not. You will work again after this tour, TFP is sure that someone in Chicago knows how to get the new guy on speed dial.
It will be ok. For a while it might not be. However, the attention spans are short, something else will distract them, and all will go on, just like Cèline Dion sang.
The Fairy Princess has admittedly been spending time on the clock app to get her messages out, and she has not been blogging.
Ok, Ok, Ok!
She’s had a lot on her plate. However since we in America are rolling the clock waaaay back to the 1600’s in terms of rights for everyone, and allowing billionaires free range within a house that was built by Black Americans, and since she expects we shall all be speaking Russian soon, while simultaneously being told we are NOT speaking Russian – she figured she would get back to writing.
Why? Well, frankly – when President Biden was in office, TFP did not have a concern. He was a man who had a great team of people around him, who were interested in improving lives coming out of a global pandemic. This is not the case with current man in the office, nor his under-educated minions who are making their personal cruelty, national policy.
Which is a direct challenge to Artists of all kinds.
Therefore TFP will be joining the fight like Mulan’s father, reluctantly, knowing it is her duty, but possibly she might fall on her ass because of an old injury. She has the blood of Irish protesters in her, and she is not afraid – even though perhaps she should be.
So let it be said, so let it be done.
However, before that – she has 4 – 3 she is directly moderating and curated – panels at BroadwayCon that should be heard. She will live stream them on her Instagram for those who are geographically unable to be there – and her ‘handle’ on the Insta is: @erinquill (She is also going to try and live stream on the Official Erin Quill FB page – but she only has one phone, so it depends on her “Asst” for the day)
The first panel is on Saturday Feb 8 @ 4:30pm
On Sunday Feb. 9 at 12pm
TFP will be talking with today’s hottest Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Playwrights and a Director about what it takes to get a piece to New York.
She will be talking with Director Ralph B. Peńa, and Playwrights Lisa Sanaye Dring (Sumo), Rehana Lew Mirza (Bhangin’ it) and Philip W. Chung (My Man Kono).
On SUNDAY FEB 9 at 12 noon
SUNDAY FEB 9 at 2pm
She will be joining the PUPPETRY ON BROADWAY panel, probably because they FELT (get it) she might have experience in this area….
However TFP finds Puppeteers delightful so…
And finally, on Sunday Feb 9 at 3:15pm
GONE TOO SOON: Talking with Cast Members and a Producer of TAMMY FAYE, SWEPT AWAY & LEMPIKA –
Panney Wei (Producer, Lempika) Natalie Joy Johnson (Lempika), Autum Hurlbert (Tammy Faye), Nick Bailey (Tammy Faye), Rico Le Bron (Swept Away), Robert Pendilla (Swept Away)
As TFP said, she will try to live stream as much as she can, on the panels she is ‘in charge of’ – she has no idea about the Puppetry panel, and what will be allowed.
So that will be that, for February.
After BwayCon, TFP returns to teaching and directing and all the things – carrying copies of her ‘papers’ around in case she gets detained by authority figures who do not know what a mixed race American citizen looks like – because after all, they detained 3 American citizens who were simply speaking in Spanish...however, here is what she wants to say.
The cruelty that has been demonstrated in January IS the point.
The overload of ‘us’ having to fight EVERY day for the rights of our Trans friends and family IS the point.
The questioning of Americans in a bombastic way by people who have been imbued with authority and weapons IS the point.
Scaring children – specifically brown children, but all children of color – is the point.
The taking away of birthright citizenship is the point.
“Revenge investigations’ are the point – and do you know why?
All because people did not care to vote. Close to 90 MILLION Americans of voting eligible age did not vote. Not registered voters- people who were eligible to register and vote, they did not bother to.
Forget MAGA and the hard core racists that enabled his limited win – it wasn’t ‘them’ that allowed the win – and yes, TFP said ‘allowed’.
It was the people who actively did not choose to vote that enabled this hell that we have only begun to live through.
It was people who voted for Jill Stein – who never appears during the intervening years but who always mysteriously pops up right before a close election so people’s morals can vote, even though they know we have a two party system and third party voting throws away their actual chance to make a difference.
It was people who, it must be said, told folks to NOT vote for Ms Harris for a variety of reasons that mean nothing now as we all ‘find out’ together how truly awful it can be.
Now, does TFP – having looked at footage of speeches where it seems there was…shenanigans – think that this was a ‘true’ win?
She does not have enough factual evidence to say for sure…however there have been moments where she has seen footage that seems to suggest trickery in reporting results.
She is pretty sure the Orange said ‘someone’ who invests in companies and takes credit for the work done, like he’s some sort of genius rather than an illegal immigrant himself (arriving on a student visa and then not attending school) – yes, he said he had ‘help’ in a public forum, but even with that ‘confession; no one it seems, is launching an investigation into that.
Because there is a convicted felon in the White House.
Regardless – we can keep our personal peace and still refuse to be intimidated by these blowhards. It is possible, and that is what TFP is going to try and do.
She may not always be successful. She may have bad days once in a while, but then she will gather her ovaries around her and get back up again – because to cow us ALL into accepting this utter chaos will not begin with her.
A few things before we go –
Congratulations to Pulitzer Prize Nominee, Performance Artist Kristina Wong on her ENGAGEMENT – may you have a long and happy life together with tons of health insurance!
Congratulations to Zach Piser on being in previews for his latest show on Broadway, playing Spencer in REDWOOD, a new musical alongside Idina Menzel.
Directed by Tina Landau – may it have a long and happy run.
We are going to move forward, we are going to see theater – we are going to go and see SUMO at The Public Theater and My Man Kono at Pan Asian Rep – we are going to advocate for one another because that is the path forward – the only one that leads us forward. We are going to go out in the neighborhood and turn GOP seats to blue and take back the House and eventually the Senate.
Sit back and listen to some show tunes if you get discouraged…it helps.
WE are going to do that, because no one person can do it alone.
You voted because you wanted the best for all of us, and you thought America was ready for the Lawyer who has always performed with distinction and dignity, but you did not realize how deep misogyny and racism lay in this country?
Well, TFP too.
She is tired too.
But she is going to keep on keeping on – and as they say in SUFFS – Keep marching.
fairyprincessdiaries 
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