TFP wants you all to know a few things:

1. She missed you – she missed the blogging, but frankly…things seemed to be going pretty well and she didn’t feel she was ‘needed’ to point out ish. It has been 11 plus years since she began blogging and frankly, things seemed to be right where they needed to be, and people were addressing inequities and so on, she didn’t feel that her voice was needed.
2. She needed to take time to work on her own writing – her short film, Queen Bessie’s Girl is currently screening in Rwanda in the WOMEN DELIVER Conference = as part of the larger work, ENTANGLEMENT by VOICES OF WOMEN out of Australia. The films and filmmakers have seen a tremendous response to their work all around the world at film festivals, and it is due to the outstanding work of the women behind this non for profit organization.
3. It has been tremendously exciting to see the advancement of Asian American Pacific Islanders of all kinds succeed in the last few months the way they have – both here and abroad – the British Asians are killing it as well, and we love to see that progress.

This is TFP‘s first blog in a while, and it will be a ‘feel good’ one – because to quote Dreamgirls, ‘there has to be some good times’ – so let’s celebrate that, as well as acknowledging that there is definitely some things to talk about in the grand scheme of things – CTG you have been warned.

First of all – WARRIOR on HBO starts TODAY, THURS JUNE 29 on HBO Max.

TFP is delighted this series is back and highlighting the vision of Bruce Lee as interpreted by his daughter, Shannon – and it doesn’t hurt that about 90% of the AAPI Cast, she knows. Of particular interest to point out – many of these actors started in New York Theater – both Off Broadway and on Broadway. Actors like Perry Yung, Hoon Lee, Henry Yuk have roots in NY – and they join a solid international cast that includes Olivia Cheng, Dianne Doan, Chen Teng, Andrew Koji, Dustin Ngyuen, Joe Taslim, Mark Dacascos, and TFP’s Brother from Another Mother, Jason Tobin.

Added to the already stunning cast is TFP‘s favorite, Telly Leung – who many might remember from his lead roles in Allegiance, Aladdin, Godspell and many more – all on Broadway. Eight shows a week requires tremendous discipline and when TFP learned Telly was slated to be part of the show, her Grinchy heart grew a few sizes that day.

Besides, they have cool Crew Jackets – so…go check it out, you will not be sorry!

Next….we had the TONY Awards and there were folks nominated who happened to represent for us – and we had them in a lot of categories – so here they are, in case you were wondering…

A DOLL’S HOUSE– Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured role in a Play – Arian Moayed

SWEENEY TODD – Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical – Ruthie Ann Miles

SWEENEY TODD – Best Scenic Design of a Musical – Mimi Lien

KPOP – Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) Helen Park & Max Vernon

KPOP – Best Costume Design of a Musical – Clint Ramos & Sophia Choi

CAMELOT – Best Lighting Design of a Musical – Lap Chi Chu

CAMELOT – Best Costume Design of a Musical – Jennifer Moeller

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Best Sound Design of a Musical – Kai Harada

Special Shout Out to LIFE OF PI, who recently announced their closing on Sunday July 23, 2023.

However they are not the only musical that ran which featured South Asians this season – Off Broadway had Mira Nair’s MONSOON WEDDING, the musical – which played at St. Anne’s Warehouse.

It is always sad when shows have both a scheduled close or an abruptly announced close – but do not forget currently scheduled to arrive on Broadway in the next year is the DDLJ Musical – or Come Fall in Love… which did VERY well at it’s pre-Broadway run at The Old Globe.

Directed by Aditya Chopra
Book and lyrics by Nell Benjamin
Music by Vishal Dadlani and Sheykhar Ravjiani
Choreography by Rob Ashford

So with that being said – it’s time for the GIANT Announcement that Broadway has it’s FIRST AAPI Directing/Choreographer Team helming a musical – and not JUST a musical, but the Britney Spears’s ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME – Husband and Wife Team – Keone & Mari Madrid!

They are an award winning choreo couple who have worked with pop stars and dance stars in all the mediums currently available, have been quietly working on Once Upon A One More Time for a while now. No strangers to New York Theater hey are past nominees for a Drama Desk Award for “Beyond Babel’.

Seems like they like Broadway and Broadway likes them for they are also working on “The Karate Kid” musical, as well as having been Academy Award shortlisted and won the NAACP Award for the Disney Animated Short Film “Us Again”.

Congratulations Mari and Keone – and all hail the FIRST Team of Asian Heritage – specifically Filipino American – to Direct a Broadway Musical!

Big Broadway Season for Fil-Ams, yeah?

Thanks to Ralph B. Peña and MaYi Theater Company for pointing it out.

Just amplifying!

TALAGA!

Finally, TFP wanted to acknowledge the GLORIOUS production that was LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA directed by Chay Yew and starring Ruthie Ann Miles. TFP saw it and her fondest wishes are that the show, as many Encore shows in the past, transfers to Broadway – and that Ruthie Ann Miles gets her second TONY Award, this time for Lead Actress in a Musical with Mr. Yew his first for Directing.

Having seen so many fantastic pieces over the years directed by Mr. Yew, TFP would be beyond thrilled to speak this into reality. Errr, type this into reality!

It must be noted that as somewhat of an inside joke – the speaking roles that were written to be Italian were played by Latinx and Middle Eastern descended people. TFP realized that was a subtle way of poking fun at the way showbusiness has always allowed actors of Italian heritage to play Latinx, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous American roles. Such is Chay Yew’s sense of balance and humor.

TFP was HERE FOR IT!!!!

See? All good stuff today!

TFP out!

The Fairy Princess is excited to share that the Nickelodeon show, BOSSY BEAR is premiering on March 6th at 11am.

Parents of small Korean American Children, and in fact, the rest of the AAPI community, can rejoice that there is AAPI content specifically FOR their children WITHOUT excluding everyone else – and that, is actually what is important.

Because you see, ‘our kids’ live here, in the United States.

Literally EVERYONE, no matter the heritage, can fall in love with BOSSY BEAR. That is the kind of show it is – and having seen some preview episodes and also having seen her son, (who is slightly above the age range for Bossy, but more in line with Bissy, his older sister) be captivated by seeing that specific, yet universal representation was…exciting. TFP‘s not going to lie – it was exciting.

While yes, there are pockets of the USA that can seem like you are living outside of the country, our kids are straddling the very real hurdles of being cross cultural, and there are very few cultural touchstones that address this issue. Oftentimes when one tries to make their particular culture stand out, the other people who are not in ‘that world’ do end up becoming the target of the jokes – and an integrated world, is what ultimately, we are all striving for.

TFP has never advocated for a ‘only us’ kind of casting process, nor a world where Asian Americans use the tactics of white supremacy to exclude other Asian American Pacific Islanders from a project.

It was really nice to hear that on the panel discussion hosted by Nick Cho “Your Korean Dad”, that the young voice actors included – when asked what other actors they would like to work on the show with – that they did not exclude on the basis of Korean heritage.

They wanted to work with Jackie Chan, they wanted to work with Simu Liu, of course Sandra Oh came up, and Randall Park (most well known for playing a Chinese dad on Fresh Off the Boat and doing so brilliantly) and so on – if this show takes off as TFP thinks – that is totally powerful – to think that the Asian American community can deal with the vestiges of white supremacy and it’s ‘us vs them’ issues – and negate them by being open and thinking first of the talent that individual brings to the project.

She has celebrated each and every AAPI performer whose talent put them on stage or screen to be celebrated – because she knows from being mixed Asian herself – that people are not where they were born, that talent is undefinable, and that the best way to advocate for diversity and inclusion is to practice it yourself, in all forms.

FYI also shout out to those Parents in the LGBTQIA Community – BOSSY BEAR has Lance Bass and Michael Turchin recurring as parents to Bissy’s bff, aka her ‘Squirrel Friend”.

Bravo to the young Actors of BOSSY BEAR – Jayden Ham, Jaba Keh, and Claudia Choi, they are already thinking and living inclusively!

It was a win. We take that win.

Congratulations to all!

Another “win’ to be had – the Asian American Film Lab has launched it’s announcement of the 72 Hour Shoot Out.

What is it? It’s a competition. You gather your team, you hear what the theme is, and you go write it, shoot it, edit it, and submit it, all in 72 hours. It is exhausting. It is exhilarating.

You can win cash, you can win prizes, you can win one on ones and mentorships – it’s a rare opportunity to ‘jump the line’ and show us what you got.

DO IT…you know you want to. Heck, shoot it on a phone, hold up a flashlight to light it – go ahead, you can do it.

REGISTER HERE

Congratulations are due, yet again – to Kristina Wong, who took a brief jaunt from performing her solo show to accept the Doris Duke Award for her work on Sweatshop Overlord – not ONLY that, she has signed with the giant CAA also, she is one of TFP’s longtime LA friends – we met in a Basic class at The Groundlings – and LOOK at her NOW, biatches!!!

TFP did a podcast with one of her Besties from Childhood, and you can listen here – it is on UMMA, and while she is not Korean, having spent almost 20 years with a Korean American male, she picked up a few things:

Here is the link, thanks to Patrick Walsh for having her:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/her-pain-will-turn-to-poison-in-your-blood-umma-2022/id385218036?i=1000601439139

And now…for the folks in the back…we are EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE…..ing..

Absolutely an achievement.

That is the first thing TFP wants to say – absolutely an achievement everywhere all around the world – The Daniels are definitely visionaries.

Also, as the AAPI Community let’s note some things:

If we are still counting ‘firsts’, this is but a step.

If we are still counting ‘breakthroughs’, this is a moment.

When we are able to stop counting, we will have arrived.

“WE’ have gotten very excited in the past with films like “Slumdog Millionaire’ and shows like “Squid Game“, like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, like “Joy Luck Club” being super quick to declare victory when what they were, were shooting stars. Look at the sky long enough, you are bound to see a celestial moment.

We swoon over directors coming from Asian countries, and think that they are going to ‘change the game’, when really – what they want is to come here, get Hollywood money and Hollywood stars for as long as they can, and then go home.

The issue is scarcity. “We” all the letters of the AAPI diaspora spend countless hours obsessing over a dribble of half a teaspoonful of representation and then when we see it, we pridefully attribute the success to the actor’s background and we do not see the nuances of what makes them, them. This is a shame, because their backgrounds are so diverse – within the Asian world, and that should be celebrated, not glossed over to align with a monolithic megapower.

TFP will wait while you read this to make her final point:

Michelle Yeoh’s born name is Yeoh Choo Kheng, and she is Malaysian by country, Chinese by ancestry. Her Chinese heritage is Hokkien and Cantonese. She rose in the 1990’s in a series of Hong Kong martial arts films, which she was able to do because she had studied ballet. She holds a BA from the Royal Academy of Dance in London – they moved to the UK when she was 15. An injury made her switch her focus to Acting. After becoming VERY successful overseas and due to her language fluency, she was introduced to audiences here in Tomorrow Never Dies and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She learned the Mandarin for Crouching Tiger phonetically. Everyone knows she has gone on to television series and giant films like Crazy Rich Asians – she is a supernova. She speaks Cantonese, Hokkien, English, Malay, Tamil, and French. She now does speak Mandarin, having learned it for a role.

Ke Huy Quan is Vietnamese American – his parents are of ethnically Chinese descent. At the age of 12, he rode the tidal wave that was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, then Goonies – he was definitively a child star. However, Hollywood going to Hollywood and once he grew, well, the world is unkind to child actors who have the temerity to become adults. Since winning awards for EEAAO, it has been announced he will join the cast of LOKI, the series as well as the TV Adaptation of American Born Chinese. He speaks English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese fluently

James Hong is a Chinese American Actor who was born in Minneapolis. As a child, he lived in Hong Kong, and returned to the USA at age 10. After being in the army, he went to the University of Minnesota for Engineering, but finished his degree at USC. He began his career in the 1950’s and has been an Asian American Acting ‘staple’ ever since. He has over 600 credits on IMDB, a nd as he stated above – he started his career when white people were ‘yellowing up’ and though much has changed – he is a highly sought after talent and finally got his star on the Hollywood Blvd this past year – thanks in part, to the efforts of Daniel Dae Kim. Mr. Hong speaks English and Cantonese, but admits he was corrected by Ms. Yeoh.

Stephanie Hsu was born in Torrance, CA. She went to NYU. She was on GIRL CODE for MTV, and the Hulu show, THE PATH. She made her Broadway debut in SPONGEBOB the Musical, and then joined the cast of BE MORE CHILL, the musical. She will also appear in American Born Chinese on Disney +.

They have 10 Oscar Nominations – including BEST ACTRESS, BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, and BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – and they are repping a variety of Asian heritages- that is AMAZING.

None of them are ‘the same’. There is diversity in heritage, in language, in background. Should we refer to them all as Chinese? In part yes, in part no.

TFP is concerned that by limiting their backgrounds for those who do not know, as ‘only’ Chinese- ‘we’ as AAPIs give rise to the “for us, by us’ kind of thinking that is troublesome. It is a pervasive mindset, and she sees it in all milleus.

The way we are ‘supposed’ to view it is, “Well if that person, who is like me, can do it, I can do it too.”

Unfortunately the way a lot of the “Community” views it is as “I only want to see people like me, and work with people like me, and that will mean success.”

That’s a hard pass from TFP.

Hard pass.

Purity is not the win you think it is. Purity in animal husbandry leads to imbalances and health issues. Purity of heritage does not truly exist in the larger scheme of things.

Everyone everywhere all at once has to come together as a Community – blood quantum has been discounted by Indigenous peoples all over the world – but yet, we use it as a marking post within our own ‘groups’ and that, honestly, needs to stop. “We’ do it to one another like it’s just a forgone conclusion – and it has to stop.

Not trying to ‘yuck anyone’s yum’ the film is a great success and it is wonderfully accomplished.

However it is so great because all these people – not just Chinese people, not just people with Chinese heritage – came together to create something that is universally accepted as great. The Directors, the Crew, the Designers – they get their flowers too – and their flowers do not need to match.

If you are looking to create something – like the 72 hour Shootout, or some other kind of project – what you want is integration.

No one is only ever one thing – that is the celebration TFP wants to see.

Michelle Yeoh said in her acceptance speech “For all the little girls who look like me’ not “who have only the exact heritage I have” – so whether you are East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Western Asian, Northern Asian heritage – Mixed Heritage across the board – OF ANY KIND – this IS a WIN for YOU!

You get to come along on the ride. Your background is needed to enhance what you are working on – and your contributions are beautiful and necessary.

The vestiges of white supremacy have no place in celebrating this win, or any other.

If they win, ‘we’ win.

TFP out.

The Fairy Princess wishes you a Happy Holiday Season and there are some great things that have been happening, so we are going to go through that first because…well, as James T. Early said, “There have got to be some good times!”

First of all, yes, for those concerned, SHOBA NARAYAN is back on Broadway (where she belongs) in the role of Jasmine in ALADDIN, so you can all go and get tickets. However, as many know, she did a ‘side gig’ for a few months at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, the musical COME FALL IN LOVE, based on the international film of the same name.

Congratulations to the whole Cast, Creatives and Crew who put together a show so good, it had to be extended.

Currently, slated to come to Broadway in November of 2023, at the Imperial Theater, the cast abounds in South Asian talent, headed up by Veteran performers, the U.K.’s Irvine Iqbal (Aladdin) as Baldev, Rupal Pujara (In the Heights) as Lajjo, Vishal Vaidya (Road Show) as Ajit, Kinshuk Sen (Much Ado About Nothing) as Kuljit, and stars, of course, Ms. Narayan.

EVERYONE CELEBRATE!!!!

Very big Congratulations are due to JON JON BRIONES and RIZWAN MANJI, who starred in the live action version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, which will air DEC 15TH, and on Disney + the next day.

Mr. Briones plays Belle’s father, Maurice. Mr. Manji plays Gaston’s evil sidekick, LeFou.

Starring H.E.R., who is of mixed Filipino and Black heritage, as Belle and Josh Groban as THE BEAST!

Honestly this is the most AAPIs cast by Disney in a non-Asian story, so this is a big deal, and we love to see all of the abundance fall to people who have worked their butts off to be in the position to ‘get there’.

Frankly, the ‘kids’ are going to be all right. Could there always be more? Of course, but honestly, claps all around for this beautiful cast photo. See how H.E.R. is centered?

It is Belle’s story, and had TFP seen this as a kid…things may have been quite different.

When TFP grew up Mixed Asian…anyway, story for another time, but Congrats to the AAPIs in the cast.

Let’s head to London, which if you are TELLY LEUNG and GEORGE TAKEI, you are going to do, as you are opening ALLEGIANCE, which played on Broadway a few years ago.

They are opening at the Charing Cross Theater and runs from January 7-April 23, 2023.

The U.K. Cast is comprised of Aynrand Ferrer, alongside Iroy Abesamis, Mark Anderson, Masashi Fujimoto, Megan Gardiner, Raiko Gohara, Eu Jin Hwang, Hana Ichijo, Misa Koide, Patrick Munday, Rachel Jayne Picar, Sario Solomon, Joy Tan and Iverson Yabut.

They do not have a trailer yet, but to refresh your memory, here is the trailer from the Broadway run.

There is a new book out on the Rutgers University Press dealing with Mixed Asian Experience by Mixed Asian herself, scholar Rena M. Heinrich, who is an Asst. Professor at USC. It’s called RACE AND ROLE: The Mixed Race Asian Experience in American Drama.

Mixed-race Asian American plays are often overlooked for their failure to fit smoothly into static racial categories, rendering mixed-race drama inconsequential in conversations about race and performance. Since the nineteenth century, however, these plays have long advocated for the social significance of multiracial Asian people.

Race and Role: The Mixed-Race Experience in American Drama traces the shifting identities of multiracial Asian figures in theater from the late-nineteenth century to the present day and explores the ways that mixed-race Asian identity transforms our understanding of race. Mixed-Asian playwrights harness theater’s generative power to enact performances of “double liminality” and expose the absurd tenacity with which society clings to a tenuous racial scaffolding.

As those of us who came in the ‘first round’ of Mixed Race Asians know, our numbers are only growing, but those of us on the front lines of that change, get to address it in a way that hopefully will smooth the path for future “people like us” – and this is one of the first, it may be ‘the first’ to examine this group in a scholarly way.

Congratulations Rena!

And now, much to TFP‘s chagrin, she must discuss the KPOP musical reviews, which have really been somewhat of a mindf*ck. Some are ok – some really are not. The ones that are ok, will not be discussed, the others…

Here’s why – critics can understand why people like it, the GENRE, (It’s a GENRE) as KPOP is a global phenomenon, but they also cannot help themselves when it comes to writing their own microaggessions.

This is the case for all reviewers – yes ALL reviewers. They review through their own lense of enjoyment, and what happens when they do that as their career continues, is that many of them seems to believe THEIR own press. They lean in to the belief that they really are a taste maker – the power of their own opinion is alluring, and they rarely get real and actual pushback that they listen to – because most of the communities pushing back to reviewers, are People of Color.

POC are people who are far LESS represented in the Critics realm of employment.

So even as ‘theater became woke’ started to be the default that every palm colored actor used to explain why they were not working (and no, that is not even CLOSE to true), Critics- white, male critics…some of them…have consistently degraded work being presented when it makes them rethink positions long held – too Asian, too Gay, too Black, too Latinx, too Indigenous, too not Directed by a European, too, too, too.

Too ‘confusing’ for their white gaze.

It’s frankly, too much.

Does it happen as much when the talent pool for critics includes People of the Global Majority and Women in general?

No, it really doesn’t – however though TFP is not entirely ‘up’ on every single Critic of Global Majority working for a major publication, she, off the top of her head, just off the cuff, really only knows of Jose Solís, Dîep Tran, (who is now heading up Playbill), and for example, the Professorial critic who teaches at Princeton, Brian Eugenio Herrera.

However she did a bit of a deep dive and found a Google Doc where critics, Nicole Serratore and the aforementioned, Mr. Solis, have asked Under-repped critics to self identify, and it is very, very encouraging.

However what she has seen on that document, does tell her that, for example Maya Phillips is a theater critic for THE NEW YORK TIMES…and what she wondered was – do they have a bias in assigning someone to a show, who is also part of an under reppresented group?

TFP is confused as to why they did not send Ms. Phillips to review? She’s pretty hip, she enjoys newer things, and let’s be honest, she would have known, though she does not seem to be Asian by her photo – not to use phrases like ‘squint-inducing’.

TFP should mention, for the sake of clarity, that The New York Times has a training program where they are actively looking to train Critics of Color, and the issue there is – it takes a while and this may only be the first or second year of that program. She cannot remember, the pandemic has melded together in her mind, so it could be one, it could be two.

She would have known, that, to ASIANS, who get trolled by the ENTIRE WORLD for their beautiful eye shapes, at sporting events around the world, by tourists who are lined up to eat at our restaurants- and she would not have included it in her assessment of the show.

It is not something ‘we’ the People of the Global Majority, do to one another.

When TFP saw the KPOP reviews, particularly that of the New York Times, she looked immediately to see who wrote them – and when she read them, if they were written by a Non Asian, Non POC male, she disregarded them – because she knows that not every cis male white critics is as good as Peter Marks from the Washington Post with their ‘neutrality”and their perpetual excitement about challenging material.

Frankly, to be a theater critic in New York working for a major publication where there needs to be reviewing done constantly, TFP wonders if they begin to resent theater?

Or that is just how it comes across – ennui wrapped in snark, draped in faux fur for glamor.

The Gray Lady styled by Miss Havisham.

Perhaps they’d prefer a world where it is all revivals and stars, with the occasional British import that has already been well reviewed overseas where they just have to figure out a way to say a version of that thing that has already been said?

Perhaps they resent lowering their guard to truly enjoy something or they feel they are lowering their standards when what they should be lowering is …their biases.

TFP has seen this Broadway version of KPOP, and she saw it on the night when all the principals went out with illness, and every single understudy was on, more than half making their Broadway debuts. It seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, and yet, it didn’t happen.

It was not a disaster, and honestly, the show works as it intends to.

In fact, were one to read a review that is both constructive and acknowledges the triumphs of the show, TFP recommends looking up Helen Shaw’s review in THE NEW YORKER.

Is Ms. Shaw Asian? Does she have to be? No.

However, again, similar to my thoughts on Ms. Philipps being the reviewer for the Times, she knew better, so she did better.

Yes KPOP is new and it’s different and it’s addressing Broadway’s need to acknowledge the global market and have shows that specifically set them up to welcome tourist dollars. Also, it opens up a new sound to an audience, who clearly wants it. The screams were enormous from the crowd. It was a pop concert yes, but we of the Broadway just welcomed news of a Britney Spears musical, ONE MORE TIME, set to open in the Spring.

Clearly, Broadway desires pop music – and again, the bias shown here to composer, Helen Park, in the Times is a huge red flag – Mr. Green does not like the sound, he does not like the arrangements, he does not like that there are three musicians – we are Sam I Am, we get it.

Also according to the review, the costumes by Clint Ramos & Sophia Choi are too much, the lighting design by Jiyoun Chang is too much…it wasn’t possible to list one thing he really liked, except for acoustic renditions. By the by, all those things are fair game, it is how they are said that is the problem, and he sounded like he needed a few Snickers before he saw the show.

If you are going to send a critic to review, shouldn’t you send, when possible, someone who will try to enjoy it? Someone, who, while reviewing, will also consider – as they seem to consider for so many other works that do not have Asian Creatives on it, and which stars people of Asian diaspora…

• This show speaks to a group of people who have never been on the stage NOT within the white gaze.
• A show about Asians without a war, or a brothel, or a pimp (Though you could make a case for Ruby)
• The King and I, and KPOP can co-exist.

There has to be room for that, even if the white guys are uncomfortable not seeing ‘us’ in our is a ‘traditional’ settings.

Just like there had to be room for A Strange Loop, or The Prom, or Six, or Hadestown, or In The Heights, or Hamilton. And room was made. Because different is good.

The issue is not this one critic – though that is what it seems like if you are in the show, or associated with in it any way.

The issue is that, even though the critic wrote what he wrote, the Editor did not know enough or does not have enough sensitivity to flag it and tell the writer to take it down.

Should have ended with a red circle around it and a note saying “choose better words”.

It didn’t bother the Editor, so we all had to share in the trauma the Cast and Creatives felt – and are NOT wrong in feeling btw – because essentially, The New York Times Arts Editor thought it was ok. Perhaps the Editor thought it was a snarky way to make a slightly racist point – similar to when Basketball star, Jeremy Lin’s photo was on an article titled “Chink in the Armor” on ESPN.

Someone thought it was a funny, it was an ‘actual phrase‘, but when you allow phrases like that to be positioned opposite Asian American faces, like ‘squint inducing’ in an article about a show whose lighting designer is Asian, the racists who read it know what YOU mean, and WE, the Asians, know what you mean.

You just thought it was funny, yeah yeah, we can’t take a joke, you urinated in our soft drink and danced around us on the playground pulling your eyes, it’s not a far reach to say the culmination of that behavior being endorsed by The Times has far reaching effects that include people in New York City being attacked on the street for those eyes.

The issue is that any of us read it at ALL.

By now, the Producers of the show , Tim Forbes and Joey Parnas, have asked The New York Times for an apology, but it is too late – it’s already out there, and the damage is done. Although, that is what is needed – more white guys fighting white guys on behalf of underserved groups. It is not like this bias has not been seen and mentioned before, but without ‘white backup’, very little changes.

What they should do is have the entire New York Times sans the aforementioned Mr. Green, return and review the show without inserting coded language in the article and publish them. Critical evaluation is nice – gatekeeping Broadway from AAPI writers, performers, and visual creatives is not.

TFP did not want to wade into this fight – she is tired. She thought everyone was doing a fairly good job of self advocating – but to fight one critic is not as effective as you think – yes, he wrote it, but the Editor approved it, and then the Editor above that person approved it and it RAN.

There is a lot of work to be done at The New York Times and likely it ran, in part, to appease folks who are not in the majority in the House of Representatives. People who fear change, who fear not being in charge – but TFP is going to caution everyone that the Year of the Rabbit is approaching…and AAPIs on Broadway and elsewhere are ready to take giant leaps forward.

20,000 Whacks of the Wand to the Editorial Staff of The New York Times for letting that review run – it wasn’t a review, it was a school yard bully attack in print.

TFP out

The Fairy Princess was very pleased to attend the Opening Night for Actor and Playwright, Daniel K. Issac‘s new play produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company, “Once Upon a (Korean) Time”.

Directed by Ralph B. Peña, the play deals with the diaspora of Koreans in America juxtaposed with traditional Korean fairy tales who never have happy endings, and how this plays out through the generations.

TFP had both Mr. Peña and Mr. Issacs on her BroadwayCon panels, video of which is now available on Lia Chang‘s website.

TFP has to acknowledge Ms. Lia Chang or her tireless work in regards to representation of under represented groups in the Arts, please go to her website and check out her new cable tv show.

Other guests included on the playwrights panel were KPop’s Helen Park, and on her Actor’s panel, Beetlejuice’s Kelvin Moon Loh, and Aladdin’s Shoba Narayan. All videos are from BroadwayCon.

Congratulations!

More celebration is due now that WARRIOR S3 announced the addition of Broadway favorite, TELLY LEUNG to the cast!

Slay the people, Mr. Leung!

Who says there cannot be show tunes and martial arts? Not TFP!

Not to mention that the musical, ALLEGIANCE is coming to London in January 8, 2023 – April 8th.

This newly reimagined production is starring Mr. Leung and Mr. George Takei, (on whose story of his family being illegally imprisoned during WW2 this show is based).

The tickets for the Charing Cross Theater, start at Twenty Pounds – allegiancemusical.com and ticketmaster.co.uk. for tickets.

Bravo to the Creatives and Company for COME FALL IN LOVE, which has opened down at The Old Globe – running till Oct 16th, getting more South Asians visibly on our stages in America is never a bad thing – and adapting for living and loving in America by introducing a interracial couple is simply an acknowledgment of growth and change – also never a bad thing.

Check out the rehearsal video, looks fabulous!

SHOBA NARAYAN and VISHAL VAIDYA have both appeared on TFP‘s panels at BroadwayCon, and it is killing her to not see this show till it hits NYC, but toi toi toi!

It is the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the Asian American Film Lab, and to celebrate that milestone, under the direction of Jennifer Betit-Yen, they are releasing a new film called Discrim*NATION, which will be looking at violence against AAPI’s and which will air on television.

In LA & NY it is Spectrum Channel 1519, San Francisco Xfinity Channel 238, Seattle Xfinity 152, and Minnesota, St Paul’s Xfinity 175 on September 18th at 5:30 pm in all markets.

The MIXED ASIAN MEDIA FEST aka MAM Fest begins in New York City in the third weekend of September – tickets are still available, and TFP will be there to intro the short film, BESSIE’S GIRL – which she wrote and appears in.

MAMFEST is the only NYC based celebration of Mixed Race Asians, and all projects selected have Mixed Race Asians either in front or behind the camera.

Sept 16th -18th

Congratulations to Alex Chester-Blank and her staff – this is an online and in person event.

Finally, a fond farewell from the Woods (Into the Woods, that is) on Broadway to PHILIPPA SOO, who is the first to lead the role of Cinderella on Broadway in this show. Ms.Soo is of Chinese descent and China is where the fairy tale originated – who else is going to make cutting off the feet of the step sisters a thing?

Had TFP in her feelings…

It was TFP’s pleasure to see and acknowledge the many Cast Members of Color who populate this show, it was fabulous. She may go back when she has a minute to see the latest Cast changes, but first she has to finish writing this blog….

There’s the ‘good stuff’, aaand now…tirelessy, egregiously, two steps forward and one giant leap backly – is…the United Kingdom.

This time it is not about “Diana’s Boys” or whom they married, but the resurgence of..bum..bum.bumm…. YELLOWFACE!

Now, TFP has been writing this blog for 10 years. It is a 10 year old blog and as with most things 10, TFP has thought, once things have been covered and call outs made, people will learn. Then, when they know better, they will do better. Then she can stop writing it – the ultimate goal of this blog for her, is when she gets to NOT write it because these issues have been ameliorated.

However the U.K. is gonna U.K.

Frankly, it’s bullsh*t.

“WE” have to acknowledge that the damage is deliberate and hidden behind protestations of “Art for Art’s sake“.

British Asians and diaspora including the entire world, have to acknowledge that the U.K. has moments of unabashed racism and they frankly do not care if they are called out on it – and this is the most hilarious attempt at a ‘reverse racism’ claim TFP has seen in a while – the Royal Opera House has called it racism to insist that roles that are written with an Asian storyline feature Asian descended people.

Those are fighting words…

TFP can literally hear the scramble at the Royal Opera House as they try to walk back their ‘reverse racism’ comments on their current production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly...see here…

Now, to their credit – The Royal Opera House has made some changes to their production of Madama Butterfly, which they have performed over the years over 400 times – and this time round, they did add consults and experts in Japanese culture to the team behind the table. Expertise was added to the costume and movement team, and all of that is great. The opera is much beloved and a huge $$ maker for them.

However wonderful the designers and movement experts were, the easiest way to show you are moving forward with the times, is casting this particular opera with Asian performers in the lead roles. After all, ROH vowed not to cast Otello with a non-POC singer, so why is Madama Butterfly being given a facelift but not a redux in thought as to Casting?

As of now, the cast that is visibly in front of the people looks like this and is re-opening Sept 12:

That is Kseniia Nikolaieva and Lianna Haroutunian playing Suzuki and Cio Cio San.

Ms. Haroutunian (to the right) is Armenian, Armenia is in Western Asia.

TFP is going to acknowledge that Asia is Asia.

Armenia is an Asian country. However, Ms. Haroutunian does not appear traditionally East Asian in the slightest. Nor South Asian, nor Southeast Asian.

Cartographers have done some damage here with a lack of thesaurus, but ok.

TFP is not going to get frantic about Ms. Haroutunian, she is Western Asian.

Talk about the Caucasus Mountains among yourselves.

Does she look in any way East or South Asian appearing? No.

She looks European, but as a Mixed Race person herself, TFP is unwilling to play that particular game of “Asian enough“.

However….we see what we see.

Ms. Nikolaieva is is another story and her story is, she is Ukrainian, everyone in the world is now aware of where Ukraine is (Stay strong Ukraine). However you may not have been aware that the Mongols invaded and won the city of Kiev – then Kyiv – in 1240, in a battle called the Siege of Kyiv.

Yes Mulan, the Mongols!

Out of 50,000 Kiev residents, post invasion and plunder 2,000 remained.

TFP googled it, and learned that the most Mongol DNA a modern day Ukrainian, (whose family are not recently mixed with Asians), might have would be potentially 2%. At Best. Read the report, it’s boring. Essentially there have been a bunch of genetic studies and Ukrainians are not people of color.

2% is not going to cut it – just like TFP’s recently revised DNA showing she is 3% Scandinavian is not going to make her play a Viking.

It’s interesting it is there but.. Scandinavians can rest easy, TFP is too short for shield-maidening.

What we are are not going to do is say that her likely less that 2% of possible Mongol heritage entitles her to realistically sing a role as an Asian female – even if she is “Becky with the good kimono”. Casting purely by voice type would be amazing, but if it does not matter what the singer looks like, then stop window dressing the singers in this opera when they are not sung by East, South or Southeast Asians. Do it in concert dress, do it in modern dress, but do not think an authentic kimono is in any way ‘fooling’ anyone into believing that these are East, Southeast or South Asian women.

Where the ROH missed the mark in their statements, we will get to, however here is what was stated:

Except for the fact that operas are cast years in advance. In general 3-5 years, in a ‘pinch’, it’s about 2 years lead time – so the ROH knew a few years ago they were not going to include East Asians or Southeast Asian or South Asian singers – they knew this years ahead of time. In fact, the one East Asian singer they did cast was last minute and only because one of their well scheduled in advance singers could not get her visa straight. (And she was available…)

(TFP had a relative who worked as a manager in Herbert Breslin‘s office, the noted manager of Pavarotti, so yes, she knows this. Also Abigail Breslin’s grandfather btw)

ROH had no intention of casting East Asians, and this is a bob and weave to turn around and j’accuse BEATS Organization of being reductive, by releasing their statement, is ludicrous, as is bringing in – at what is last minute timing in opera, within the last year prior to it going up, the Japanese experts.

THEY HAD THE WHOLE PANDEMIC TO THINK ABOUT IT!

The world has been shut down for two damn hell soaked, protest-laden, mask wearing, anti-vaxxer fighting, talking abut equity and inclusion till we are all painted as blue as a James Cameron Actor of Color YEARS – and did they make an effort to re-cast?

No, they did not.

Opera casting is based on voice type, aka fach. It is the tone and tenor of your voice and not all sopranos, tenors, basses can sing every role – it is a really, really nuanced art form. The ‘color’ and quality of one’s voice is completely responsible for one being cast in a role. Singers spend years working on repertoire, and they usually sing that repertoire around the globe – which is why ‘we’ of the world do face this issue.

This is a Puccini Opera and it requires heavier voices, Cio Cio San does need a richness and darker quality to her voice, because that is what the composer wrote – however there are Asian descended singers available, and yet Opera Houses continue to mine this role and others written with Asian characters in them out to non Asian singers. Even after all the social justice/diversity/equity/inclusion discussions that were had – they had no intention of changing their cast.

Opera is the stronghold of Yellowface – it is ‘holding the line’ and we are going to have to keep climbing this hill until people ‘get it’.

It will take a trebuchet to tear down the walls of privilege.

https://www.reddit.com/r/trebuchetmemes/comments/f3rsun/the_best_trebuchet_in_movie_history_the_double/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Well if they are going to cast like it’s medieval times, we should meet them where they are…

In America, we are no better – TURANDOT at the Met made TFP incredibly sad, even though she knew there were world class singers on the stage. She saw the photos and the chinoiseríe of it all and it made her realize that the greatest singers in the world, can be willfully blind to the roles they play in perpetuating stereotypes.

Willfully blind. They take the voice they have as a benevolent blessing from above to sing whatever role suits it, even if there are singers of the same caliber and fach available, just because they can – because they have had more opportunity to sing internationally. Are Asian Opera Singers able to be cast to sing La Boheme and Le Nozze de Figaro with such ease?

The answer is, it is getting ‘better’ for Opera Singers of the Global Majority, but the world is ‘not there yet’. Casting Asians in Opera in non-specific roles remains out of reach for many -at the very LEAST, Opera companies should make a mandate that these East, Southeast, and South Asian singers should be granted the opportunity to sing roles that closely resemble them in order to make the story more genuine and less egregious with makeup.

ROH could have looked online and seen singers like Hiromi Omura

Or looked up Sumi Hwang‘s number…

Sae Kyung Rim has done Cio Cio San more than 100 times:

Hui He is a Chinese soprano that specializes in Puccini and was the first Chinese soprano to sing TOSCA at (effin) La Scala (which if you do not know Opera, you won’t know, but it is a big friggin’ deal)

However they did not – which makes their whole statement easy to disregard.

These are but 4 singers, it took TFP 10 minutes on the internet to show how qualified they are, to find ‘proof’ that there are Asian singers the world over who can do Butterfly, and she is damn sure they could have found someone to sing at the most prestigious Opera House in London for this production.

It is a storyline that reflects race and racism, and what is more racist than asking the audience to believe that the best people to tell that story are white people?

Yes, the Puccini sopranos who are not of Asian descent are going to take issue with this but – sing it in concert, as yourself, don’t try and mimic Asians, it never looks good.

TFP repeats – it NEVER looks good.

It might sound fantastic, but if you want to keep these operas around, it is time to either expand your rep or figure out how to do Butterfly that is not offensive. Same with Turandot, same with Abduction from the Seraglio, Otello …it’s time.

On to Scotland….and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where, it must be said, there is somewhat of a vetting process to get in, and it is prestigious to go to, but where there is no actual editing of pieces or even full understanding of what they are ‘putting up’ under the guise of “Festival”.

(The Festival, the FESTIVAL! Oh stop, Sondheim is gone, let TFP celebrate him in her own way!)

Listen, writing this all is exhausting…TFP cannot tell you how exhausting, but the poor folks from BEATS having to view this absolute shite and then having to come up with a term paper as to why they are upset, when this KEEPS happening at the Edinburgh Fringe is beyond.

It was but a minute ago when TFP was writing about imported yellowface from America at the Fringe – – Beijing Cake ring any bells – there has to be some rules, folks – there are Asians in Scotland, there are Asians in the U.K. – and have been since the 1700’s – so FFS, can we LEARN a lesson here?

Marious Ioannou, who is from Cyprus, thought he could mimic a tea ceremony as he takes the audience on a journey through child sex trafficking. Er…hold up, let’s get it correct – ‘leads the audience on a journey of modern-day abuse, child labour, human trafficking, torture and slavery’.

While he plays a Geisha.

His producers call the work “Challenging’ and refute the charges of ‘Yellowface’.

Likely because the Geisha makeup has a white base color and they are choosing to take it literally.

You can comment, as a Caucasian male on things like sex trafficking WITHOUT dressing and parading yourself around as a Geisha.

Sir, you are not Shirley MacClaine!

Anyway, TFP wanted to leave y’all with the BEATS Statement on this, so here goes:

The first Edinburgh Fringe since pre-Covid recently drew to a close. To those who cared to listen, there was much discussion about the continuing overall whiteness and middle-classness of what is intended to be an annual event of open access, zany and cutting edge performance art, with the production company Nouveau Riches – who took a play (CASTE-ING written by Nicole Acquah) there about the discrimination of Black women in the entertainment industry – penning an open letter to the Edingburgh Fringe stating surprise ‘that little had changed in terms of diversity and safety for Black and Global Majority Artists’.

To add to this, then, it’s also something of a surprise that unashamed yellowface was taking a bow on the Fringe in the shape of TEA CEREMONY, performed in full geisha costume and makeup by Marios Ioannou, “As an icon of beauty, well trained to seduce her customers through movement, song and dance, the geisha leads the audience on a journey of modern-day abuse, child labor, human trafficking, torture, and slavery and the high price we pay for our joy and greed.“

It is also a fact that to many of us who also bear the historical weight of those listed abuses in our family heritages, these lurid descriptions, danced upon by a yellowfaced performer, are extremely triggering and traumatic. The fact that on the booking site there are audience reviews from people who are not Asian of course ‘wondering what all the fuss is about’ is, though, no surprise.

Because, of course, it’s just a man in make-up and florid clothing unless you’ve ever sat there and felt that sense of casual but brutal erasure. Sadly, this is not the first time in recent history where this kind of lazy, racist practice has been seen in a festival that so many performers and makers go to to try and establish a name for themselves.

In 2013, Beijing Cake, performed by a group of Yale students conspicuously not of Asian heritage, caused a similar shock to East/South East Asian heritage artists who bought a ticket in good faith on the title alone and were confronted by a display of what can only be described as race-spoofing. Complaints were made to the venue manager who was apparently shocked that anyone would take issue with this.

Of course, the fringe is a deliberately unregulated free-for-all, its stated aim to be an event where “anyone who has a story to tell and a venue to perform in can put on a show”. We have no wish to see a sanitised and conservative fringe.

The problem is, though, that with outdated racist performance tropes, a sanitised and conservative fringe is exactly what we get. Already, as so well outlined in Nouveau Riche’s statement, the prohibitive costs of taking a production to Edinburgh render it off-limits to many artists of colour.

Add in the fact that at least twice in seven festivals in the last 10 years, people of East and South East Asian heritage are likely to be unsuspectingly subjected to what we can only describe as publicly licensed racism on stage, the likelihood of your intended ‘edgy’ fringe event ending up as corporate, middle-class, mainstream, white experience is greatly increased.

No one wants ‘rules’. Particularly at an event like Edinburgh Fringe. But surely there can be guidelines.

And let’s remember, there are unwritten ‘rules’.

A traditional one in the UK arts world has been that people of East and South East Asian heritage are there to be mocked, appropriated, exoticised, diminished and that our stories need to be told for us.

We reject this and we would hope that Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society does as well.’

TFP is pretty sure that the Fringe does NOT reject yellowface, as they keep putting it up – but…here’s hoping they change in the future.

1,000 Whacks of the wand, with the pointy part – to London’s Royal Opera House and Edinburgh Fringe – ROH because they did literally a quarter of the work they needed to do, and the Fringe because they endorsed yellowface by giving it a platform. Which ensures that TFP is going to have to keep writing this damn blog.

When does this ish stop happening? Wondering if it will be within TFP‘s lifetime?

It seems though, that white folks are very attached to yellowface – and they are not giving it up any time soon – which makes it all the more icky. They absolutely know better, and yet…with alarming frequency, TFP gets to wade through the racism to make her point.

What more could she possibly do or say to get them to stop?

Anyway…what else is there to say, but…

TFP out.

The Fairy Princess knows that it has been a time of extraordinary change for the AAPI community – and a lot of it has been good, while a lot of it has been paired with a continued onslaught of violence that makes one feel really isolated and vulnerable. Highs and lows are hitting us like we are in a batting cage having never swung a bat before, and it can be a weird place to walk in our shoes right now.

NOT IN THE HOUSE…

First off – some highs:

First of all, a huge CONGRATULATIONS to ZACH PISER, who ran his ‘last’ performance as EVAN HANSEN in DEAR EVAN HANSEN on Broadway. Zach has long been a beacon of light on Broadway and Off – TFP thinks longingly of his performance in Sweeney Todd as Toby, opposite another brilliant Mixed Asian Artist, Thom Sesma .

While this will not be the last time we see this leading man, it is the last time for a little bit. He began his ‘run’ on January 23, 2019 and ends it today on August 7, 2022. He has appeared on panels for BroadwayCon and Mixing it Up, and TFP is grateful for his friendship, even more for his talent.

Second – a short film TFP wrote and appears in, was accepted into the Cannes International Film Festival. It is part of a larger project called ENTANGLEMENT, produced by Voices of Women, which is a collab between Australia and the USA. As TFP herself is also a collab between the USA and Oz, it was a nice pandemic project to work on. The seemingly daily festival medallions are the work of the Director, Kaye Tuckerman, and the Producing Team, Sally Phillips Paradis, Laura Patinkin Urkin, and Lliane Clarke, who is the AD of VOW – thank you to all who worked on this.

Third – it is a big weekend for Fil-Ams, with the opening of comedian Jo Koy’s EASTER SUNDAY film. This was the Opening weekend for the film, which did gross $5.3 million dollars. The film cost $17 million to make, so all that means for Indie Comedies for Underrepresented Groups, is that y’all are going to need to see this film a few more times over the next few weeks – because this film is not dissimilar from MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING.

That film, BFGW, on it’s opening weekend made…$597,362. Ahem. It cost $5 million.

Currently it has made, $241,438, 208.

So what ‘we’, (AAPI America) is not going to do, is buy into white critics/daily papers saying the film is failing expectations – it’s not – it is just that nurses and their schedules do not always match up with film times.

They will go on their day off – expect these numbers to rise. They are dealing with Covid and Monkey Pox – they are busy, hey?

(That joke was for Jo Koy, who TFP has been obsessed with for a while).

Congratulations to Rodney To, Melody Butiu and Lydia Gaston, who are Talaga-ing their tushes off in this film.

To all the Fil-Am actors who have spent literally their entire careers having to NOT play Filipinos – this is a huge moment, it is a GIANT deal. It is everybody’s dream to be able to fully show their talents and trials in one piece – Mr. Koy fought for this film to be released on the big screen, and not streamed because he said that Filipinos should be able to go to the theater and ‘see themselves’ – well now is your chance.

TFP salutes you in Adobo. Get your life!

Everyone else – get a ticket!

FOURTH – John Cho has a new film out on PRIME – DON’T MAKE ME GO

Co-starring Mia Issacs as his daughter, a Father facing a terminal illness, takes his teen on one last roadtrip – bring tissues. Also, for the ‘purity’ police – please note mixed race people come in all shapes, sizes, and shades – they are still Asian.

As they say in Australia – even if you have coffee with a lot of cream, it’s still coffee. Meaning, if someone has heritage, nothing you say is going to make them NOT have that heritage.

Fifth – if you are a fan of Rom Com’s that you can watch in the comfort of your own home, and who isn’t – you can turn on Netflix and see Rizwan Manji knock it out of the park in WEDDING SEASON, among the rest of the cast. It is on the Netflix since Aug 4 – and it’s in it’s ‘most streamed’ list at the top when you open it up – with the importance of South Asian representation, this ranks right up there – turn it on, Folks.

Now we are going to talk some ‘real talk’ – and that is about ‘white washing’ – and how it does not apply to everything you think it does…

White Washing is a term for replacing real and actual people who have wound up in a movie or play, who are of the Global Majority, with Actors who are of European descent. We see this with Ben Affleck playing Tony Mendez in ARGO, with Jennifer Connolly playing the real life character of Alicia Nash in A BEAUTIFUL MIND – the real Alicia was of Salvadoran heritage.

Currently James Franco of the no Latinx heritage whatsoever is holding down this inglorious tradition by announcing he will be playing…FIDEL CASTRO!!

‘White Washing” is usually done to those who fall within the Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous groups.

Hollywood has been doing it for YEARS, since Hollywood began, and yes it is annoying and hurtful.

It is ‘white washing’ when Scarlett Johansson did it, yes.

GHOST IN THE SHELL was egregious in many ways – first, the studio digitally tried to alter her face to make her appear more Asian. They costumed and wigged her in a way that, from a distance, one could possibly if they were legally blind, mistake her for Asian, and they left the character’s name as a Japanese surname. Thus ensuring that she would be perceived as being an Asian styled robot or whatever that mess was. They got called out for this egregious casting and digital yellowface, and it failed at the box office – which is a giant sin, so Hollywood did ‘get it’ – if you want to cast Asian roles, you need Asian faces.

What is not ‘white washing’ is the new iteration of BULLET TRAIN.

This film has a plethora of Japanese descended actors in it – are they all the lead? No. Because that is how film works, not everyone is a lead. What is cool about it, is that Brad Pitt, who IS the lead – is sharing space with AAPI Actors in a significant way.

Was BULLET TRAIN a film prior to this that they just ripped off?

No. It is not “THE DEPARTED”.

While there is a Japanese language film called “The Bullet Train” – that was about a bomb exploding on a train and it came out in 1976 – that is not this one.

This “Bullet Train” is based on a book called “Maria Beetle” by Kōtarō Isaka. The English language version of the book is called Bullet Train. The character that Brad Pitt is playing, that of an unlucky assassin code name, Ladybug, has never been ‘seen’ before. “Ladybug” is a fictional character – it is not based on a real person. “Maria Beetle” is being played by Sandra Bullock.

As “Bullet Trains’ exist in Japan, Japan is where the film is set – and what it is about is – a bunch of assassins who seemingly have missions that do not intersect, wind up having missions that actually intersect. Japan itself, is a character in the film – the culture and traditions and fighting styles are fully in front – but this is an International Film.

This is not a film where they buy the book rights and everyone is Asian but speaks English. To assume otherwise or to call this out for ‘white washing’ is using the term incorrectly – as it was never intended to be anything other than an International Film, for International Audiences. There are films that are Asian American and have a mono racial (within a range) cast and storyline – however BULLET TRAIN was never intended for that – or they would not have released the book in English.

If it was only intended to be seen by those who speak and read Japanese, the author would not have sold the rights to the story – because when you sell the rights – and there are entire branches in the publishing world devoted to this very thing – you have a very clear breakdown of what can and cannot be done with the source material.

There are various levels of approval that any material based on a published work has to go through,and as we see with the huge debacle about The Unauthorized Tik Tok Bridgerton Musical, if the lines are crossed, then lawyers are called. (OMG what were those women thinking when they did that…)

You cannot gatekeep something the original author has sold for adaptation. Adaptation means they are going to adjust the work to the medium it is intended for. It is not rocket science, folks.

The Cast is a wide range of heritages, they have gender representation, and multi-culturalism. To call ‘white washing’ on this film, is more about gatekeeping than anything else. While yes, there needs to be more films that star AAPIs and that is an ongoing process – but to say this film is ‘white washed’ is a bit of a reach.

Are all the actors of the same background? No. Should we want them to be? Honestly, that kind of thinking does not make sense to TFP, but if that is the way you feel – you are entitled to your feelings. TFP believes that the more diversity the better – the world of assassins are not known for only one type of person – honestly having different actors play different assassins makes it more interesting, but you can die on that hill if you want.

You will just be alone.

Here is the list of Japanese Descended talents that are in the film, whose lives and careers will be elevated because they are now in an international film where they are on screen with Brad Pitt –

Hirokyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji, Masi Oka, Yoshi Sudarso, Nobuaki Shimamoto, Darren Keilan, Kaori Taketani, Harrison Xu, RiRia, Shota Kakibata, Naomi Matsuda, and Rebecca Lynne Morley

Congrats to the Cast – TFP wishes them much success and financial stability – and ‘purists’ please stop trying to yuck their yum, and take several seats.

You know, sometimes when TFP writes the blog, there is a method to her madness and this is one of those times – if you look at what she has ‘covered’ you will see that a lot of what ‘we’ get to be proud of and support is work done by Mixed Race Asian people.

Now, we are going to talk about this new musical COME FALL IN LOVE, which is also know as DDLJ in India, and is one of the most beloved films in Bollywood history. Originally written in Hindi language by the writer and director, Aditya Chopra – this film, since it’s release in the 90’s, has grossed 2 billion dollars.

TWO BILLION DOLLARS!

Which means, people like it. They do not ‘just’ like it – they love it.

First of all, international setting – two non resident (meaning non dwelling at the time in India) young attractive people go traveling through Europe on vacation, meet and fall in love, only to have to deal with the fact that Simran, the female character, has an arranged marriage waiting for her back in India at the end of this adventure.

Simran and Raj have chemistry, and everything works out, because it is Bollywood and because it is a musical, and because sometimes things just have to work out in films, as otherwise the world falls apart.

Now, in the original film – the skin tones of the actors matched because…it was a Bollywood film.

(There is a colorism issue in Bollywood films, but that is not going to be solved by this blog – TFP wanted to acknowledge this though – there is a propensity for fairer complexions in Bollywood films, though it is hopefully changing – it is not happening quickly.)

In this new version of the musical – they have made some changes and the changes have people having ‘feelings’ – and while TFP wants to acknowledge that it is fine to have those feelings – she is saddened by the fact that those ‘feelings’ are more about racial purity than anything else. As she is a mixed race person, she struggles with the fact that people are irate over the thought of couples who look like her parents in a rom com.

Here is the press release:

Aditya Chopra’s U.S. stage musical reimagining of his immensely popular 1995 Bollywood film “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,” commonly abbreviated to DDLJ, addresses the need for cultural unification in a divided world.

Produced by leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films, “Come Fall In Love – The DDLJ Musical” aims to be a celebration of inclusivity and diversity in a world that is increasingly polarized. It explores how love can unify people and cultures and break down all barriers.

It tells the story of Simran, a young Indian-American woman whose future is set via an arranged marriage back in India to a family friend. But when she convinces her strict father that she should spend a summer of freedom and fun in Europe, she falls for the charming Rog, and her plans go out the window.

The Original Writer/Director, Mr. Chopra has decided because he is building a show that includes new songs and dances, new dialogue – only the basic story remains the same, vacationing twenty somethings fall in love – so it was time to re-imagine the story he wanted to tell. He has brought in people who are top tier Broadway people like Nell Benjamin (Book and Lyrics) and Rob Ashford (Choreography) and partnered them with esteemed Bollywood talent such as Shruti Merchant (Co-Choreographer).

Shoba Narayan, Broadway’s only South Asian Leading Lady, is set to appear as Simran. She will be back in ALADDIN on Broadway after this run at The Old Globe – with COME FALL IN LOVE booked to open on Broadway in March 2023. She has previously appeared in THE GREAT COMET, WICKED, and HAMILTON on tour.

Will she be amazing in this? Heck yeah.

The issue is the casting of Austin Colby, a British actor who is known in the States for being Hans on the tour of FROZEN.

Raj is now Rog.

Which everyone knows is an issue for people who love the film – even though Mr. Chopra said he wanted Tom Cruise for the original Raj, but just could not work it out.

Here is what Austin Colby stated to Variety:

“After watching ‘DDLJ,’ I was filled with joy, peering through a window into the rich world of Indian culture. It is overwhelming to fully process ‘DDLJ’s impact on both Indian and global audiences, touching hearts and changing lives. What an honor for me to be a part of bringing ‘Come Fall In Love’ to the American theater audience and entrusted with this responsibility by the original director, Aditya Chopra. Hearing him talk about his vision for this musical is inspiring and something I truly believe in.”

“That being said, I’m aware what my involvement in this production means to many people and I completely understand its impact. I’m not the Raj that Shah Rukh Khan made us fall in love with, nor will I ever pretend to be. I am excited to fulfill the creative team’s vision for this role and I truly believe in the story and how we are telling it. I hope audiences will trust Adi [Chopra] and the team’s original vision for ‘Come Fall In Love’ coming to Broadway and love this piece as much as we do.”

No one is saying you cannot love Raj, they are just hoping you will love Rog just as much.

There are a few reasons this casting happened – and one of them is green – that’s the color of it – green.

South Asian Broadway Ticket buyers are not a block that Broadway investors can rely on. We saw that with BOMBAY DREAMS– in the end, it is about ticket sales. Now, there are absolutely reasons why this has occurred – non-representation, access, and generational interests are real things – but we are still counting “firsts’ in South Asian representation on Broadway, which has to change if we are to move forward.

There is no assuming that just because people love the film, they will pony up the excessive Broadway ticket prices that fund eight shows a week. Mr. Chopra is an artist who is a business person, he has to make his money back for his investors and he has to serve the generations that are next coming, and those numbers are growing largely from Mixed Race Peoples whose Parents are diverse.

The next issue is that broader representation leads to broader audiences, and the Broadway is a PWI – Primarily White Institution. Change is slow. However there is much change coming down the road with three Broadway bound South Asian musicals – MONSOON WEDDING, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, and B’HANGIN IT rapidly approaching.

Go, invest – make ish happen.

If this is still upsetting you, go watch WEDDING SEASON on Netflix and calm down.

This is just another variation of a story we love. We are blessed with 50 Billion Batmans, and an Austen adaptation every year for the last hundred years or so – what is the issue?

The issue is – hypocrisy.

Because if you lauded BRIDGERTON for it’s inclusive casting – you cannot hate on COME FALL IN LOVE’s doing the EXACT SAME THING.

“Kathony” is a hashtag – and if that upsets you – you have to ask yourself why – because issues with Mixed Couples is a YOU problem, not a THEY problem.

Please feel free to make your case…however if you are going to start with the stuff that has been said to TFP in the past about mixed couples and mixed race people – you can zip it. No one is here for your racial purity BS.

Romance stories need conflict, and what innately contains more conflict than people of two different cultures and understandings who come together and work for their love story? What is the ‘unspoken’ issue when we see people of different backgrounds fall in love? We know there will be mistakes made and misunderstandings can lead to breakups in the story, but you root for them in the end. It will be the third character in the relationship, and that will add depth and layers of understanding.

Listen, if Henry Golding, another mixed race person, can vie for the affections of Dakota Johnson against Cosmo Jarvis in that veddy, veddy English chestnut, PERSUASION – what that shows is that there is room.

There is room for re-imagination, there is room for re-casting – there is room for going back and re-envisioning what you wrote over 20 years ago and seeing it in a new way.

Here is what TFP says, viewing it as a person who exists because of that kind of love story…

Cheers and Well done, Mr. Chopra – she looks forward to seeing you in March of 2023.

TFP out.

The Fairy Princess has not written since Uvalde, and there has been so many great things that have happened to AAPI’s and others in terms of representation, she is not going to bother catching you up – because you already know.

However she did want to congratulate AAPAC on their Honorary Tony Award for Activism. AAPAC, for those who may be unaware, does the Broadway Diversity survey for the past 10 years – yes, TFP knows the AAPAC members – which has helped people understand the sheer scarcity of roles in front and behind the stage for specific groups. TFP has used their research herself – and in fact, before they did this research and published it, she would literally go through the cast of each Broadway show and try and do a ‘count the Asians‘ type thing – it was as bleak as, well to quote Mame, “It was as bleak as my puberty in Buffalo”.

Now, thanks to their work and the work of others – it is slightly less bleak. Slightly. Although the current Broadway season would have you wondering where some groups of POC are.

However, THIS Fall, we have KPOP coming up AND next YEAR…The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa Fasthorse – which will be….drumroll…the FIRST Native American Play written by a Native American Writer on Broadway!!!!!!!!

Bravo!

For those keeping score it is 2022. The Pilgrims landed in 1620. That’s 402 YEARS of not being represented on the stages of America, other than as a punch line or a trope. Broadway is technically supposed to have started in 1735, so that is 287 YEARS of not seeing their stories on the stages that were built on land we stole. (We, being America)

The Thanksgiving Play is a satire piece and you can order the play, which TFP has, if you want to read it first – which actually is a great idea and will help support Ms. Fasthorse – so do that. Then buy a ticket, and wear three masks – one for you, and whoever is sitting next to you on each side.

Now to announce TFP’s Panels at BroadwayCon – on July 8th and 9th –

First up – FRIDAY JULY 8 – RISE: AAPI’s and Pop Culture in Theater 3:40pm – the New Yorker Hotel, Grammercy Park Suite

Shoba Narayan (ALADDIN) and Kelvin Moon Loh (BEETLEJUICE)

Join two of the landmark performers for Broadway’s current age of enlightenment in terms of casting AAPIs in Musicals.

Shoba Narayan has been seen across the country in HAMILTON, as well as on Broadway in THE GREAT COMET and WICKED, and is now the first ever South Asian to play Jasmine in ALADDIN on Broadway.

Kelvin Moon Loh is an actor and a writer, who has been seen at The Public in HERE LIES LOVE, on Broadway in THE KING AND I and SIDE SHOW, and created the role of Otho in the original Broadway Cast of BEETLEJUICE and the re-homed and re-opened production back on Broadway. He is currently working on a pilot for Hulu that he wrote with Conrad Ricamora about LGBTQ Life in New York City.

Saturday, July 9 – 3:40 – 4:40 – The New Yorker Hotel, Grammercy Park Room

Writing our Way Out – When you are not satisfied with the status quo, you create opportunity! Scarcity breeds Creativity!

Our Panelists :

Helen Park (K-Pop), Daniel K. Issacs (Once Upon A (Korean) Time), Director, Ralph B. Peña (Founding Director Ma-Yi Theater Company)

HELEN PARK – is a South Korean born Composer who won the 2018 Lucille Lortel Award and the 2018 Richard Rogers Award, her work K-POP, premiering on Broadway in Fall of 2022, was nominated for 3 Drama Desk Awards. She holds an MFA from NYU Tisch and is an alum of the BMI Lehman Engel MT Workshop. She wrote the songs for OVER THE MOON, which was a Neflix animated film whose voices included Philippa Soo, Sandra Oh, Daniel Dae Kim and others.

DANIEL K. ISSACS – is an Actor and Writer, who created the hashtag #AccordingToMyMother which morphed into a short film, and then a tv pilot – According to my Mother, which premiered in October 2016 at the NY Television Festival and won the award for Best Drama, as well as winning an individual award for Mr. Issacs as Best Actor in a Drama. As an actor, he has played the role of Ben Kim on the television show, BILLIONS, as well as recurring on HBO’s THE OTHER TWO. His play, ONCE UPON A (Korean) TIME will premiere in NY in August with the Ma Yi Theater Company, directed by Ralph B. Peña. He was most recently seen at The Public Theater in Lloyd Suh’s THE CHINESE LADY.

RALPH B. PEÑA – is a Playwright and Director who was born in the Philipines. He is a founding member and the current Artistic Director of the Ma-Yi Theater Company, which is an OBIE and DRAMA DESK winning AAPI Theater Group in NYC. He has written FLIPZOIDS, THIS END UP, LOOSE LEAF BINDINGS among others. He won an OBIE Award for his work on THE ROMANCE OF MAGNO RUBIO, he directed the world premiere of Hansol Jung’s AMONG THE DEAD, Lloyd Suh’s THE CHINESE LADY and countless other works. Ralph is leader in the industry and has always been a staunch advocate of AAPI’s in theater and beyond.

Great! Everyone coming! YES!

Now, let’s talk some ish….about this new Mask Mandate that allows audience members to choose whether or not to wear a mask…

The audience should still wear them.

Producer Chris Harper, incidentally, seems like he heard this was coming down the pike and quickly decided to take his TONY Award Winning revival of COMPANY and close it – he seems to be thinking ahead to the rip-roaring fight he would have with Patti LuPone, among others, should he choose to expose them to COVID Part 72 in an unmasked audience.

Ms. LuPone has FU money – she does not have to do anything she doesn’t want to – and, frankly, she should have FU money and she should be able to do anything she wants as a multi-talent and multi-award winner. #TeamLuPone

There is no reason in the world that the audience of the Broadway show should not wear masks except that the Producers are trying desperately to bring more right wing audiences to theater, because they can afford the egregiously overpriced tickets to Music Man, and TFP thinks it is a mistake.

Superspreader Hugh Jackman brought Covid to the TONY Awards and could have taken everyone in there down! Here is a man that has every precaution in the world taken because he is so ‘valuable’, and yet, the ‘Rona got him – even with PCR testing and masks and all that.

No one is immune to Covid.

Covid does not care if you are good looking, or tall, or famous, or Australian – it does not care if you have been vaccinated or boosted or if you are red headed and left handed. Just to clarify, Mr. Jackman is a brunette… TFP has no idea if he is left handed, she was just going with it.

Likely Mr. Jackman did infect people that night – took out quite a few that no one is talking about. Everyone suspiciously silent on that, but YAY for the Understudies.

It seems to TFP that Broadway Producers aka The Broadway League have spoken through the guise of Charlotte St. Martin and said – “Hey Performers, we do not care if you get a life threatening illness as long as we have a packed house”– and performers – particularly those with independent means and income from other sources (which, by the way is quite a lot MORE folks than people realize because lessons to get that good are really expensive) are going to leave theater.

Those big marquee names that sell a show? Nope, they are not going to do a show – because it is not safe. Clearly the TV/Film industry does not feel the same as Broadway , they are still masking and testing – because if a tv show gets shut down, millions of dollars are gone. Broadway however, can ‘Hunger Games’ the Understudies till spouses are called in, apparently.

A Producer’s job is to keep their company safe to perform.

Always.

This is why there are equipment tests and stage managers and unions – all to keep the performers safe. So that the performers can do their jobs. Performers want to do their jobs. Audiences want to see them do their jobs – it is a win/win – so long as we are able to keep the houses masked.

A show is around two and a half hours maximum. Unless it’s Angels in America or some other cycle kind of play – people are absolutely capable of dealing with masks for 90 min and a bit longer. If they complain, please remind them kids at school, nurses and other medical professionals wear masks all day. Two hours and a bit? Should be no problem- ya big baby!

Masks have been shown to be effective as to keeping the risk down. Or the shows will be shut down.

How can immuno-compromised performers venture into the theater now? How can immuno-compromised audience members decide to go to a show?

You cannot SEE people with weakened immune systems. They are not always visible.

TFP thinks this is a mistake. The Broadway League should follow the science, or the Broadway League will kill Broadway.

Masks are not why audiences are staying away from theater.

Covid is why audiences are staying away from theater. Masks help alleviate, very slightly, the panic everyone is still prone to in regards to catching COVID – and taking them away – no one will come. No one will come to the theater – not the Actors who are wealthy enough to say no, and not the audiences who do not want to die. There will always be those who will risk it all – those who have no choice but to go to work – and they will be risking life threatening illness every damn day, but apparently, that is a risk Producers are willing to take.

During the plague in England, the theaters were closed entirely.

Have any fancy new ventilation, air cleaning systems been implemented on the Broadway that would prompt this move? No? What happened to all the money they were given as an industry bail out for lost income? Has everything been cleaned and updated and virus transmission proofed? TFP has not heard anything about that – so we are all sitting ducks the minute we enter the theater. Hence, people will not be able to enter a theater.

If that is what The Broadway League wants, they should continue with maskless audiences. See how many Covid cases come crashing down and how many they have to cancel per week. If by chance, a few shows survive? Ok, they lucked out…for now – but the morale in that theater will be low.

This will be every ensemble member on Broadway that doesn’t have FU money:

@rossidwoods

♬ original sound – Rossi

The Broadway League needs to change their minds – or the stars need to align – with one another and refuse to go to work till that move forces The League to make changes for them.

There, TFP has effin‘ said it.

TFP out.

The Fairy Princess just put her almost ten year old on the bus. To school. An elementary school. She did not want to, because even though she is located in a “Blue” state, far away from Texas, people get shot here too. Thus far, no children at school, but let’s face it – it’s a matter of time.

In the past two weeks, 3 Korean women were shot at their place of business in Texas, 10 Black American, mostly seniors, were shot in Buffalo, NY while shopping, a Taiwanese American renowned Sports Doctor was shot dead at church while trying to prevent others at church from being shot and 5 Taiwanese American people were wounded, and now…we have the latest in a long line of tragedies – 19 Children were gunned down along with 2 of their teachers in Texas. Those children were mainly Latinx, as is the area, which is called Uvalde, and it is fewer than 80 miles from the border between the US and Mexico.

The reason TFP cannot say “all the Children were Latinx” is because their names have not been released, and that is because the damage done to some of their bodies that the shooter aimed his AR 15 rifles at, are so torn by bullets, that DNA swabs of relatives have to be used to identify them.

That work is ongoing.

It is time to stop screwing around. As a friend would say, “It’s been past time‘, and indeed it has.

TFP reaches people all over the world – and by the by – the world thinks America is crazy. We, yes, make a lot of money as our global superpowerness reigns over others and we step forward to take the lead in so many circumstances – but the people ‘we’ vote for refuse to stop gun violence because the NRA pays their bills.

That is not taking the lead. That is leading with greed. America is leading the world in gun related violence.

Just this last month we have found out that the Republican party wants to take away body autonomy from people with uteruses and, it must be stated, trans and LGBTQIA plus folx, while reducing their legal rights. They want to rescind marriage equality. We hold on to ‘child marriage’ in most states, so that a young girl can be forced into marriage with the permission of her parents, against her wishes. Now we have 21 more deaths to add onto their growing debt against America and it’s people.

Right now, America is a farce because we have let a domestic terror organization take over the Republican party, one lobbyist at a time. We became so convinced that it really doesn’t matter who is in charge, that we were not vigilant – and we let people like the Koch Brothers and the NRA buy all our politicians – and they are complicit, because they allowed themselves to be bought. We watch idly as Tucker Carlson and similar dreck spouting off on FOX News incite hatred and then shrug when there is a result.

There is a reason these gunmen aim at targets that are innocent. There is a reason that they believe FOX News – which should be listed as a Terror Organization, and be banned, as it is in New Zealand. They do it because all along, with it’s colorful graphics and it’s ‘us vs. them’ logic, they have been ramping up to this for years, and they are too far along now to pull back.

Unless America pulls them back. Mothers in Red States, you have to take a stand – for your children, and for our children. Fathers in Red States, the ability to hunt with a single shot rifle is a skill – tearing a deer apart with an AK47 is a crime against nature, and a cowards way.

When a similar situation happened in Scotland, they took away their guns. Likewise in Australia. Likewise in every Western Nation. Likewise in Eastern Nations. All over the world, automatic rifles have been taken away via access to purchase and background checks, from people who could potentially decided to murder someone.

In other countries, people may write their horrid manifestos of hate, but they do not have access to get the weapons that can kill 19 children in minutes, before they themselves have been taken out.

America will do nothing. Ninety per cent of America would like these laws enacted, but 50 Senators in Red states decided no, they won’t. They like the paycheck. Maybe they got into politics to do some good, but clearly they stay because bullying tactics to them, feel good.

There will be the usual howling of grief, and the Democrats will try and pass laws banning the sale of these weapons. However the NRA wants those weapons available if they decide to storm the Capitol Building again, so they will not allow that to happen. All those people killed in the past two weeks have been People of Color.

TFP repeats – the people gunned down and killed in the last two weeks have mainly been People of Color. Black, Asian, and now Latinx. America will do nothing.

This is not fixable by minority people.

Caucasian people in Red States are complicit in this crime wave against Americans. They have voted for these Senators that refused to budge on voting for gun safety laws. Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona, who purport to be Democrats largely vote with Republicans.

TFP is going to say the part out loud you are not supposed to say…Republicans do not care about our deaths. Heck they fear our birth rates unless they get to take those children for their barren women and raise them to enact white supremacy from a body with melanin.

Republicans do not care about the deaths of Black Seniors going shopping, Asian women at work, Asian churchgoers, or Latinx Children. They shrug and think “well, let’s see you rise those population numbers now’, all the while forcing women to have babies, but refusing to vote to help them feed their babies formula. They want baby farms and guns, and they categorically do not care.

Therefore it is on you, White America – to decide you have had enough. To decide you do not want these stains on your conscience. These deaths on your hands. You did not shoot the gun, but you pulled the lever to vote for those who made it easier to get them.

To be clear, one shooter was Chinese (He had a white supremacist roommate, which is probably relevant), one shooter was Latinx, and one shooter was Black – only one shooter out of the four incidents this past two weeks was white – the one in Buffalo who slaughtered 10 people.

They all enacted white supremacy. The skin tones of the shooters do not match. What matches, is the access. They had access to weapons, they had access to vehicles, they picked a target, and they killed people. The targets they chose, for whatever reason, they had been lied to about, they had heard propaganda about, they had created terrible fantasies about how eliminating them will fix the world – they were all psychopaths, in whichever way they got there.

Yes, they are responsible for their own actions, and yes, they can ‘just’ be evil – not discounting that angle whatsoever. However the people who voted for Senators that hold us hostage, and the people who watch FOX News and quote Tucker Carlson – they allowed it. They continually allow it.

If you are a liberal leaning white lady in the South- it’s time to step up. You have to call ‘those relatives’ and you have to keep calling them till they vote Democratic to get you to stop calling them. If you are a liberal leaning white man in a Red State who has been largely quiet because you feel it is ‘not your place’, it is time to take your place. It is past time, plus- YOU KNOW, but it was not comfortable to you to have ‘those’ conversations, so you skipped them. You owe America at least 10 conversations on gun violence per week till we get these people out of office.

Let it be known and SAY it, ‘Oh, you vote for killing kids and seniors? Huh, would not have pegged you that way, but thanks for letting me know.’

You have to vote these Senators out. Parents must take the lead. Gay Parents, Straight Parents, Non Binary Parents, Trans Parents – PARENTS HAVE TO DECIDE.

America is relying on you. No doubt you will let us down – because you continue to do so, but perhaps you will surprise us.

When TFP told her child about the shooter in Texas, her child replied, “A teenager! Wow, he just gave all his goodness away then?”

It is not just him, my child. It is not just him.

TFP out.

The last few days there has been some news that has The Fairy Princess like…

Does this negate the fact that there are still crimes being committed against AAPIs within the lusty month of May? Most recently in fact – YESTERDAY…

Yes, yesterday...the day before today, 3 Asian American women were shot in a hair salon. In TEXAS. One wonders, if this overturn of Roe V. Wade had happened already, and one of those women had been pregnant, if she would have been prosecuted for being shot while pregnant. As we are, to the GOP, just baby makers creating a domestic supply of infants for infertile couples….Food for thought.

Thankfully, they will be ok.

Still, they were shot. In their place of business.

The police have yet to label it a ‘hate crime’.

The wheels of justice are slow to turn, and let’s face it, the wheels of the giant monstrosity that is the Entertainment World are even slower than that. Just when you think you have it figured out, things change.

An example is NYC having it’s FIRST AAPI parade this coming Sunday, May 15th! Starting at 10:45 am, proceeding down 6th Avenue from it’s start on 44th Street.

When you consider the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC was in 1762, and the first AAPI parade is this year in 2022….

Back to the biz…there was a giant dust up in television, with 17 shows being cancelled.

Nora from Queens, still on the air – Congratulations to BD Wong, Lori Tan Chinn and Bowen Yang.

Magnum, P.I., however, did not get the renewal!

Which seems crazy because it had great ratings…but it seems there was a disagreement between the studio that produced it and the network that aired it. This is why we cannot have nice things- so ‘we’ lose a show everyone enjoyed and all those filming jobs from Hawaii.

Sadly, Kumu, played by the brilliant Amy Hill, will not be back – but Ms. Hill will be heard, in the new Netflix series of Kung Fu Panda;The Dragon Knight, where she will voice the character of Pei Pei.

It is because these giant monoliths of networks and studios move so slow and then speedrace into a different moment, that some things seem to take an eternity.

Some are over before they have even had a chance to begin.

Like, as an example- WHY would ABC pass on the pilot JOSEP based on Jo Koy’s comedy? A sitcom about a Fil-Am Fam? Slam dunk! To TFP, anyway.

‘Josep’ Comedy Pilot Not Going Forward, ABC Hopes To Redevelop Project Starring Jo Koy

Read the rest of this entry »

The Fairy Princess wishes a Happy USA Mother’s Day to those who celebrate.

Whether your Mother is with you, is watching you from ‘elsewhere’, know that she loves you. If your Mother figure is not the societal norm, and rather ‘Chosen Family’, that absolutely counts and please call them and take them to Drag Brunch if you can.

Anyway, if you are a Mother, contemplating a gift they made at school, with the the myriad of conflicted thoughts about said gift and where it will sit and how long before it disintegrates – know that you are not alone, TFP sees you and acknowledges all you do, even if the Supreme Court Ultra Conservatives want to control your uterus.

By the way, you know interracial marriage and LGBTQIA+ rights are next, yes? It’s not just about body autonomy – that is just where they are starting.

Politics aside – we have a new (to general audiences) Television star, Mr. Raymond Lee, coming to us on QUANTUM LEAP, where he will play Dr. Ben Seong.

Here is what you need to know – Mr. Lee is a New Yorker. He has been working quite a while, in fact, TFP saw his work first at an AAPI Film Festival where he appeared in KTown Cowboys in 2010. He’s been in a few series before beginning on YouTube where he was in ‘Best Couple Ever‘. He did 2 episodes on SCANDAL, before landing several episodes of MOZART IN THE JUNGLE (TFP went crazy for that), in 2018 he did a show called HERE AND NOW, and then in 2021, he was a regular on KEVIN CAN F*CK HIMSELF. He also had a lot of co-stars and guest stars along the way – and Folks, that is how it works.

Now, he is starring on the reboot of QUANTUM LEAP which takes place 30 years after the O.G. star of the show, Scott Bakula, playing Dr. Sam Beckett, supposedly ‘disappeared’ and did not come back. So expect to see Mr. Lee bopping through time and jumping in and out of various people’s experiences. Congratulations to Mr. Lee and his team.

Also please remember this was not always a show where it was a ‘nice’ jump into a ‘nice’ person – there were a few hairy jumps for Dr. Beckett, and one assumes, there will be some for Dr. Seong – so not a WORD of complaint from us, get me? He is not part of an ensemble cast here – he is the LEAD, he is number ONE on the call sheet on a Network Show, and we have not seen that as frequently as we would like.

Remember DDK saying how chuffed he was to get to that point? Being the face of a show? That was LAST YEAR.

In regards to his role on “The Hot Zone: Anthrax“. The only other one who is that status, who is of Asian heritage, is Sandra Oh for KILLING EVE, which just ended.

FRESH OFF THE BOAT and DR. KEN are no longer on the air, so…yeah, this is a big deal.

Another giant piece of news is that in the MCU, Folks are no longer sleeping on the potential of Wong, played by British East Asian Actor, Benedict Wong, and what is cool is that there is a hashtag and articles already out.

Mr. Wong joined the MCU in DR STRANGE in 2016, participated as Dr. Strange’s sidekick in quite a few of the films and most recently appeared in SHANG CHI. If you are hoping for a spinoff series like Marvel has done for other characters – keep hashtagging and tweeting and ‘gramming about #WongForWong – apparently it is gaining traction enough that Mr. Wong felt comfortable sharing it on late night television.

Now since the CRA script kerfuffle has really been overwhelming the actual filming of the sequel of the mega hit, we have learned yesterday that the role of Astrid, played so wonderfully by British East Asian talent, Gemma Chan, is going to get her own spinoff. In the second book, TFP recalls it generally being about Astrid and her romance with tech guru, Charlie Wu, played by Harry Shum Jr.

(Legit, she kinda skipped around to read their sections)

This screenplay is being done by Jason Kim, he has an EMMY nod for the show ‘Barry’…and….he also has a Broadway musical opening soon – KPOP, which he wrote the Book for. KPOP opens on Broadway in October. KPOP has a book by Mr. Kim, with Music and Lyrics by Max Vernon, and Music, Lyrics, and Arrangements by Helen Park.

The story is a behind the scenes look at what it takes to be a Kpop star, and in fact, there are Kpop stars that are part of the cast. If you want to know anymore, you have to get your tickets.

Get them NOW.

The cast is as announced:

Luna, Julia Abueva, Will Brill, Major Curda, Joomin Hwang, Jinwoo Jung, Jiho Kang, Amy Keum, James Kho, Bo Hyung Kim, Eddy Lee, Jully Lee, Min, Timothy H. Lee, Abraham Lim, Kate Mina Lin, Aubie Merrylees, Patrick Park, Kevin Woo, John Yi

Welcome to the Broadway, Folks.

As we close out this blog today, TFP wanted again to point out, during May, which is AAPI Heritage Month of how all these opportunities that people are seeing happen, are the result of years of work.

YEARS of work – and not just by the individuals whose names are on the front. There are educators, journalists, executives, bloggers, casting – as well as Artists, of course. There are people who do graphs and numbers, who provided valuable stats- hey whaddya know – your Parents were right, everyone needs math.

Nothing happens overnight- even if the internet makes you feel it does. It doesn’t. You are on your own path, and it is OK.

Thus, to add to the collective fun and the joy this month is supposed to embody- please watch this trailer of the Jo Koy film, EASTER SUNDAY

TFP wants to give a shout out to Lydia Gaston, Rodney To and Melody Butiu – Good to see them set up to shine on the big screen.

TFP hopes you get all that My Big, Fat Greek Wedding energy, and a sequel.

There are tons of books for kids that have been in the works and have ‘dropped’ as it were – and children are the future (Though if grown ass people do not get it together, the kids have 30 good years, and don’t act like that thought doesn’t keep TFP up at night). If it is important that your kids ‘see themselves’ and of course it is, make sure you give these, and the hundreds of others, a look see and help your kids see that they are deserving of ‘space’ in the world.

Happy Mother’s Day, Y’all

TFP Out.