The Fairy Princess really hates to be proven correct – but here we go – Maybe Happy Ending, which won the TONY Award for Best Musical this past year, and for it’s star, Darren Criss, has announced that it is seeking replacements for the Broadway production and robots not being Asian presenting is the hill the Producers are going to die on…
So that, as they say, is that.
(Say what you will about R&H, their shows in the current day cannot be done professionally without #AANHPI performers, and their foundation stands by it.)
Yes, all the things you are feeling are justified.
However, it is not the performers’ fault – and TFP stands by that. They didn’t write this casting notice.
Worth noting that the breakdown for James lists the character’s background as Korean, but the actor playing him does not have to be.
If anyone of the AANHPI diaspora goes in, and is asked about their racial identity- THAT is expressly forbidden for CDs to do by the CSA -Casting Society of America.
If that happens, there is an internal review and members are disciplined if violations occur.
Ahem.
Now, if TFP were to think about it – she would warn folks about getting down in the dumps about this situation – she does love a good think – she would say this is your chance to RISE UP – she would say that ALLLLLL the AEA AANHPI performers who are right for this show should go to the EPA – which is
Weds October 15th from 10AM- 6PM
Pearl Studios – 500 Eighth Ave
Holding is in 404, and the audition room is 402
In the audition room will be Craig Burns and Jimmy Larkin.
Get there early and sign up – etc. etc. etc….TFP believes in you, you can do it.
Go hold your musical theater ground…
We, of the AANHPI community who are not ‘right’ for this show, salute you….
Go show them what you are made of in the Year of the Snake….you got this!
TFP knows you will SLAY ALL DAY!!!!
Ok, ok, ok here is the point – It’s only a defeat if you don’t show up and show out.
The Fairy Princess knows the Broadway AANHPI Community is hurting about the decision to cast a non-Asian performer into a role that had been originated on Broadway by an Asian descended performer.
No matter how much they ‘whitesplain’ this decision – and here are some examples:
The character is a robot. Robots are ordered, anyone can order any kind of robot they want.
In previous workshops the casting was all over the place and they tried many different scenarios for who was to be the robot
Asians are gatekeeping
TFP is not going to dwell on those examples, nor address them because…they are toxic.
Producers can choose to say what they want, and they can even order the cast to go along with this but here is what is being set up by a show that won, in part, for it’s diversity.
TFP has spent the last 14 years writing about diversity for AANHPIs and to see this happen makes her want to…
However TFP thought she would point out that TONY NOMINEE CONRAD RICAMORA of STAGE, TELEVISION, and FILM has decided he is investing in education.
Specifically he is funding a scholarship for AANHPI MALES pursuing a BFA or MFA in Theater – sorry ladies, but they have not made Claire white, yet – called ‘THE RIGHT TO BE THERE: A scholarship for Asian American Male Actors”
He is beginning the fund with $5K of his own money, and then will match other donations up to the first $10,000. Even if you do not believe in you, AANHPIs, even if your Family, and the Industry has quite clearly decided that the world does not need you – CONRAD RICAMORA thinks it does.
TFP does as well.
See who else ‘liked’ his post – go take a look, THE QUEEN.
Just sayin’
Here is why TFP cares so much – she has a son.
He deserves to see himself represented. He deserves to sit at a show and see a variation of himself as a dynamic lead. TFP‘s son is of mixed Korean descent, (although he is looking like he could play DDK’s son in that photo) and he was absolutely looking forward to seeing MAYBE HAPPY ENDING – and when he heard the new casting announced on Sirius Broadway XM, he yelled, “Wait – isn’t that part Asian?“
We will not be going to see MHE until there is an AANHPI male in the role. We are choosing to vote with our ticket sales. After all, Mommy saw it that way, and she wishes her son to see it ‘that way’. The whole point of bringing her kid to theater is for him to have an authentic sense of self.
By the way – for those who have stated that this casting ‘is only 9 weeks’ or who have, because of employment issues, needed to react positively to this news on social media….ok.
That’s your view, that we are all ‘post-racial’.
If the show was really post-racial, then it would have never been set in South Korea. An actual place.
If the show was really post-racial then there would be no need to use Asian names or places.
If the show was really post-racial then Jeju Island and the Love Hotel and all the dialogue – “He looks like James, oh he looks like James, he looks like James too” – would not take a seemingly racial turn if anyone of any background spoke it.
It’s funny because Oliver is AANHPI. That is the reason that joke is charming, if he is not AANHPI it becomes…troublesome.
We do not live in a post-racial world.
TFP does not carry a color copy of her passport and have her son do the same because the world in which we now live is post racial. She did not have to get Global Entry and carry it everywhere she goes to further prove she is a US citizen, because the world, the New York, the United States she lives in is a post racial beacon of love and kindness.
We have an invasive cancer in our country right now, and this casting is the first small freckle of melanoma that we are seeing in a while – mostly, theater has been ‘ok’ for a bit – people seemed to be getting it, that ‘representation matters’, and while not everyone was on board with that – most people were, and it was so nice. It was a nice feeling.
AANHPI Theater no longer has that feeling.
It’s so bad, Playwright, Lauren Yee had to arrange for a Community night!
Thank you Lauren and Signature Theater for hosting.
Pretty soon, the role of Claire will also be played by a Non Asian.
Of course it will.
It will start with Broadway, and then as it goes down the chain and is licensed out, Claire will be blonde. That’s why her name is Claire.
The audience is being prepped to expect this because even though the Producers acknowledge the beauty and strength and appeal of having an AANHPI Cast, and legitimately used DEI talking points in their TONY Award campaign, it seemed there was always an intention to not use an AANHPI casting
Even after a tremendous development process that included workshops and productions outside of the USA the writers decided that the best way to tell the story was with Claire and Oliver being ‘AANHPI coded”
Which is TFP’s point – because it does not make sense that people from a homogenous culture who are looking to put robots in place of family members to care for them would choose to pick robots that looked like an entirely different group – the producers are still going to do it.
Because…
Will it serve the story?
The only way we will know is ticket sales. The audience will buy in or it will not.
However do not lose hope – because even as much as the world has the new embattled Superman, full of flaws and choosing honor – AANHPI America has Conrad Ricamora.
Right now, Conrad Ricamora is ‘our’ Superman. Another Mixed Race Asian Actor who is succeeding, and leaving the door open for those coming behind him.
The Fairy Princess watched the world reel from the announcement that Crazy Rich Asians, the rom-com film that was the top money making rom com of all time, is being turned into a musical. This is what she pictures as some of the reactions, take it away Momoa...
She was already familiar and has been keeping silent for several years now, because….if it is not your secret to tell, even if you are excited about it – that is what you do.
That being said, congratulations to Director of the film, and now the musical, John M. Chu, Book writer, Leah Nanako Winkler, Composer Helen Park, with lyrics by Amanda Green and Tat Tong. The creative team at Warner Brothers headed up by Mark Kaufman, has had several properties on The Broadway already – Beetlejuice, The Notebook, Back to the Future, Water for Elephants – and this will be a great addition.
When it gets here.
We do not know when, no details have been released – however no, it is unlikely that Henry Golding will be tap dancing through Singapore via Broadway. #Sorryboutit.
However TFP is delighted, and knew as soon as she read the novel by Kevin Kwan, that it would make a fantastic musical.
Next up – SUFFS and LEMPIKA made their Broadway bows this past week – just before the TONY Award deadline and male critics are….well, they are male-ing.
Everything about these two shows seem to be a chore for these reviewers, and the biggest issue is – not enough male gaze. Even if there are men in the cast – as with Lempika, the critics just cannot seem to wrap their thoughts about anyone caring enough about, gasp, a WOMAN, to stay engaged for about two hours and change.
Likewise with SUFFS, while grudgingly acknowledging that Shaina Taub has all the facets that make her equivalent in accomplishment to Lin Mañuel Miranda, their reviews seem overly picky and biased. The male reviews of SUFFS is the equivalent to writing “I would just enjoy it if they would smile more‘ – which of course, is entirely not the point of the women’s suffrage movement.
TFP saw this when white males went to review KPOP last year and effectively closed it, and she has seen it in other shows of the past. Anything that does not center a Cis male gaze, they just cannot ‘see’ value in the production – and it is time for Publicists and productions and papers to stand up and say, “No, we would like a different critic’s to review this production” instead of blindly accepting whoever the paper sends.
There needs to be a ‘4B’ kind of relationship with the theater criticism community – they do NOT have to, nor should they feel compelled to give positive reviews. However, they can figure out ways to phrase things that are not very reminiscent of a stereotypical archetype of a certain kind of white male, hmmm?
Lysistrata should be required reading.
Requesting a different critic not mean that female identifying critics, and by extension, reviewers of the Global Majority, are ‘less harsh’ or ‘less demanding’ of shows – far to the contrary. What it does mean is that reviewers of different backgrounds can take themselves and their egos out of the review and explain what the critical points are, put it into context, and deliver reviews that encompass all the things the show has to offer – without a lot of rancor. They can seemingly critique without making their review seem like the show is an affront to all things theatrical and should be done away FORTHWITH!
It is a lot to read these things – and the worst is, these are the reviewers for the biggest outlets – so even on a “what do the critics say’ article, the male reviewers have the first several slots – and by the time you read so much of blowhard hubris, you assume the show is not worth seeing. The female and Global Majority critics seem to be way down on the list – however if you read them, you soon discover there is a much less emotional, chest pounding way to read about theater, that is equally effective.
Because women, and People of the Global Majority are not allowed to have temper tantrums in print lest they be labeled ‘difficult’.
All TFP cares about is a review that lets her know if the show has good songs, a good story, and fantastic performances – that’s it. She realizes that this could be perceived as something actors have had to deal with their entire careers – the, ‘we didn’t ask for your opinions, just entertain us’ kind of thing – but that isn’t it at all. She just wants the male critics to understand that some theater – just is not for ‘them’ – and that – is allowed.
Keep watching WARRIOR and THE BROTHERS SUN and SHOGUN, Folks – all your clicks make a difference – and on all of them, in slightly varying genres, have some stellar performances, we are awash with riches.
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