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 has been looking at announced shows for the upcoming Fall, Winter, and Spring season, and in terms of AANHPI representation…things are looking a bit
Which is only to be expected, as it is very hard to top this year, with TONY Awards going to AANHPIs in record numbers. “Our” Award winners in the performance categories literally doubled from 3 to 6.
We had lead players in Broadway plays and musicals of AANHPI descent at a ratio that was shocking, and it is natural that those numbers we ‘readjust’ for this coming season. This is where folks think, ‘Ok, we fixed it’ in terms of diversity in casting.
Last time they ‘fixed it’ like this was, frankly, in 2016 when Hamilton won.
Yes, Hamilton won and just like that casting was ‘solved’.
In point of fact, Broadway did not have a lot of representation going on for the following two years because…everyone felt the issues were fixed.
Were they?
Well let’s see who won in 2017 – Ben Platt, Kevin Kline, Bette Midler, Laurie Metcalf, Gavin Creel, Rachel Bay Jones, Cynthia Nixon to name a few.
In 2018 there was The Band’s Visit, which diversified things a bit, lovely to see – so the names changed somewhat and the TONY winners were Tony Shaloub, Andrew Garfield, Katrina Lenk, Glenda Jackson, Nathan Lane, Ari’el Stachel, Lindsay Mendez and Laurie Metcalf
So…yes, you will see the occasional person as part of a cast, your friends who are in shows are not suddenly being released, you can still see them, TFP is talking new shows on the horizon…
There is not, at the moment, a slated AANHPI cast coming to Broadway in the 2025/26 season that has been announced. (yet)
There is a role in Queen of Versailles that has representation, but we shall have to wait till it opens.
TFP wants to warn folks who will again, be optimistic as to what this means going forward – that ‘inclusion in casting’ is never ‘solved’. Sometimes Broadway looks like it is an ‘all-play’ and sometimes it looks like a PWI.
Life is a pendulum, sometimes it swings towards and sometimes it swings away. Looking objectively at the casts that have been announced for Broadway, TFP is thinking you will find more of ‘your/our’ stories Off Broadway.
Do not forget to support theater companies like Pan Asian Rep, Ma-Yi, and others because right now, with the NEA Grants either being postponed or pemanently frozen, ‘we’ are going to have to support the theater we want to see.
You have to enjoy what you have when you have it, and hope to push the bar forward so that options are always available.
Meanwhile let’s check in with ‘our’ TONY winners, what is going on, and how long is everyone staying….
Past TONY Winner, Lea Salonga, has closed OLD FRIENDS on Broadway and is in the Philippines doing the Sondheim classic, INTO THE WOODS. She is also set to receive her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – we do not have a date yet, but that is very exciting.
Marco Paguia is still at Buena Vista Social Club leading the orchestra. He won for Best Orchestrations. The show is selling out, and he is staying at the helm musically.
Nicole Scherzinger will be closing Sunset Blvd, the show she won Best Actress in a Musical for on July 20, 2025. It was always a limited run, we just do not have another Hawaiian, Ukranian, Filipina superstar to fill in with a show, and well, that’s life.
Darren Criss, who won Best Actor in a Musical for Maybe Happy Ending, for his role of Oliver – will be leaving his show on August 31, 2025.
Maybe Happy Ending won Best Direction of a Musical for Michael Arden, Best Book of a Musical for Hue Park & Will Aronson, Best Original Score of a Musical for Park & Aronson, Best Scenic Design for Dana Laffey & George Reeve, and it will stay open on Broadway.
The cast is largely AANHPI. However no clue as to how long the Original Broadway Company (Helen J. Shen, Marcus Choi, Dez Duron, Daniel May, Steve Huynh, Hannah Kevitt, Claire Kwon, Christopher James Tamayo) will stay, although we wish them SRO crowds in perpetuity.
Ms. Shen has been announced as part of the cast of the feature film, The Devil Wears Prada 2, also announced as part of that cast is TONY Nominee for 2025 in Oh! Mary,Conrad Ricamora.
Traci Thoms is returning as well, and if “Lily’ doesn’t walk in swinging that now vintage Marc Jacobs blue tote…well, heads will roll.
Congrats to them.
Francis Jue, who won for Best Supporting Actor in a Play for his role in Yellow Face written by David Henry Hwang, a show that is already closed, will next appear in TARTUFFE, as Cleante, which is a new version by playwright Lucas Hnath.
It will be at NYTW and that is Off-Broadway, his co-stars include Matthew Broderick, David Cross, Emily Davis, Bianca del Rio, Amber Gray, Ryan Haddad, Lisa Kron and Ufomadu. It will be directed by Obie winner, Sara Benson.
In fact, reflecting on Mr. Jue, who has now that gleaming TONY Award, that even in this moment ‘at the top’, his next announced project is placing him where he ‘lives’ – doing interesting work Off Broadway.
He has had a 35 year career as an actor. Mr. Jue is a ‘playwright’s actor’ – meaning an actor playwrights like to work with, one that brings to life new works in a way that defines them ever afterward. He has worked for playwrights like David Henry Hwang, Lauren Yee, Hansol Jung,Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Kevin So, William Shakespeare, and on and on.
He has ‘changed the stage’ for anyone who seen his work. He is Francis Jue, he was always working. He has a list of awards and nominations as long as your arm – in fact, there is no more honored modern day Actor of Asian heritage than Francis Jue.
The reason that the audience cheered so loudly at the Tonys were because Francis Jue embodies what it is to be an actor. He is a journeyman – ever moving forward, wandering new vistas, exploring new roles. He has done dramas, comedy, television, film, Broadway plays AND Broadway musicals.
He came to the profession in college, and has moved organically through the world – not relying on connections or who his parents were to build his career. He built his career on his body of work. He is a true gentleman of the theater, combining performing with service to Actors Equity Association on occasion – he lives, eats, and breathes theater, and it was lovely that theater recognized it.
That is why everyone cheered.
Now they need to give him another TONY Award worthy role on Broadway. It would be amazing if Cambodian Rock Band came to Broadway…just sayin….cough cough
Congratulations Mr. Jue!
TFP knows that Alvin Ing is cheering for you along with the rest of us.
(Knowing Alvin, he was probably annoyed it took this long, which is why TFP picked this cat meme.)
You can STILL seen AANHPI representation on the stages in New York!
TFP will list a few below:
This is not meant to be depressing, Folks – if you live in NYC, or even if you do not, you can see TWELFTH NIGHT with Sandra Oh – PBS is going to be making the production available to everyone on November 14th at 9 p.m.
If you live in New York, you can go to the newly renovated Delcourte Theater in Central Park from August 7 to September 14, 2025 and line up to see if you can get the free tickets to that evening’s performance.
The cast is as follows: Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler-Fergusan, Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, Daphne Rubin Vega, Junior Nyong’o, Khris Davis, John Ellison Conlee, Ariyan Kassam, Valentino Musumeci, Moses Sumney, Kapil Talkwalker, Joe Tapper, Dario Alvarez, Jaina Rose Jallow, Precious Omigie, Chinna Palmer, Nathan M. Ramsey, Jasmine Sharma, Julian Tushabe, Adrian Villegas, Ada Westfall, and Mia Wurgaft.
You can go to the immersive re-imagined Phantom of the Opera, called MASQUERADE at 218 W.57th Street and see Anna Zavelson, Telly Leung, Raymond J. Lee, Riley Noland, Francesca Mehrotra, and Satomi Hoffman. This cast includes former Phantoms and Christines from the Broadway production run, and is all enclosed in a 5 story renovated building – redone to resemble the Paris Opera House.
Cocktail dress and masquerade mask are required, while there will be complimentary mask available as well as available to purchase. It is a 21 and over ‘event’, but guests 16 and up will be allowed to attend during special performances during previews. They ask that high heels not be worn, as part of the experience is the Paris Catacombs under the Opera house.
You will be planted right into the plot of the show and Diane Paulus (Waitress, 1776, Porgy and Bess, Pippin, Jagged Little Pill) is directing. Ms. Paulus is of Japanese and American descent. She directed it! The whole thing!
Quite a lot of representation of all kinds in that cast – so, likely it is time for theater to give it up to the female directors, who have been KILLING it for the past twenty years with very little recognition.
TFP is talking Leigh Siverman, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Whitney White, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Tina Landau, Rachel Chavkin, Lucy Moss, Sammi Cannold, May Andrales, Marianne Elliot and many more
You can see Keanu Reeves – on Broadway! In Waiting for Godot!
Opening September 28th at The Hudson Theater.
Previews begin Sept 13 and they have a hard out on January 4, 2026.
Currently he is ‘our’ only lead on the Bway, so …go and see him if you can afford the tickets.
TFP just checked and they go from about $480-$900.
All the representation- none of the discounts.
Welp, we shall see if AANHPIs buy those tix…but TFP is not optimistic.
You could ALSO go see Alec Mapa – who actually was in the Original Broadway Company with Francis Jue of M. Butterfly – perform his upcoming comedy special on Sunday July 27th at 7 pm. The show will be at The Cutting Room, 44 E32nd Street, NYC NY 10016 and tickets are available here.
You can also go seeJOY! The musical Off Broadway and check out Jaygee Macapugay, last seen in the cast of SUFFS on Broadway – which will be running until August 17, 2025.
She plays Joy’s Father’s new Girlfriend, Lorraine – as Joy invents the Miracle Mop.
Finally, If you have some extra cash but no time to attend right now, you could also throw some money towards actor David Lee Huynh, who is workshopping a play – https://givebutter.com/2eWUM3
Ok that is it, and TFP is outta here, enjoy your summer and your last days of Democracy while we watch all our rights be taken away by a House and Congress and SCOTUS who delight in cruelty and enabling a sociopath.
The Fairy Princess is pleased to announce that she will be a Keynote Speaker at the LA Stage Alliance’s Stage Day Conference on May 18, 2013!
Wait, I have to do a speech? Awww nuts….
This is SO exciting! I mean, we will get to shoot the breeze and talk about all those silly kerfuffles that happened with Asian American representation in Theater over the last year, and oh MY will we laugh because it was all so….
Sorry, wait a minute – what’s that you have there?
Ah yes, Drama Desk nominations – so exciting, The Fairy Princess knows so many on this list, let’s take a look:
Billy Porter for KINKY BOOTS – well, naturally – he is amazing in that show. Christiane Noll for CHAPLIN – she’s so talented, remember her turn in RAGTIME as Mother? Oh, I loved it so much…
The Cast of WORKING is getting recognized! Nice!
Oh look, HERE LIES LOVE which is now at The Public is getting quite a few nods – Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Director of a Musical, Outstanding Lighting Design, Outstanding Lyrics and Outstanding Music – oh they must be so pleased!
Yeah, they look pretty happy
Ok, going down the list and going down the list and….ummmm – hold please….let me look at this list for Best Featured Actor and Actress in a Musical….oh dear.
The Roundabout Theater agreed to a close door meeting to discuss this…this…the…’Brownface’ and the faux Bollywood accents and the…I feel like I am Foghorn Leghorn and all the Award Committees are trying to prove they are chicken hawks!
Lemme get this straight Drama Desk Awards – in a musical about Asians, played by Asian Americans, there are no Individual Nominations (And btw, that is totally fine and happens a lot and it is not the reason for the following outburst).
But the people wearing heavy makeup and using crazy Bollywood gestures have Nominations for Best Featured Actorand Actress in A Musical!
For being directed to inhabit their roles with what the The New York Times said was “…silly imitation exoticism …in absurd burnt-umber makeup”
(The Fairy Princess wants to be quite clear, that no Actor or Actress takes the stage and gives any sort of performance in a Broadway revival without direction, so she is fairly certain that the choices made to portray Neville and Helena Landless were not from the Actors. This is not about the talent or a personal attack on these particular actors)
(Obviously the Actors do not go around their daily lives striking these kinds of poses – that would be RIDICULOUS)
Those two have the nominations, not these two…
Mr & Mrs. Ferdinand Marcos as played by Jose Llana & Ruthie Ann Miles
Again, so we are clear…these two
Hmm, -Rather unfortunate photo
And NOT any of the people pictured here
HERE LIES LOVE…and Asian Americans…er…Asian American Love
The Fairy Princess has a question for the Drama Desk Nominating Committee – If you nominate Caucasians made up to resemble what is a stereotype of an Asian person, isn’t that, well…endorsing the use of stuff like….oh, I don’t know….
THIS?
Or, well….
THIS?
Oh Drama Desk Committee, you have many, many things to worry about, so I will give you the answer…it’s not B.
THE ANSWER IS YES!
Because you see, the makeup is only a few kick ball changes away from..(.and I so hesitate to use this photo because, well, it’s AWFUL), but you see, by endorsing those kinds of performances with such a distinguished award, oh Drama Desk Nominating Committee, you are only a few shades away from endorsing…uh…THIS
Yeah, remember when people thought THIS was ok? (TOTALLY NOT OK!)
Aha! THIS is the part where everyone is going to get mad, and argue that using Brownface or Yellowface is fairly standard in our industry – alive and well since the 1800’s, and that Caucasians wearing exaggerated makeup to resemble Asians is, in no way, comparable to Minstrel performances that characterized and dehumanized African Americans shamefully in this country.
Because… let’s face it – everyone did The Mikado in High School, and they LOVED wearing the Yellowface, they thought it was fun! They did not, and do not think absurd shuffling, and forgetting consonants and wearing eyeliner from the corner of their eye till it nearly touches their ear was bad! They had a good time!…. And then they went and lost their virginity at the Cast Party afterwards – and yeah, they were probably still wearing the makeup because…’that’s hot’.
Cuz to us….
Cindy Cheung & Christine Toy Johnson at La Jolla’s talkback…they look pissed, huh?
Yellowface or Brownface is the SAME as Blackface.
It really, really is.
Because what it says is – and think about this just a bit before everyone flies off the handle and starts bashing me on Broadwayworld.com – (and yes, I have seen the posts – nice grammar, Crackpots) – when you erase Asian faces from roles where they are possible, have them played in heavy makeup by Caucasians whose very portrayals mock their heritage, and then endorse those portrayals with an AWARD, it tells us one thing – loud and clear.
It tells us we don’t count.
And here’s the thing…if there is one thing we are known for, it’s being able to count.
It says “We are so used to not seeing you, that when we do see you, well…you are not as we had imagined, so we’d rather just forget the you that is you, and you know…make it up.”
Etcetera, Etcetera, Etectera….
I mean, if you can see this from space….
FROM SPACE
But when you go to the theater where there is a South Asian character and you don’t see this…
You see this…
Something is rotten, and we are nowhere near Denmark.
What are ‘we’ supposed to think? What would YOU think?
The Fairy Princess is NOT calling The Drama Desk Awards racist, because that would be absurd!
There have been many past winners of the Drama Desk Awards who are, in fact, Asian American – Francis Jue for David Henry Hwang’s YELLOWFACE
(In context, a title disturbingly appropriate.)
Deborah S. Craig won for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for her breakthrough performance as Marcy Park.
So it is NOT that The Drama Desk Awards are racist – and let’s stop throwing that word around like a frisbee – it is that…it is that they are so used to seeing Caucasians play Asian, that it didn’t mean a damn thing to them. And that is the saddest part of all.
Theater is supposed to break the stereotypes, not endorse them.
It’s supposed to lift you up, and by ‘you’, I mean everyone.
The Drama Desk Awards DO have 3 Nominations this year for Asian Americans –
Joel de la Fuente: OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE – Hold These Truths
Jane Wang – OUTSTANDING MUSIC IN A PLAY – Strange Tales of Liaozhai
Eugene Ma – OUTSTANDING MUSIC IN A PLAY – The Man who Laughs
The Fairy Princess wishes them well. She actually wishes everyone well – but truthfully what would be great is if the cast of HERE LIES LOVE sits right in front, so no matter WHO wins, they are seen.
We. Are. Seen.
And, scene.
Finally, for all the people who comment, who are sooooo threatened by the ability to see something a different way, I just ask you – why do you like theater? Do you like it because you learn something when you go? Do you like it because it can make the world brighter? Or, do you just like calling me a bitch?
Because the reason I write this is not because I ‘like’ theater, it is because I love theater. I have devoted my life to it. I just want it to be better, for everyone. I want people of all races to be able to GO to the theater and see themselves.
Seeing yourself is powerful. Seeing yourself is empowering. Seeing yourself is halfway to becoming the person you want to be.
I had a friend who is unfortunately gone now, and what he always used to say is “If they knew better, they would do better” – and this blog is to point out that sometimes people do not know, and I just try to explain to them that they need to do better. So simple. I just say it…well….
In a really snarky way.
Because…that’s me.
Anyway, this is a thrilling awards season, and I wish all the Nominees of everything well, besides….
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