Archives for posts with tag: Ramin Karimloo

Calling it – 2024 will be the most “Asian” season on Broadway without a show set in an Asian country! BRING THE ACTION!

January 17, 2024 //

The Fairy Princess got the news yesterday that The Great Gatsby is going to Broadway from Papermill Playhouse, and they are taking the lead players – Eva Noblezada (Miss Saigon, Hadestown) and Jeremy Jordan, with them.

This means that Broadway, for the first time ever in a season – without musicals set in Asia – will have an unprecedented, NINE possibly TEN new Asian heritaged PRINCIPAL roles in shows that are not revolving around the performer’s background. Shows opening in the 2024 season, we love the shows that have been holding up the sky for a while now, so TFP will list a few, but she is talking this year, 2024, Year of the Dragon.

We currently have Michael Maliakel and Sonya Balsara holding it down in Aladdin, for the ‘long running shows’ as well as Ruthie Ann Miles in Sweeney Todd. Lola Tung coming in to Hadestown as Eurydice on Feb 9 opposite Lilias White as Hermes and Jordan Fisher as Orpheus for a limited run. Chicago recently added Lili Thomas as Mama Morton and Red Concepción as Amos – so even long running shows can be inclusive. And….revivals – with Vishal Vaidya holding it down in Merrily We Roll Along.

In Hamilton, Stephanie Jae Park is Eliza, Marc Delacruz is the standby for several of the lead male roles, which he most recently was lauded in various publications for switching roles mid show. Jen Sese is there as standby for all the Schuyler sisters, and Eddy Lee and Preston Mui, round out the Ensemble.

Yes, you can go to a Broadway show and see people that you can find parts of yourself in – not carbon copies, but parts of yourself.

Add to that the wins for BEEF – EMMYS for the leading players Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, the Golden Globe nomination for Greta Lee for her performance in the feature Past Lives, this year is shaping up to be the BEST EVER!! Shout out to Sandra Oh and Akwafina for the win for Quiz Lady from the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Movie Made for TV? The inclusion of the film, The Queen of my Dreams at the Toronto International Film Festival, starring Ayana Manji as the young version of Azra, one of the main characters?

What is happening world?

TFP is thinking that both Casting and Agents need to wrap their heads around who to call in, and who is on the roster, and if you do not have AAPIs on your rosters – CAA, WMA, AAA, and others – best get to stepping. We are stepping in it.

Let’s begin with the announcements as they have come down the pike:

Eva Noblezada – The Great Gatsby as socialite Daisy Buchanan. With two Tony nominations under her belt for past performances in Hadestown and Miss Saigon, Eva has wasted no time in getting back on the boards, and this is a great thing.

(Shout out here to the musical film CHICAGO, which featured Lucy Liu also as a socialite in this era)

Ruthie Ann Miles – Currently in Sweeney Todd as the Beggar Woman, waiting for a theater to be confirmed – once it is, she will star alongside the remarkable Anna Zavelson as her daughter. TFP is including them in the tally, as there is more than a good chance the theater is on the verge of being announced.

Daniel Dae Kim – as DHH in Yellowface at The Roundabout – a play that deals with racial ambiguity and the need to attach to an idea, simply because one is seeking ‘representation’ so strongly. The rest of the cast has not been announced yet, however, TFP has seen this show done before, and usually the rest of the cast is within the AAPI spectrum with some exceptions.

Ramin Karimloo – this Persian ( aka Iranian aka Western Asian) Canadian has long been a Broadway and West End staple performer, (CHESS, Funny Girl, Anastasia, Les Miserables, This next one TFP is super excited for, as it is her FAVORITE Gilbert & Sullivan piece –The Pirates of Penzance, also at The Roundabout. David Hyde-Pierce is announced as Pirate King, so TFP is guessing Mr. Karimloo is the wandering Virgin apprenticed to a Pirate, Frederick.

(Update- Mr. K is the Pirate King and DHP is the Modern Major General- although the above is what the press announcement was.)

Jaygee Macapuguay – will play the role of Mollie Hay in the new musical by Shaina Taub, SUFFS, which also has in it Nadia Dandashi as Doris Stevens, Kim Blanck is playing Ruza Wenclawska and Christine Heesun Hwang in the ensemble.

Special note must be made because there are three principals of Asian heritage in a new show, and it would be unfair to highlight one over the other – but let TFP say, there are theater actors that time and time again have shown audiences what they are made of, and to see them make the leap to Principal contract is super special. She has known and admired them for years, so…

TFP is going to say a hearty congratulations to THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL, which just announced it’s opening and is kind of taking the mantle from Sweeney Todd & Hamilton has worn proudly of ‘most Asians in a show not about being Asian’, and here they are:

This last potential show – not confirmed yet, but COME FALL IN LOVE, the DDJ musical, which is directed by Aditya Chopra, book and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and choreo by Rob Marshall, with Assoc Choreographer Shruti Merchant – would be a huge win for South Asian representation on Broadway, and Asians in general would be ‘slayed the house down’ if that came to pass in 2024.

IF that is true – no word on a theater yet – however TFP is still calling it –

2024 will be THE MOST ASIAN YEAR ON BROADWAY – and coincidentally – YEAR OF THE DRAGON!

So breathe some fire, set off some fireworks and clean your house, Broadway – the AAPIs are coming, and coming in HOT!

TFP out.

She excited, but she out – for now, and only for now. (If you get it, you get it)

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Categories Diversity

DDK on the Old Broadway – DHH and The Roundabout brings YELLOW FACE (the play) to the Great White Way

January 9, 2024 //

TFP already wrote today…however, this is big and it goes along with some great strides being made in theater by AAPI performers, however it is equally met in the behind the scenes representation.

Daniel Dae Kim, who was last seen on Broadway in The King & I in 2016, will lead the production of YELLOWFACE written by Broadway’s only Asian American Tony Award winning Playwright – David Henry Hwang, who has returned from opera land and tv land to brave a post Covid Broadway. This was just announced for The Roundabout’s 2024-25 season.

Directed by DHH’s longtime collaborator, Leigh Silverman, this play, which is semi-autobiographical, deals with mounting a play and assuming that an actor is Mixed Race, and therefore is cast AS Asian American. TFP finds this fascinating because she remembers (everytime she says that to herself, she says it in a Game of Thrones “The North Remembers” kind of way) DHH’s play, Face Value. Anyway, being of mixed heritage herself and being told she ‘counted or did not count as Asian” depending on who was serving judgement, she has always been exhausted yet fascinated by this play.

DDK who has been heavily involved in producing for television over the last few years, began as an Actor – he holds an MFA from NYU, and TFP still recalls how powerful a presence he was in The Tempest at East West Players in Los Angeles. He is a very commanding stage actor, and she is really glad he is going to come back and trod the boards.

Likewise The Roundabout is also mounting TFP‘s FAVORITE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIECE, The Pirates of Penzance, starring the Canadian born, Tony Nominee, Ramin Karimloo, who is of Western Asian Heritage, as The Pirate King. Most recently Mr. Karimloo was seen in the Broadway revival of FUNNY GIRL, but he has played The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera all over the world, likewise all the weighty male roles in Les Miserables.

This is fantastic news, because both these men are leads in their respective shows and it seems that this in some way, far too late, is The Roundabout‘s round a bout acknowledgement of using Brownface makeup on actors during their production of THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD – which, was fairly egregious.

(Do not come at TFP for this, it was a giant ass mistake and yes, she knows it is a show within a show and so on – does not mean that browning up white performers to play people from Ceylon is acceptable. It was not then, it is not now.) (Also Ceylon is now Sri Lanka)

This was TONY winner Jessie Mueller and TONY Nominee Andy Karl at the Opening Night Party, here they are in the production:

Ahem.

To the point of ‘if they knew better, they would do better’, the NYGASP Production of THE MIKADO is once again up and running. Many years ago, one may remember that TFP’s coverage on the offensiveness of the production that they ran was the subject of a blog post after TFP had gone to see the production.

This led to all kinds of things – people were angry. Although they did a very interesting thing – they invited TFP to come speak on a panel about The Mikado to their subscribers. (If you saw the reaction to Jo Koy at The Golden Globes, it was a bit like that when TFP began speaking) At the end of the panel, it was announced that NYGASP was going to take a season and think about their production and try and amend it. TFP was invited to return when they ‘fixed’ it.

Honestly, TFP was shocked – but they DID fix it. They hired Broadway’s Kelvin Moon Loh to come in and help them imagine better. Kelvin is not just an insanely talented Broadway performer, he is a writer who has sold shows for development.

They added a scene that begins before the operetta, to explain how Gilbert imagined the production – and this was based on testimony from Gilbert himself as to how he imagined it. Then, they did outreach and expanded their company to include AAPI performers. AAPI performers who were not to be hired just for THE MIKADO, those who could join the rep company and add to what was happening there.

It is now, a very enjoyable MIKADO – which is almost impossible to say in the rest of the country – and therefore TFP presents you the ticket link, so that you may see for yourselves – it only runs till Jan 14th, but you have a whole three days to arrange your weekend, so get to stepping.

Also coming this week to Off Broadway, is the Jason Robert Brown piece, The Connector.

It’s new, and as far as TFP knows, is NOT about Jill Zarin.

It does however, have in it’s cast Sweeney Todd‘s Joanna Carpenter and Ann Sanders, most recently of Music Man and Dear Evan Hansen.

Which is exciting, and TFP has her tickets to a matinee, so she will get to see them and so many more folks that she knows and loves.

Just a reminder that it was stated by Ruthie Ann Miles that the reimagining of LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA directed by Chay Yew is looking for a theater. So we could wind up, New Yorkers, with a Broadway Season with multiple Asian heritaged men and women, as LEADS in Musicals AND PLAYS on Broadway.

TFP DOES NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH HERSELF!

It is really, some days, a joy to write this blog.

TFP out.

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Categories Diversity

The base of the Tony is….?

May 4, 2014 //
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The Fairy Princess and most of Broadway is still reeling from the announcements of our highest theatrical honor – The Antoinette Perry Awards.

This week were the TONY Award Nominations, which were both thrilling, and devastating to the Broadway Theatrical Community. Shows close as a consequence of the nominations, and the first casualty was Jason Robert Brown & Marsha Mason’s The Bridges of Madison County. You can catch it till May 18th. Also, it is going on tour, and there has been a Cast recording, so if you miss it on Broadway, you may be able to catch it soon near you.

While The Fairy Princess is but a casual observer of the TONY Nominations this season, not quite in a tree, but…

– oh, Theatrical Producers if you want me to shut up all you have to do is employ me to do 8 shows a week, because one doubts that The Fairy Princess would be able to hold down that schedule, raise a toddler, and blog –

but till then, she could not help but notice that in a Season with no Asian Americans nominated in the Performance Category (and yes, there were people around to be nominated in the Cast of Aladdin), the TONY Committee had Film and Television Star, Ms. Lucy Liu announce the awards with James Franco.

James Franco, TONY Host Hugh Jackman, and Lucy Liu

James Franco, TONY Host Hugh Jackman, and Lucy Liu

I suppose that is supposed to give The Tony Awards a bit of Diversity?

Or because May is Asian American month?

It seems a weird misfire – after all, no better way to point out that there are no Asian Americans in leading roles to nominate than to have an actual Asian American announce said nominations?

Perhaps it means that Ms. Liu is considering a stage role? One can only hope.

The Fairy Princess did not miss the irony of this, and she is sure she is not alone.

There was one API nominated for Best Costume Design of a Musical, Linda Cho for A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder. Congratulations! I saw it, and the Costumes were fantastic. So was everything else. That show has 10 TONY nominations, and deserves every single one and could have actually had a few more in my opinion.

There was one Performance Nominee who is Asian, but not from America.  Mr. Ramin Karimloo, who is Canadian and of Iranian aka Persian descent, and yes, that is considered Asian. He is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role in a Musical for his Jean ValJean in Les Miserables.

Congratulations Mr. Karimloo!

Ramin Karimloo, TONY Nominee from the Revival of Les Miserables

Ramin Karimloo, TONY Nominee from the Revival of Les Miserables

What IS it about Canada that their Asian heritaged Actors do so well?

Canada also has this lady:

Canadian Actress, Sandra Oh, who created one of the fiercest television Doctors the world has seen, Dr. Christina Yang

Canadian Actress, Sandra Oh, who created one of the fiercest television Doctors the world has seen, Dr. Christina Yang

Sandra Oh – dealing another deathblow to Asian representation on American television, by departing Grey’s Anatomy after 10 excellent seasons. The Fairy Princess tips her tiara to Ms. Oh and hopes her journey will take her next, perhaps, to Broadway?

One can dream.

Maybe I should move?

But back to the main point, which is that the Tonys were announced, and people are puzzled with how some of the ‘nods’ came down. I supposed ‘egregiously overlooked‘ is not just for Julie Andrews anymore….

 

Seems as if the nominations this year are a bit xenophobic this year, a bit anti-Hollywood, and a bit…frustrating. How do you not use all five slots in your BEST MUSICAL category when there are a plethora of musicals this season? The Fairy Princess could go on and on, but we all have to Sondheim it.

 

 

The hard part about these nominations is that they have direct influence on whether or not shows stay open, whether or not several hundred people stay employed, and whether or not new ‘stars’ are made.

However, I’m going to go a bit Anne of Green Gables here, it is not my usual M.O., but here it is:

If you are in a Broadway show, making a living, having 8 opportunities per week to perform the craft you love so well, then you have already won – regardless of what any Nomination is given or not given.

As Patti LuPone once said, when cheering up Ken Page for not receiving a nomination for his role as Old Deuteronomy in CATS – “The Base of the TONY is plastic, let’s go have lunch!”

The way to keep shows open – with or without nominations is simple – you ‘vote’ with your dollars. You buy a ticket.

If you have a favorite play or musical this season – go see it again. If you have a favorite Actor or Actress, make sure you catch them in their show. This is one of the strongest seasons in a really long time – get out and go see something you will enjoy, go out and see something that will challenge you, go out and see….something.

Because although the TONY base is plastic, the People of Broadway are not – and they need you, the audience, more than anything else. A show can survive without nominations, it cannot survive without audiences.

Congrats to all the Nominees – may the odds be ever in your favor.

And for those who have been ‘egregiously overlooked’ – let’s remember:

“Time heals everything” – Jerry Herman.

 

PS:

It is kind of giving me the giggles to think how much Hugh Jackman is probably sweating it trying to come up with something to beat this opening last year:

 

Go Hugh, Go!

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Categories Diversity