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 was going about her day here in the dystopian hellscape that is the American theater/country and as she does, she often wonders “What fresh hell will be unleashed today?” As always, the news pudits prove her right at some point during the day.
Though she is encouraged by the election of Pope Leo XIV, an American from the Southside of Chicago. A dual citizen of Peru and the USA, shethinks he has the cajones to take on the current administration – he has degrees in mathematics from Villanova and in canon law, bravi tutti– Go Pope Leo! (please don’t make her shake her head in rage at you at any point with warped views on LGBTQIA+ or women. Ahem, she means, Amen) She should also point out, he was elected by the most diverse conclave, ever – and apparently this is what the world wants, let America – poor old battered Lady Liberty – catch the lifeline the church is attempting to throw at them – because this ‘first hundred days’ feels like a thousand.
Besides the cancelling of the National Endowment of the Arts, and Elmo, and all the other ways in which people who speak their minds who also happen to be artists are being threatened financially in a blanket mass defunding, the takeover of The Kennedy Center is one of the most egregious and early thrusts of the GOP sword into people who have the ability to think for themselves. The country watched in horror as beloved artists and shows that are guaranteed to make money for TKC either withdrew or were cancelled.
We, and by ‘we’, TFP means America, were told that there would be somewhat of a Make Musicals Great Again movement, and only what the Administration deemed ‘wholesome’ and ‘reflecting family values’ would be shown there.
You know what is most egregious about the cancellation of Finn? The Kennedy Center commissioned it in 2023.
TFP joked with her friends that musicals would be re-written and she tossed around titles like, “Annie get your AK-47”, “Oklahomophbic”, “Kool-AidJuice”, “Toupeè”, “Underage Girls”, “Hands on a Trans Body” or “JD Vance, Tiny Red Dwarf Star” – you get her meaning. (Have fun with those).
We saw ‘theater people’ of all kinds – even in the military, ‘protest’ this administration and sing from Les Miserablés, and the world applauded and wondered when people were actually going to do something. Like, when – the world asks – are Americans going to re-claim democracy from kleptocracy? When are elected officials on both sides going to rise up (sing that Hamilton clip here please)? When do seated elected officials relinquish their ‘proximity to power’ in favor of common human decency?
When, oh when, do the members of Congress and the Senate universally acknowledge that letting a businessman known for his lack of concern for his employees, the safety of his customers, and his blatant amorality was a grift of the highest order?
The American public knew prior to the ‘salute’, but it seems like some still choose to stick their heads in the sand. They let it continue – so now the man who lets people burn to death in cars is out to steal Senior’s Social Security to pay for billionaire’s sending their friends to space.
When is the revolution?
We may have to wait a while.
Particularly when it comes to places that Artists have effectively ‘lost’, like, The Kennedy Center.
The first evening was to be a gala fundraiser for The Kennedy Center. The performers were given the option to NOT sing that evening for the fundraiser as the POTUS will attend. In response to the news that 10-12 cast members have chosen not to perform on June 11th, newly appointed Director of the Kennedy Center Richard Grenfell released this statement:
“Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won’t be welcomed. In fact, we think it would be important to ‘out’ those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn’t hire – and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience. The Kennedy Center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other and never ask who someone voted for, but instead enjoys a performance together.”
Which, is a threat.
It is also important to note that threatening people who sing and dance for a living has to put one on the fast pass to the Hadestown that is NOT the musical, but TFP digresses. Please go ride your patriarchy pony elsewhere, Sir, we want none of that nonsense in the theater, thank you!
It is important to note that giving the option to not perform for that particular fundraiser would have been a decision made by the producers of that show.
Actors took the option. They did not release a statement, they did not infringe on the ability to sell tickets – they simply opted out. They took the offer presented – even though they do not then get paid for that show. They took a financial, personal ‘hit’, because they just could not – and it is completely within their rights to do so.
Given that the current administration is openly hostile to LGBTQIA+ and women, it is not a surprise to anyone that some artists would choose not to perform for those patrons who enable hate. Those patrons coming on ‘overpriced fundraiser day’ to demonstrate their fealty to the giant orange have actively tried to hurt people in this country. This very exclusive crowd with their votes and with their funding – they paid for all the things to be put in place that we see across this nation – defunding veterans benefits, taking history out of school, trying to close libraries and eliminating health care in rural areas, refusing to pay for feeding children at schools….this audience is made up of people who wanted that to happen.
How do you sing about revolution for over two hours for a smug crowd who laughs and delights at cruelty? Who revel in the news that American citizens have been deported and terrorized to foreign countries? That people who do not appear Caucasian are regularly attacked on the streets for no reason other than they are not Caucasian?
Look at the words of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” –
How could you bring yourself to sing to an audience about standing up to tyranny when they are extreme bigots with endless financial power who will pay for the active subjugation of the American public?
It is ONE performance for an audience full of Marjorie Taylor Greenes.
A regular audience is always a mixed bag – no performer goes out on stage and says “Well, I am only singing for Democrats and Independents” – That is not how ‘this’ works. Ever. NO performer does that.
But a fundraiser? Where ticket prices are $2 MILLION dollars and you get a photo with POTUS?
People who will pay $2 Million dollars to sit through a musical they do not understand just to get a photo with the Orange?
So the company members who were OFFERED a chance to skip the show, chose to take the option….
…and they are now being threatened with career termination.
Some Producers that are on and about ‘The Broadway’ are not liberal and left leaning.
This ‘threat’ could be quite crippling to those performers, and yes, there could be retaliation. As we have seen amplified in this Administration, if you have money, you can do anything to anyone without consequences. Singers who do do musicals set in 1815-1832 in France, kind of a nichè career, so yes, they could absolutely be in a tight bind when this tour ends.
In the name of Sondheim – if we are having a McCarthy era redux, TFP feels that we should have had more of a warning.
(Oh wait, we DID, they published their project, but no one thought it mattered. Now they are hauling off elected officials in New Jersey who are out and about performing their duties, literally hauling them off.)
As much as the current Administration bullies and attempts to bend the laws to benefit their pocketbooks, there will always be those whose moral compass will not allow them internal peace if they go along with what they have been ordered to do.
There are people who will say no.
It is the people who will say no, who will save this country.
They are singing every night for the French values of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, – which mean, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity – and you expect them to ‘shut up and sing’ for that fundraising audience? That particular one?
Performers are more than Broadway tune singing bots. They are individuals with agency. They get to choose who they sing for – their talent is not guaranteed for the price of a ticket. No one can ‘make’ anyone sing who chooses not to – and their Producers are smart to offer an alternative – not that TFP thinks anyone would sink the show on purpose – that is just not in performer DNA.
All that is guaranteed by a ticket is a show – and the show will go on regardless.
It is called “understudies’ and ‘covers’, and the show will go on.
The Administration wanted their ‘show ponies’ – they may not get them. That cast is chock full of amazing talent – a show will be performed nontheless. They bought a ticket to Les Miserablès – and that show will be seen.
As to the Individuals who will not be onstage that night – TFP salutes you.
To be publicly threatened and still stand up is a courage TFP wishes on members of Congress and the Senate, who KNOW that what is happening in our country is wrong, and who still sit, enabling it.
Never forget, that for as many conservative Producers who will take directives from a Government, there are just as many if not more, who will not. You will work again after this tour, TFP is sure that someone in Chicago knows how to get the new guy on speed dial.
It will be ok. For a while it might not be. However, the attention spans are short, something else will distract them, and all will go on, just like Cèline Dion sang.
The Fairy Princess has not been outrageously angry in a while. In fact, you may have noticed that her posts have been generally uplifting because…post pandemic times.
However, she is now ready to tackle the last bastion of #EgregiousYellowface, yes, beyond The Mikado within the New York area – a problem NYGASP solved quite nicely a few years ago…Kids, we have to talk about THE MET.
No one at THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE has seemingly got the memo that their productions of Madama Butterfly and Turandot are outdated and hackney. Yes, TFP said that. Outdated AF.
TFP has mentioned, throughout the years, that this is an actual problem – and while she skewered The Welsh Opera so badly she wound up in an actual book, and the The Royal Opera so deftly they have removed blackface makeup from their programme – something The Met has followed suit on, the white folks in charge continue to cling to the outdated notion that Caucasians in glaring yellow face paint are acceptable as long as they sing beautifully.
It is not acceptable in this, our Year of the Wooden Dragon 2024, in the city of New York, where the culture of THE WORLD looks to to find forward thinkers, to willingly place on the stage, year after year – yellow face makeup intended to disguise non Asians as Asians simply because they want the elaborate chinoiserie of the existing set – money is tight, we get it – keep the set, change the makeup.
You need the big voices for this opera?
TFP gets it – she was a voice major – ok – stop painting the singers.
Do you smell what the Princess is cooking?
Keep the set – lose the makeup.
Here is the basic plot of Turandot – and as opera plots go, it is typical.
Set in Peking – which is an ACTUAL place in China.
Not at all mythic, Met Opera Website – and that is what gets TFP‘s goat most of all.
China is a real and actual place. Peking was a real and actual city. A city, by the way, yes famous for it’s duck and also a city that TFP has visited. Nowhere within the city of Peking – then or now – were people wandering around in yellowface makeup. In fact, the City of Peking is now Beijing, and here is a map of Beijing, a real and actual place. Beijing is the captial of the People’s Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world – but it is a city.
It has always been a city.
If you are wondering if yellowface is just makeup – well no it is not.
Yellowface is the base color of a lot of the makeup and the masks worn in The Met’s production – but yellowface is ALSO obsequious gestures, it is ALSO mincing ‘asian-esque’ ways of walking, or raising a sword, or excessive bowing. To put it bluntly, Yellowface is the way that White Creatives not so subtley place the word “other’ upon Asian features as images of ridicule and derision and includes behavior AND makeup.
So here is the story aka ‘the libretto’ – and btw, TFP has her Certification in Opera Direction from Ithaca College – a relatively new program – precisely because she wants to direct Opera so that she can make opera enjoyable for ALL. She also holds a degree from CMU in Classical Voice – so please, spare her the diatribe that she does not know what she is talking about. Woe is you. Yes, she knows it was not ever supposed to be about Asians specifically, because it was supposed to be about Italians – so then – MAKE IT ITALIAN!
It is precisely because she does know what she is talking about that makes her so angry. It is because so much care has been taken by The Met to ‘Explain away the racism’ that it makes her blood literally boil – because she wants so badly for them to do better.
For heaven’s sake, they are premiering an opera with a libretto by David Henry Hwang – so how do do you do that? While also in the same season do this?
Caucasian features are not the only ones entitled to enjoy fantastic, world class singing. Everyone should be able to attend the opera with a ticket and enjoy all the things that opera is – the outrageous stories, the gloried voices, the orchestra, the ballets woven in the middle – without feeling like someone was told to make fun of them.
There is no other way to way to say it – the current production of TURANDOT at The Met is employing yellowface, which mocks Asians. Specifically the Chinese, but pretty much any Asian person who attends or who plays in the orchestra is going to have some feelings about what is being presented on the stage. Which is how we know that eventually, this Opera will be banned, which will be a shame. If one cannot change and adapt, a species goes into extinction – because it has outlived it’s usefulness – and that is the frank and utter danger that classical music is nearing towards.
Who is driving this trend? White creatives and Opera Board members that say that ‘that was the way it was written’ in order to perpetuate racism. They have been saying this at The Met, in this way, since 1926 if anyone is keeping score. They would rather invest in their website than in finding talent that would elevate the production in terms of this issue. Or just hey – if it is ‘all about the voices and the music’, don’t use the wigs, makeup, masks, and costumes. Make it all about the music. Do it in concert.
If you cannot – it is not about the music at all.
Think about it.
Also – the singers who do not object to the makeup – you are at fault as well. #SorryNotSorry
Also the makeup artists working there, this is on you all as well.
TFP knows she will ruffle feathers with this post – as it is a Puccinni opera she assumes it will be peacock feathers imported for their exotic-ness. Because of course it will.
Also can TFP just say, Turandot is a Persian word meaning “The daughter of Turan” – Turan used to be a region of Central Asia, which was part of the Persian Empire so ALREADY, this is going to be bad, because a Chinese freaking Princess cannot GET an Chinese freaking name! Which is, in part, why when it was performed in Beijing in 1995 the location of the opera was changed to Central Asia.
In case you are missing the point – you do not set a show in an actual Chinese city and then name the main character a non Chinese name – it does not make sense – it so far from making sense, you might as well give her a Babylonian name…oh wait, that’s another one, anyway, Turandot has the wrong name.
There has never been any authenticity about Turandot at all. Not at all – so why hold on to these tropes?
Back to the story of the opera – There is a Princess, Princess Turandot. Anyone wishing to marry her will have to answer three riddles – if you get any wrong, DEATH TO YOU, oh suitor! Most recently, the Prince of Persia (oh see we have East Asians and West Asians fighting now…just throw them all in there like an Asian stew already Puccini) failed the test.
Honestly – missing a test question and being sentenced to death does kind of track for Asians, but we move on.
So the Prince of Persia (not Jake Gyllenhal) is going to be executed, and the crowd asks for Turandot’s mercy, and she has none, so off he goes to die. In the crowd are three people – a slave gir, Liu, her employer who himself is a long lost King of Tartary who now goes by Timur, and Calaf – who recognizes Timur as his long lost father. When Calaf sees the Princess Turandot, he falls for her and he then decides he will take the test to win her for his wife.
Nothing says true love at first sight like the possibility of death.
Enter the three Ministers of the state – Peking is a city, but ok whatever – and their names are…wait for it, Ping, Pang, and Pong. They lament their blood thirsty virgin of a princess, because it messes with their groove, and no one wants to mess with a groove if you have one.
Anyway, Calaf comes in, despite everything and answers Turandot‘s questions correctly. So she ‘has’ to marry him – she does not want to, because she is trying to fix generational trauma – as her Auntie or Great Auntie or Great Great Auntie, Princess Lou-Ling, was abducted and killed by someone who wanted to marry her – so, she Turandot is not having it, and she is going to kill every man she comes in contact with that she has the right to kill. (Chinese people do refer to everyone elder to them as Auntie, this may be the most Asian part of this whole thing)
Honestly, who can blame her?
Calaf answers correctly. It is very Sphinx inspired. However he wants her to love him, so he says he will forfeit his life if, by dawn, Turandot can learn his name.
This part is very Rumplestiltskin.
Turandot, not wishing to marry a stranger and possibly dealing with a mental issue, issues a proclamation that no one in Peking shall sleep until Calaf‘s name is learned. Also, she will have anyone tortured that refused to reveal it. The slave girl Liu, in order to save her master, the deposed King Timur, tells Turandot that she alone knows Calaf’s name, but she will not reveal it. Liu is tortured, but does not reveal it, and Turandot finally gives in and asks what gives Liu the strength to resist revealing the name, and Liu says “love’ and then grabs a dagger and kills herself.
We would see this theme somewhat repeated in The King & I many years later, eh, Tuptim?
Everyone else marches off to an impromptu and heavily staged funeral while Calaf and Turandot stay behind. Calaf steals a kiss from Turandot, who confesses she knows emotion for the first time (remember she has generational trauma and a possible mental issue), who cries, and then Calaf reveals his name and they get married. Also, Turandot says essentially, “I knew your name it is love”
Now, the current production at The Met does have an Asian Tenor as Calaf, South Korean, SeokJong Baek, who was described by The New York Times thusly:
We ‘love that for him’, however having one Asian face on the stage in a lead role does not negate all of this chinoiserie – and it will not when Peixin Chen takes one the role of King Timur in April.
The only thing that is going to make this opera truly palatable is more Asian faces in it – not just in the leads, in the dancers, in the chorus – Asian faces within an Asian centered story – even if it was original meant to skewer Italian diplomats – yeah, no one gets that reference anymore.
Change must happen – or do not do it.
Not to mention that Turandot is yes, wearing a Dragon on her costume.
Dragon Ladies are real and created by Italian men, now we know. Always wondered.
Please look at the actual Asian face on the right, please tell TFP what your thoughts are upon looking at the one Asian face surrounded entirely by NON Asian faces. We have Ping, Pang, and Pong in the back, totally not Asian – slathered in hideous makeup, instead of being portrayed as actual people, while Turandot‘s father is wearing a mask entirely – that yes, takes it’s nod from actual Chinese costumes – however without it being an entire production of masks, it sticks out and is again, negating his humanity.
However the ‘best’ part is that during the ballet – which is the one part in the opera where they have more than one Asian person available to be featured – they have given all the solos to the…wait for it – THE WHITE DANCERS. (P,P,&P are singers in Act 1 and then are dancers in Act 2)
So let’s get this straight – in an Opera about China, that has the wrong name, but uses a Chinese folk song as a recurring theme which is just honestly theft, Mr. Puccini, where the Dragon Lady slaughters men who intend forced marriage and potential rape for failing to answer a question correctly (Ok, the test thing does kind of track though…), they have an opportunity to integrate the soloists – much as they did the tenor part of Calaf, and use Asian people to play Asian people and they…used white people.
TFP‘s Mum was an Advanced Teacher the Royal English Ballet System – she knows this because she found the certifications and scrolls btw, so – no – it is not a question. Therefore when TFP says to a degree she knows how ballet works – SHE KNOWS!
Soloists get paid more. If someone has been a soloist in a past ballet, and this time they are up for being a soloist in a ballet within an opera where they would have more to lend the production than simply dance, they could lend the authenticity of their features – one would think that The Met would be dying to use those dancers.
There are three solos. They have two Asian heritaged dancers. They have used exactly NONE of them.
The solos are Ping, Pang, and Pong in Act 2, changed from the singers they ‘were’ in Act 1. This is what we name Pandas, my guy.
Question- if this opera is really ‘all about the music’ then why is it so important to have these sets and costumes from 1966?’ Why the excessive makeup?
When we are now in 2024?
When does understanding and cultural sensitivity apply to Asian heritaged people in Opera?
This is an honest question- when do people and institutions stop trying us on like a piece of outerwear?
Le sigh.
Take a look.
TFP asks- how do we solve Yellowface at The Met?
The big Puccini type voices are one in a million, they are – and the arias are glorious. TFP loves the music, hates the production. Nothing you can say will make her comfortable in an audience for this piece.
However, if opera does not change, it will die. So figure it out, ‘The Met’.
Your productions cost MILLIONS of dollars – if you can figure out designing a website that absolves you of perpetuating this chinoiserie, then you can figure out how to do an ethical production of Turandot, of Madama Butterfly and so on.
Refusing to not cast the Asian faces you do have, when they have been soloists before, which would lend authenticity is baffling!
The short answer is that on Dec. 26,2023, TFP became an orphan.
Those of you who have become grown orphans know what that is about, and time to process becomes essential. Especially if you lose parental guidance during the holidays. TFP chose travel and honoring and creating memories above anything else. Liam’s Squidward face says it all.
She did, of course, do her panels at BroadwayCon, which she again will be doing for the eighth year this year – lucky 8! Asians, where you at?
There was also a little thing called the Great Screen Actors Guild strike of 2023 – as SAG/AFTRA members, we were not allowed to promote anything that members of the AMPTP could benefit from. TFP is a SAG/AFTRA member and an AEA member, so unless she was writing about Broadway, she honestly was not ‘allowed’ to write – she was allowed to march – and march she did!
TFP usually blogs to support Asian and Pacific Islander talent, not just on Broadway, but on television and in films. Also – not JUST Asian and Pacific Islander talent, but under-repped people across the board. TFP is known for ‘calling out’ producers, networks, casting – alas if there is no producing, nothing new is going on networks, and therefore…who needs casting?
You see the issue.
A blog, this blog, is not therapy.
A blog, for TFP is the space to remind people that speaking about diversity and agreeing we all need it, is not actually creating more diversity – although it can help to maintain allies and create understanding.
What ‘we’ need – those behind the camera, in front, supporting the whole thing – is small actions that a individual can take that will not cost a ton, is something most people do anyway, which help us understand where we fall in the ‘big picture’.
“We’ all come out when there is an issue, but subtly upsetting the status quo? Maybe, sometimes- if we are able or have had enough coffee that day or…with that said….onward, it’s the little things…
WARRIOR, formerly of HBO (before that Cinemax), has been sold to NETFLIX, which opens it up to a much wider audience. The possibility that people will watch all three seasons about Bruce Lee‘s vision of the Chinese arriving in America in the early days, 1800’s – (Pay attention fans of The Gilded Age, these are the folks building George Russell’s rail roads) and demand a FOURTH season is HIGH. If you #Thread it, fans of the show – new fans – it will come. That is TFP’s belief.
Shout out to Shannon Lee for the vision to take this from the page to the small screen, what a tremendous contribution she has made not just to her father’s legacy, but to the greater community of Asians in America – East, Southeast, South – and to fans, no matter what background – of martial arts.
Need to get Diana Lee Inosanto on Season Four, and the circle will be complete.
Diana is currently killing it on Disney+ in Ahsoka along with Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, and Temuera Morrison. However she is a fierce martial arts combatant and she should be on WARRIOR if there comes a Season 4.
In TFP‘s estimation it has a very, very high percentage to command S4. Most people have a NETFLIX account but do not have an HBO MAX account – which is enormous for the Cast and Crew. Also, there are three established seasons, but nothing is wrapped up. Based on initial response, the team could be heading back to South Africa where it is filmed, in no time at all.
WARRIOR launches on NETFLIX in FEBRUARY 2024. Binge watch it and be wow’ed – then get 5 of your friends to watch it as well.
Phenomenal performances by all the Actors, but of course, because it is his birthday today- special one to Broadway’s Telly Leung, who joins the existing company of Andrew Koji, Olivia Cheng, Perry Young, Jason Tobin, Dianne Doan, Hoon Lee, Joe Taslim, Chen Tang, Dustin Ngyuen, Marc Dacasos, and various other non Asian folks – who, hey – they were here then too.
Telly is playing the 1800’s version of himself, and frankly – TFP was ‘here for it’ when it was on HBO, and she will be ‘here for it” even more on NETFLIX. In her estimation, when the next book is written about Pop Culture in the 2020’s (lookin at you Jeff & the Phil (s)) if there is not an entire section on WARRIOR and it’s potential for changing the conversation about Asians of America and how it made them sexy badasses – first time since Bruce Lee – then TFP will eat her…dumplings.
She will eat all the dumplings and be contrite.
Will not happen though – it is a game changer and being on NETFLIX only means the game will be seen across the globe, instead of a somewhat small group of elite.
Another show on NETFLIX we are super excited about is THE BROTHERS SUN– again, if you already have the service, all you have to do is watch it. It premiered today on January 4th, and TFP must confess, she binged watched it and she was absolutely thrilled to do so.
It is repping Action Asians on screen and behind the camera – as it was written by Byron Wu and Brad Falchuk, and directed by several people but mostly it seems, Choreographer/Director Kevin Tancharoen, who directs 5 out of the 8 episodes. The remaining 3 are directed expertly by Viet Ngyuen.
To paraphrase Phil Yu and Jeff Yang – you will NOT get the ‘rep sweats’ watching this series, it is great.
Cast includes Oscar Winner Michelle Yeoh, Justin Chien, Sam Li, Highdee Kuan, Alice Hewkin, Jenny Yang, Rodney To, Ron Yuan, and a series of cameos by some great LA Asian talent.
The story follows a college age student who finds himself embroiled in a gang war that began in another country and found him all the way in America. There are some fabulous inside LA’s AAPI community jokes that had TFP cracking up, Improv comedy is a running gag, and as TFP also studied at The Groundlings, it made her really appreciate how smart, how specific, and yet how universal this series is.
You could also – if you don’t have a mental health day coming your way – choose to let it run in the background because, hey – numbers are numbers and we need to get THE BROTHERS SUN‘s numbers way up, because a Season 2 is definitely needed.
HUDSON YANG is coming to the Asian Food Network with his reality cooking show, ORDER UP.
Hudson is very geared towards learning all the ins and outs of the restaurant business, while he was still starring in FRESH OFF THE BOAT for ABC, he became an early investor in the restaurant KHONG TEN in West LA, which has since closed. Being a busy college student – he attends Harvard as a sophmore and recently performed in the musical, HEATHERS, when he is not off learning how to cook in Asia.
Sounds awesome. Hudson can sing, so TFP is really thrilled he did HEATHERS at Harvard.
Speaking of Musicals, the composer, lyricist, and book writer of said musical, HEATHERS is Lawrence O’Keefe who alongside his wife, Lyricist, Writer, & Composer Nell Benjamin, co-wrote the music and lyrics for LEGALLY BLONDE, for which they were nominated for a TONY Awards. Nell then collaborated on the musical MEAN GIRLS with Tina Fey, which arrives in movie theaters on January 12, 2024.
Next up for Ms. Benjamin is the stage musical, COME FALL IN LOVE, the DDLJ Musical which featured a heavily South Asian company, and is Broadway bound.
Now, MEAN GIRLS has always had diversity within the show while it ran on Broadway, but in the film has taken it to the next level – Thanks Telsey!
The film musical’s cast has Broadway & Only Murders In the Building‘s Ashley Park as Madame Park, Auli’i Cravalho as Janis, Avantika as Karen Shetty, Mahi Alam as Kevin Ganatra, John El-Jor as Jason Weems, Grant Harrison Mateo as Tiny Boy, Kaylee Kaleinani as Sophie Kawachi, and Amann Iqbal as Rude Girl – that is a LOT of folks who in a current day film have Asian heritage of all kinds. Chris Olsen of Tik Tok fame is even in there – he is of Filipino descent, hangs out with Meghan Trainor, usually brings coffee to celebs? In addition to the film, you can find him on the clock app @chris.
Since it has been a while, let TFP remind you – the issue is money – the issue is, with this widely diverse a cast, are in person movie theaters going to see their box office boom? If it does, then you get to take your kids or your significant other to see images on the large screen where you are represented.
Being represented does not mean ‘this is a carbon copy of my every facial feature and trait’ what it means is, there is someone who looks similar to you in that film universe. When people take that chance and go buy tickets and spend hours staring at diverse skin tones, psychologically they bond with the cast.
That is why there are fans. They attach to one character, or characters – and then when they leave the theater, they perhaps smile at someone the next day who reminds them of their favorite characters. They leave the door open for possibility – so that old Asian people in America can walk down the street and not get attacked for being old Asian Americans walking down the street in America. Heck, while attacks on the elderly were egregious, attacks on Asian American women – especially in New York were violent and sadly, life ending. TFP had to ride the NY subway at the time, she stood with her back to a station pole, as did every other Asian appearing person she caught a glimpse of.
Top L-R Thom Sesma, Ali Ewoldt, Liam Kong looking les miz, Ruthie Ann Miles, Joanna Carpenter, Raymond J. Lee, Director Stafford Arima, Bottom: Erin Quill, Zach Piser – BroadwayCon 2023
Wanting to remind you that most shows, most Broadway shows, even now, do not have a plethora of AAPI talent in them, many times we are found in the dance ensemble and only in the dance ensemble – but SWEENEY TODD, with or without Josh Groban, has a larger than usual amount of Asians in there – led by TONY Winner, Ruthie Ann Miles. Raymond J. Lee who frequently goes on for the Beadle Bamford and Pirelli, Joanna Carpenter, who ‘covers’ Ms. Miles, are both pictured above. Not pictured are Alicia Kaori and Michael Kuhn, which bring the number of performers to 5, and also (very exciting) ASM Plato Seto.
Which makes the current cast of Sweeney Todd the Broadway show with the most AAPIs for a show not set in Asia.
Now, for a moment, let us just ponder that these cast members many times have had to defend their right to even be in the show and battle the microagressions that come with that – however TFP will remind you that Sweeney Todd is set in London in the year 1785.
The first documented Chinese person in Western European books was a Christian monk name Rabban Bar Sauma in the late 13th century. The next to be documented, this time by a painting, was Michael Alphonsus Shen Fu Tsung, which was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller which was commissioned by King James II, and presented in 1687. It hung in the King’s bedroom till he died.
So yes, there were Asian people in London – perhaps not in huge numbers, but they were there because what does TFP always say? Port cities had a transient population and world travelers – and where there are men and women, there are babies at some point. In fact, for a show not set in Asia, the cast has a huge number of Asians, and thank you to The Telsey Office.
Therefore please stop remarking to the very excellent cast members that they ‘do a good English accent’ or that you are ‘surprised’ to see them – they are doing their job, and excellently – move on.
Where a bar of excellence has been set, others will follow – which is why we were all delighted to hear that there is good news on the horizon for a transfer.
In fact, Ms.Miles who announced on TFP’s panel this past summer, that the show she headlined at City Center – LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is currently looking for a Broadway theater.
TFP could not say enough good things about that production, directed by Chay Yew, she was ecstatic to see that having diversity behind the table, which led to ‘inside jokes’ that only minority folks could understand. Like the choice he made to have all the Italian characters be played by Latinx actors. He ‘took back’ what had been done in the past by Hollywood and Broadway, where they frequently let Italians play any person of color, without regard to even trying to find actual Latinx or Native American people to inhabit those roles, flipped his thing down and reversed it.
Playwright Larissa FastHorse in addition to her wildly popular Thanksgiving Play, has re-written the book for Peter Pan, the beloved children’s book about a boy who will not grow up and fairies that die without applause.
This new version began at the Ordway and will tour the nation. Lonny Price is directing – and, if it comes near to you, and you have the means, perhaps go and see a story that had a portrayal that needed updating. Like, really needed it.
Finally, TFP want you to know that Hudson Yang is not the only one in show business in the Family . His father, Jeff Yang, journalist, book writer, and podcaster co-wrote his first film, A GREAT DIVIDE with Jean Shim and Martina Nagel.
Directed by Jean Shim. Starring Ken Jeong, Jae Suh Park, Emerson Min, Miya Cech and MeeWha Alana Lee, aka The Lee Family, who leave the Bay Area for a fresh start in Wyoming.
(What could possibly go wrong?)
Born out of the awareness of the violence against AAPI People during the pandemic in America, we became aware of how, even now, the question of tolerance is really often one of white forbearance. Which can be rescinded at any time, depending on mood.
This film is currently on the film festival circuit – so if it hits yours in your area – please buy a ticket.
There we are Folks, very simple, not costly ways to help contribute to the change of perception of Americans in this country. You can turn on your internet streaming device, you can go to the movies, or the theater, or a film festival – and your numbers make a difference. The conversations you can begin from seeing those works are all part of TFP‘s master plan to make sure Americans of Asian descent are seen as Americans, and not as something to be othered.
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