How Asian-Americans are fighting stereotypes to take on leading roles on and off Broadway
After years of fighting stereotypes, things are finally looking up for Asian-American actors as they take centre stage on and off Broadway, writes Rong Xiaoqing.
The lights go up. Max and Leo meet at the centre of the stage and start to discuss an idea the former has had for a hit Broadway show. This may be a recognisable scene to those familiar with the Tony-winning Broadway musical The Producers but, on this occasion, the two protagonists look Asian – and instead of plotting to produce a sham show as part of an elaborate swindle, they are talking about a production in which only Asians appear.
“If we can’t find a concert hall full of fabulous Asian-American actors, director-slash-choreographers and a musical director to perform some of our favourite songs from some of our favourite musicals in the next 90 minutes, I’ll eat my hat!” vows Max, played by Eurasian actor Herman Sebek.
“But Max, you’re not even wearing a hat!” quips Leo, played by Korean-American Raymond Lee. The audience laughs. The music starts. Max begins to sing We Can Do It, a hit song that has never before been sung by an Asian actor on a Broadway stage.
Changing the Stats: Asian Americans on Broadway was staged in November at Symphony Space, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in New York. Over 90 minutes, the audience enjoyed a mosaic of Broadway numbers, including The Light in the Piazza, Company and Gypsy, all performed by actors and actresses who are rarely cast for such “mainstream” roles.
The title of the show came from a survey conducted by the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) in 2012. It found that in the previous five years, Asians had been cast in only 3 per cent of all roles on Broadway and in major nonprofit theatres in New York. Asians, then, accounted for 12 per cent of the population of the city. But when the curtain rose on Changing the Stats, the title sounded more like a factual statement than an expression of hope. Another survey is expected to be released in the spring but it is already clear that Asians have been getting a lot more work on New York stages in the past couple of years.
It’s hard to pinpoint when things began to change. In the summer of 2011, when David Henry Hwang’s bilingual comedy Chinglish hit Broadway, Singaporean actress Angela Lin was amazed by the make up of the cast and called it “a rare opportunity on Broadway that made me feel like I had come home”.