Auli'i Cravalho cast in lead role in TV pilot

Prior to the release of Moana, Auli'i Cravalho and her mother Puanani, were introduced to journalists and bloggers.

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FRESH OFF her impressive Oscar performance, 16-year-old Auli’i Cravalho of Moana fame has landed a lead role in the NBC pilot Drama High, reported Deadline.

Cravalho will play one of the students in the drama department of a working-class high school. They are inspired by a passionate teacher.

Drama High is executive produced by Friday Night Lights executive producer Jason Katims and the producer of the Broadway hit show, Hamilton, Jeffrey Seller. 

Interestingly, at the Oscars show, Cravalho sang the Oscar nominated song "How Far I’ll Go," which was both written and introduced by Hamilton star and creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. 

Many thought her Oscar performance was a "star is born" moment for the Hawaii-born actress and singer. Cravalho kept her composure while singing despite being hit by a flag.

Phillipa Soo will star in new Broadway show

Phillipa Soo will be 'Amelie'

IT LOOKS more and more like that Phillipa Soo departure from Tony-winning musical Hamilton is a done deal with the announcement that she will assume the lead role in the musical version of Amelie, the 2001 French movie.

The Tony-nominated actress will play the lead role in the musical adaptation of the 2001 film, which made its world premiere with Les Miserables star Samantha Barks. It is a role that Soo originated during workshop development.

Amelie, adapted from the Oscar-nominated movie of the same name, will have its off-Broadway warmup run this winter and is expected to hit Broadway in January, A theater is yet to be selected.

RELATED: Asian/American leading ladies talk about diversity onstage

Chinese/American Soo was nominated for her Broadway debut role as Eliza Hamilton, the woman behind the man; but by the end of the show, she is front and center.

The Hollywood Reporter praised her "moving" performance and standout numbers: "'Helpless' measures up to the most irresistible pop songs about love at first sight in the way it captures the sheer giddiness and joy of a romantic thunderbolt, ... (and) Eliza's plea to Alexander to leave the battlefield and return to his family, 'That Would Be Enough,' is a heartbreaker."

RELATED: Disney introduces its first Polynesian princess in Moana

For Amelie, "Daniel Messe and Nathan Tysen have written clever, heartfelt lyrics and a rich, romantic score that is beautifully sung by Phillipa," said producer Aaron Harnick. "We are thrilled she is our Amelie."

"I am excited to step back into the shoes of this character," said Soo in a statement. "She is joyous, complex, and determined, in her own small way, to change the world for the better."

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

Phillipa Soo reported to be leaving hit musical 'Hamilton'

Phillipa Soo walks the red carpet on her way to the Tony Awards show last Sunday.

FAN FAVORITE Phillipa Soo will be leaving the Broadway hit Hamilton, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

In an exclusive story, the HR, an entertainment industry trade paper, said that Soo will be joining Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda on July 9 when many of the groundbreaking musical's cast members' contracts expire.

RELATED: Asian/American leading ladies talk about diversity onstage

On Sunday (June 12), Soo lost her bid to be the second Asian/American to win Best Actress in a Musical to Cynthia Erivo from The Color Purple. In Hamilton, Soo plays Alexander Hamilton's wife, Eliza, a role she has played since the show's debut in February 2015.

The Reporter said Soo is interested in expanding her career to television and the movies.

Soo's first Hollywood gig will be doing voice work, maybe even a song, in Moana, a Disney animation feature, where she will join Miranda, who wrote some of the movies' songs.

Hamilton was the the big winner at the Tony's, garnering 11 awards for the hip-hop musical.

RELATED: Disney introduces its first Polynesian princess in Moana

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Broadway noting up-and-coming Asian/American performers in casting of 'Phantom' & 'Hamilton'

Ali Ewoldt as Maria in West Side Story.

WHILE HOLLYWOOD is stumbling around still trying to figure out this diversity thing #OscarsSoWhite, #Whitewashing, Broadway is showing signs that last year's success at integrating the stage was not a fluke.

Filipino/American Ali Ewoldt has been named as the new Christine in the long running Broadway production of Phantom of the Opera.

She’ll take over the lead role from Julia Udine on June 13.

Ewoldt whose mother is Filipino was born outside of Chicago and raised in Pleasantville, NY, she has a BA in Psychology from Yale University.

“I want to be able to represent all the other people of color who aspire to play Christine someday,” said Ewoldt to Broadway.com. “Hopefully someday, everything will be open and people will have truly equal opportunities, and we can say it doesn’t matter anymore.

Ewoldt made her Broadway debut in 2006 in Mr. Mackintosh's first Broadway revival of Les Miserable as Cosette, according to Playbill. She joins direct from playing Tuptim in the Chicago Lyric Opera production of The King & I. She also appeared in the original cast of the current Lincoln Center Theater production. 

Other credits include Luisa in The Fantasticks (Off-Broadway), Maria in West Side Story (first national tour), Lili in Carnival! (Musicals Tonight) and the national tour of Les Miserables. 

Ewoldt will join another new cast member. Jordan Donica, who will be the first African American to play the role of Raoul.

NBC

California-raised Karla Garcia now calls New York City home.

Another Filipina/American recently joined the cast of the Tony-nominated hip-hop hit Hamilton (how's that for alliteration?).

Karla Garcia joins the Tony-nominated Phillipa Soo as Asian cast members in the multi-ethnic cast. Garcia is the first Filipina cast member. As the "swing" for female cast members, the Broadway veteran and an alumna of So You Think You Can Dance (Season 5) has to learn multiple parts in case any of the cast gets a day off or can't perform for any reason.

“I’m not in Hamilton because I’m the first Filipino,” she told NBC. “They didn’t hire me because I’m Filipino. I audition. I put in the work. I know I’m good at my job. I’m secure enough that I’m just here as a dancer. And anything else like ‘Oh you’re Asian’ or ‘You’re Filipino,’ (I say) ‘Yes thank you.’ I’m proud of that, too. I’m happy to represent the Filipino community and have a family-oriented background and parents who raised me to follow my dream. But that’s the cherry on top.”

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Racism is easier to understand when the shoe is on the other foot

The diverse cast of Hamilton includes Phillipa Soo, 2nd from right, as Eliza Hamilton.

C'MON FOLKS, give people credit when it's deserved.

European/Americans (AKA "white people," aka "caucasians") are not insensitive to the racist slings and arrows thrown at people of color. When they see an injustice, or an act of bigotry, they sometimes take the time to point it out.

RELATED: Why I prefer using the / instead of the -

Sarcasm or satire is so hard to convey in the written word. In case you can't read the sarcasm in the first few lines of this post, let's dispense with the subtleties. 

When the Hamilton producers put out a casting call last month for the traveling production of the hit Broadway musical, posted a casting call looking for “non-White men and women,” there was such a hue and cry along the lines of reverse discrimination.

“What if they put an ad out that said, ‘Whites only need apply?’” said civil rights attorney Randolph McLaughlin, of the Newman Ferrara Law Firm. “Why, African-Americans, Latinos, Asians would be outraged.”

“You cannot advertise showing that you have a preference for one racial group over another,” McLaughlin said. “As an artistic question—sure, he can cast whomever he wants to cast, but he has to give every actor eligible for the role an opportunity to try.”

RELATED: Leading ladies speak about diversity onstage

The New York Times reports that Maria Somma, the spokesperson for Broadway union Actors’ Equity, said the notice was “absolutely inconsistent with Equity’s policy.” She also said that the union wants “to encourage that everyone has an equal opportunity to go in and audition for shows.”

The producers responded, it is essential to the storytelling of Hamilton that the principal roles—which were written for non-whitee characters (excepting King George)—be performed by actors of color. Precedence for this accepted practice for casting certain characteristics in certain roles is OK if it constitutes a “bona fide occupational qualification." This follows in the tradition of many shows that call for race-, ethnicity- or age-specific casting, such as in The Color Purple or Porgy & Bess or the recently closed George Takei-inspired Allegiance. 

"The casting will be amended to also include language we neglected to add, that is, we welcome people of all ethnicities to audition for Hamilton," concluded the response.

But nothing tops in honest the response from actress Constance Wu of ABC's Fresh Off The Boat.

ESPN host Bomani Jones favored subtlety in his satirical protest of the racist mascots used by sports teams but the response he got was anything but subtle.

RELATED: That darn football team in Washington D.C.

When Bomani filled in for Mike Golic on Mike & Mike wearing a T-shirt with graphic that had similarities to the MLB's Cleveland Indians' logo  — but in place of "Indians" was the word "Caucasians." And instead of the cartoony Chief Wahoo mascot with a feather headdress was a cartoony Euro/American with a dollar sign over his head.

A closeup of the Bomani Jones' controversial T-shirt.

"The detrimental effect of treating Native Americans like mascots isn't just a matter of hurt feelings ... Native youth already face among the highest rates of depression, substance abuse and suicide in the nation, the direct result of a history of state-sanctioned violence, endemic poverty and systemic racism," Mic's Zak Cheney-Rice wrote in an article last year. He went on to cite a 2014 report from the Center for American Progress that said such imagery damages the mental health and self-esteem of Native American Youth.

Bowman's sarcastic T-shirt was noticed by viewers even though it was not a topic of conversation on the ESPN show.

To which Bowman replied:

Clearly the T-shirt struck a chord. Upset viewers used the reverse racism argument, thusly:

The debate surrounding the name-change and the Cleveland team's mascot has been going on for years and like their NFL counterpart based in our nation's capitol, the Cleveland baseball team has resisted the name change.

That leaves us with one final burning question: Where can I get the Cleveland Caucasians T-shirt?

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

TGIF FEATURE: Asian/American leading ladies talk about diversity onstage and perceptions of Asian performers

Jai Lennard

Lea Salonga and Philippa Soo met for the first time for the Hollywood Reporter interview.

PHILIPPA SOO and Lea Salonga, the leading ladies of Broadway musicals Hamilton and Allegiance respectively, weigh in on the current breakthrough season for diversity onstage and discuss what it means for Asian-American actors and stories in an interesting interview in the Hollywood Reporter.

"Stop seeing us as exotic or oriental. Don't see us as foreigners, see us as part of the country," said Salonga.

Soo, in her debut role in the hip-hop musical Hamilton, may be the next Asian/American to win the coveted Tony, Broadway's equivalent to the movies' Oscar. Salonga made history  in 1991 when she became the first Asian/American to win the award for her role in Miss Saigon.

Broadway has always had limited offerings for Asian/American performers. This year is unprecedented in its opportunities for singers, dancers and actors of Asian descent. 2015 has had revivals of The King and I, Flower Drum Song and a production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures or David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly may be in the offering this year. Those productions coming in the wake of a year-long off-Broadway run at the Public Theater for the Imelda Marcos bio-musical Here Lies Love, the ongoing King and I revival and the Broadway premiere of Allegiance mean that more Asian actors have been consistently employed on prominent New York stages than at any time in history.

RELATED: Hollywood take note - Broadway musicals not afraid to feature Asian artists in leading roles

The big question now is whether that momentum will continue, with more non-traditional casting like that of Soo as Eliza, Alexander's wife, in Hamilton.

Salonga, meanwhile, will finish up with Allegiance until it ends its Broadway run on Feb. 14. She will appear in the season finale of television's groundbreaking musical sitcom Crazy Ex-Girlfriend during which she will sing. That episode will air in mid-April.

RELATED: Why you should be watching "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"

For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

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