Lea Salonga says, 'I was refused a theatre role for being Asian'

In her own quiet way, Lea Salonga, has been an inspiration to a younger generation but has never received the credit  for the groundbreaking role she has had in show business.


Not enough credit has been given the Filipina singer for breaking barriers in showbiz: the pressures of "representing" when she was given the lead role in as an Asian depicting an Asian in Miss Saigon; or when she was cast to play a European in Les Miserable musical.

We look at her now at age 48 she is no longer offered ingenue roles. Today's young audience forget that 30 years ago, at 17-years old, she opened the doors for several other Asian artists in the much-maligned Miss Saigon musical. The political correctness surrounding the dated musical aside, her Tony-award winning performance opened the eyes of Broadway that Asians and Asian Americans are as talented as any other ethnic group and there is no excuse for yellow-facing, when white actors play Asian characters.

In the interview Salonga talks about the rude awakening she experienced when she was told that she was denied a role because she was Asian.

Even with a Tony for Miss Saigon, jobs were hard to come by. Besides Miss Saigon, there were too few roles for Asians on Broadway outside of Flower Drum Song, Pacific Overtures and The King and I. 

Salonga's performance as the singing voice of Jasmine in the animated version of Aladdin in 1992 made her familiar with a younger generation. "A Whole New World," is the song most associated with her and has become a staple in her repertoire.

Her pitch-perfect voice was so light and airy, Disney chose her to sing to role of another one their "Princesses," that of Mulan, the animated story based on a Chinese legend of a girl who disguised herself as a boy to became a famous warrior. The highlight song, "Reflection," is closer to Salonga, she says. It's about identity and finding one's self.

“Because these films are easy to access there are many generations of children that have seen both movies and I got to play two princesses that were people of color. Being a person of color and giving voice to these two characters of color, it was really quite something," she said earlier this year in an interview with a British publication. "I didn’t realize the impact at the time, for me this was the job, sitting here in my kitchen, now, and looking back on it, what those characters represented and what they mean in the world today, they are princesses, people of color, and they have a lot of young women look to them, heroes, strong and somewhat influential in their own way."

Then Cameron MacIntosh, the Miss Saigon producer, asked her to sing the role of Eponine, the waif in Les Miserable musical. It was a daring decision to cast an Asian ro play the French waif. "They were waiting for me to mess up," she said. "That's why I made sure to nail that song every night."

"When I'm the first Asian person to do a particular role, as with Eponine, that feels really important. The stakes were higher in 'Les Misérables' than 'Miss Saigon,' because I was a young Asian person playing an Asian role," she told the Arizona Republic last year on her world tour celebrating her 40th year in show biz. "You look at me, and I'm exactly what I'm supposed to be for 'Miss Saigon.' For 'Les Misérables,' this is not a traditionally Asian part. This is not a role you would normally give to someone who looks like me."
I still get goosebumps  and my eyes start to water with the emotion she conjures up in the listener as  she sing's  "On My Own" as Eponine in Les Misarable.

That experiment in cross-racial casting (specifically for Asians) in 2000 led to more roles for Salonga, in Allegiance and Once on This Island but despite her popularity on Broadway, movie roles or TV roles failed to knocking on her door. As her long career reaches a point where she can look back with pride, perhaps just as important to her is that other performers, young women who grew up idolizing Salonga, were able find more roles open to them. Ruthie Ann Miles,  Phillipa Soo (Hamilton), Vanessa Hudgens and Eva Noblezada (Yellow Rose, Hadestown) all are indebted in some way to Salonga's groundbreaking work.

Salonga had a role in the independent film, Yellow Rose, which starred Noblezada as an undocumented Filipino American immigrant who wants to become a country singer.

"It seems to be our time. It's like our Black Panther moment," she mused in an ET interview. "When film studios are recognizing that stories from people of color actually do well at the box office because they are going to be people of color who are going to want to see themselves represented onscreen and are going to want to hear stories from people just like them. It's something that makes a lot of sense. That our voices are not being silenced and that we're actually getting heard and getting seen."

Although she appeared in several Philippine-made movies, Yellow Rose was her first American film. 

"It's great for another generation of young Asian Americans to see faces that look like theirs on screen and hopefully give them this inspirational push to tell more stories later on. It's exciting and it's nice to be able to witness this as it's happening and to be in the thick of it as it's happening," she continued.

'Flower Drum Song' author dies at age 102

David Henry Hwang with author C.Y. Lee.

ASAM NEWS

The best-selling author of the novel Flower Drum Song which spawned two Broadway productions and a movie has died at the age of 102.
The Washington Post reports C.Y. Lee died on November 8, but his family did not announce it until now.

His daughter, Angela Lee, said her father, Chin Yang Lee, who was was born Dec. 23, 1915, in Hunan province of China, died of kidney failure at his Los Angeles home.

The book centered around a first-generation Chinese American immigration family and the generation gap that developed within the family.

Rodgers & Hamerstein adapted the 1957 book as a Broadway musical the following year.

The movie starred Nancy Kwan and James Shigeta in 1961 and became a classic. It was nominated for several awards including a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Miyoshi Umeki. The L.A. Times called it the “first major Hollywood studio film about and starring Asian Americans.” The Library of Congress placed the movie for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2008.

Lea Salonga and jose Lllana in the updated version of 'Flower Drum Song'

Tony award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang revived the play on Broadway in 2001 starring Lea Salonga and Jose Llana. Hwang'sheavily revised version tried to rid the musical of some of the controversial aspects of the original musical that played on stereotypes of Chinese American.

Lee is survived by his daughter Angela and son, Jay Lee.

Some Asian American activist have condemned the book and original movie of perpetuating the image of the exotic culture for the pleasure of White audiences. 

In recent years, the book and play have gained in stature in the Asian American community for its depiction of the issues faced by Asian immigrants. In 2016, AsAmNews published a story headlined “Flower Drum Song” Deserves a Second Look.

The Washington Post reports the book nearly went unpublished. Every major publisher turned down the book for an entire year until an elderly man who screened the book simply wrote down on the book, “read this.”

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.
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Sunday Read: David Hwang's new play 'Soft Power' tells story from an Asian perspective

 Craig Schwartz Photography

Conrad Ricamora and Alyse Alan Louis in David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tosori's 'Soft Power.'

By Jim Gladstone

Reprinted with Permission from the Bay Area Reporter 
Originally published June 7, 2018

"When I first went in to audition for How To Get Away with Murder, it wasn't a part written for an Asian actor," says Conrad Ricamora, the gay actor who plays Oliver Hampton, a gay HIV+ lawyer on the hit CBS series. Ricamora will be in San Francisco through July 8 as part of the cast of the new musical Soft Power at the Curran Theatre.

"The guy who auditioned right before me was white, and the guy after me was black. To me, casting like that is an important breakthrough in American pop culture," says the 39-year-old. "The character's story has nothing to do with his Asian-ness. It's felt good to be a part of this kind of representation. When I was a kid, I saw all of these demeaning stereotypes, like Long Duk Dong in 16 Candles."

Along with the progress indicated by an increase in colorblind casting, Ricamora is also pleased to be part of a major production like Soft Power, by playwright David Henry Hwang and fellow Tony winner, composer Jean Tesori, that is addressing Asian and Asian American perspectives in a far more nuanced manner than past works of musical theater.

"This is very different than being in 'Miss Saigon' or 'The King and I,'" both of which Ricamora has done. "Soft Power is written from the perspective of an Asian person. When you watch The King & I, you're looking at the Asian characters through the eyes of white people. They represent 'the other' to the white characters. Soft Power actually gets the audience to look through Asian eyes and see the otherness of the white world of the U.S."

Craig Schwartz Photography

Francis Jue is featured in 'Soft Power.'

Among the show's almost indescribable interwoven plotlines, set in the present and 100 years in the future, is the story of China becoming the world's dominant power in the wake of the 2016 election. An actress playing Hilary Clinton sings and dances. The majority of the cast is Asian American, but many of the characters they play are citizens of China. Ricamora recognizes some deeply embedded ironies in that fact.

"I was called 'chink' all the time growing up," says Ricamora, whose father, an adoptee, is assumed to be of Filipino descent. His mother has Irish and German bloodlines. "The cast of this play includes actors with Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean and Hawaiian backgrounds," he says. "White America tends to lump all Asians together.

"In Soft Power, I play a Chinese character," Ricamora explains. "But the play doesn't try to explore the Chinese psyche; it focuses on what it's like to encounter the racism and stereotypes that are traditionally placed on all Asians and Asian Americans."

Ricamora was raised by his father, who worked for the U.S. Air Force, after being abandoned by his mother when he was seven months old. Growing up in the macho environment of military bases, he never imagined he would be an actor.

"If you were artistic, you were ridiculed and shamed," Ricamora recalls. He channeled his restless energy playing competitive tennis. "I grew up idolizing tennis players. Being an athlete was a way to avoid having my ass kicked all the time."

It was not until his junior year of college, where he was a psychology major, that Ricamora took an elective theater class and had an epiphany.

"We had to do monologues, and I chose a piece from Lanford Wilson's 'Lemon Sky.' The character is talking about being estranged from his biological father, and I connected with that, thinking about first meeting my mother when I was 8 years old.

"I stood on that stage with a sense of authority and just ripped into it. There was this huge electricity. The whole room went dead silent. And I was like 'Holy shit! This is for me.'"

It was also not until his junior year that Ricamora began to open up to his own sexuality.

"Allowing myself to do theater and to come out were related," he says. "I was paying my own tuition. I wasn't dependent on my family. And I thought, if I'm paying for myself I really should be myself. Ultimately, I don't really think it's possible to make genuine connections with other people unless we're true to ourselves."

Today, while Ricamora sees progress being made in portrayals of gay men and Asian Americans in theater and film, he is painfully aware that the two are rarely seen in a single character.

"The experience of gay Asian men just hasn't been shown in mainstream media," he says. "It's incredibly important to me. There were years of online dating where I'd get messages and blocks from white guys who wanted to totally rule me out of their world just because I was Asian."

Ricamora and two friends from the theater world are currently working to assure that the gay Asian American experience doesn't remain hidden. They're four episodes into the writing of a serial called "No Rice."

Soft Power plays the Curran Theatre in San Francisco June 20-July 8. sfcurran.com.

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Asian Americans cast in national touring company of 'Hamilton'

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The HamilAsians, from left: Shoba Narayan, Joseph Morales and Marcus Choi.

ASAM NEWS

ASIAN/AMERICAN actors Joseph Morales, Shoba Narayan, and Marcus Choi are filling leading roles in the second national tour of the hit musical Hamilton.

Morales, who is Hawaiian, will star as Alexander Hamilton in the hip-hop musical beginning in Seattle on February 6; he currently plays the alternate of Alexander Hamilton in the musical’s Chicago production alongside Asian/Americans Ari Asfar and Jin Ha. Morales has previously performed in Bollywood-themed Broadway musical Bombay Dreams and starred in Asian American theatre company East West Players’ production of The Who’s Tommy.

Narayan will be playing Eliza Hamilton, the musical’s leading female role, which was originated by Chinese/American actress Phillipa Soo. Naryan recently starred in Broadway musical Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. According to Playbill, Naryan was the first South Asian woman playing a principal role on Broadway in over 10 years.

RELATED: Diversity increases on Broadway, but not for Asians

“This is for the women, the immigrants, the minorities that wake up every morning and push to defy the odds, to dream big, and to not throw away their shot,” Narayan wrote in an Instagram post.

Choi will be playing George Washington, a prominent supporting role. The role has never been played by an Asian/American man. Choi has previously performed alongside Asian/American casts in musicals such as Flower Drum Song, Allegiance, and Miss Saigon.

“I can’t help but feel like it’s a big win for our community,” Choi told Backstage Pass with Lia Chang. “Asian Americans are the most under represented ethnic group in entertainment and I am so grateful to Hamilton for taking the chance and casting Asians in principal roles for this tour.”

The theatre industry has been criticized for providing little representation for Asian American performers. According to The Atlantic, Hamilton intentionally casts people of color in portrayals of white historical figures to reflect the ethnic diversity of present-day America.

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Diversity increases on Broadway but not for Asians

The cast of 'Hamilton' accounts for a lot of the increase in casting of minorities on Broadway.

THE LIGHTS of Broadway appear to be shining brighter for minority actors, singers and dancers but they dim when it comes to Asian/American performers.

Though the 2015-2016 season was touted as the season of diversity with the musical Hamilton leading the way, there were fewer Asian American artists hitting the stages of New York City, the live performance capital of the U.S, according to a report compiled by the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) released its annual report, "Ethnic Representation on New York City Stages."

“It’s a very positive outlook for the industry,” said Pun Bandhu, a member of the AAPAC steering committee. “However, Latinos and Asians are very removed out of the diversity conversation still,” he told NBC News.

Diversity on New York's stages shows overall improvement with 35% of all roles going to actors of color and disabled actors, a new high, according to the report. 

Overall, Asian representation dropped 5 percentage points from the previous season, to only 4% according to the latest report. It was the steepest drop among all minority groups.

This drop came despite the short run of the George Takei-inspired musical Allegiance, which featured a predominantly Asian cast and marked the first time an Asian/American composer and lyricist, Jay Kuo, was produced on Broadway, according to the report.
"We hope this report will be used as a resource to track casting trends, point to inequities where they may exist and provide a measure of how much further we have to go. We are hopeful that these numbers hint at better days ahead and are grateful for your continued interest and commitment to these issues," said the AAPAC steering committee in its report.

Although the last four years has shown a trend of increased use of minority actors, as has been the case since the AAPAC began its annual reports, white actors continue to dominate the stages. Caucasians are the only ethnicity to over-represent compared to their respective population size in New York City. 

According to the 2010 Census, whites made up only 33% of New York City's population while 26% were made up of African/Americans. 26% Latino and 13% Asian/American.

The season of Broadway hits Hamilton and The Color Purple was the most diverse in the 10 years for which AAPAC has data. Representation of actors of color hit a new high of 35% of all roles, besting last year’s record of 30%. Non-traditional casting has largely remained unchanged over the last 10 years, but jumped significantly this past season. 

The news, however, is not as celebratory if you’re not a musical theatre actor. For the first time since AAPAC has been collecting data, the study was able to compare plays to musicals on Broadway to further analyze where opportunities exist and where they is room for improvement for minority actors. 

READ the full AAPAC report.

While Broadway musicals hired 43% minority actors this season, plays on Broadway hired only 16% with the vast majority, 14%, awarded to African/Americans) helped by productions such as Eclipsed, which also brought the rare instances of an African/American female director and an African/American female playwright to Broadway, The Gin Game and The Crucible. 

While Hamilton and On Your Feet brought more Latinx performers to Broadway audiences by making up 11% of all roles, that good news was offset by having no Latinxs at all in Broadway plays. Asians did not fare much better with only one Asian actor who was cast in an ensemble role.

The racial breakdown for Broadway 2015-2016 follows:

• Caucasian actors: 65% of all roles
• African/American actors: 23% of all roles
• Latinx actors: 7% of all roles
• Asian/American actors: 4% of all roles
• Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) actors: 0.83% of all roles
• American Indian actors: 0.08% of all roles
• Disabled actors: 0.67% of all roles

The 'Miss Saigon' production employs an almost all-Asian cast.

Thus far, the best season for Asian/Americans was 2014-15, which saw them landing 75 out of the total 642 roles on Broadway. Closer examination shows that it’s largely due to just one production: The King and I, which features lots of Asian/American performers, but centers around a white character. 

That was also the year that the critically acclaimed musical Here Comes Love, based on the rise and fall of the Philippines' Imelda Marcos, had an extended run off-Broadway. The short-lived musical version of Gigi, featuring Filipina/American Vanessa Hudgens in the title role premiered on Broadway.

The King and I  and the Allegiance productions have closed down but in its place was the revival of Miss Saigon, which features a largely Asian cast, including Tony-nominated Eva Noblezada, who portrays Kim, the lead role. Later this year, the musical Once On This Island will be brought back featuring Lea Salonga.

“We applaud our colleagues at AAPAC for compiling this report and continuing to hold all of us in the theatre community accountable as we strive to create a fairer and more inclusive industry,” said Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, in a statement. “Much more needs to be done and this report from AAPAC makes that very clear.”

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