"Breakthrough" actor James Shigeta passes away

James Shigeta and Flower Drum co-star Myoshi Umeki.

ONE OF the few Asian American actors in the last half-century who could play leading-man roles passed away today (July 29) at the age of 81. Here's the article about James Shigeta from the Daily Variety http://variety.com/2014/film/news/james-shigeta-dies-at-81-1201270730/. 

Shigeta played a lot of movie roles throughout the years - hero, villain, spear-carrier, etc. - and to his credit, he never had to resort to portraying a stereotype.

The role that he is best known for and the one that had the most impact on me was the musical "Flower Drum Song." Originally a Broadway musical, it was released as a motion picture in 1961, The musical and movie were not what we would call "politically correct." It had so many things wrong with it from a 21st century perspective. However, as a young boy, it was a revelation to see an all-Asian cast up on the silver screen singing and dancing and being (so anti-Asian stereotype) - gasp - sexy!

Having Nancy Kwan perceived as sexy is a no-brainer. Who can forget her brash, aggressive performance of "I Enjoy Being A Girl?" American culture has always linked Asian women to sex as in a provocative and sometimes demeaning way-- either as the Dragon Lady or as the exotic creature that will willingly do anything to satisfy men's needs.

But along came Shigeta, a handsome leading man with his deep, sexy voice and presence. He made women swoon. He went against the grain of our society's image of Asian males -- unsexy, geeky and unattractive. With our unfortunate pop-culture tendency to turn screen heroes into role models, Shigeta was the only male role model who looked a little bit like me and a whole generation of Asian boys.

Yeah, "Flower Drum Song," written by two white guys, Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rogers, was a bit cheesy but it was also groundbreaking in its use of an Asian cast instead of having white actors play the roles in yellow-face and taped-back eyes. Credit the producers for insisting on Asian actors, singers and dancers play the roles.

What was amazing was that the rest of the populace, no matter what race, was also drawn to the musical and its story of culture clash, mistaken identity and love-overcoming-all. Somehow, along the way, despite its financial success, Hollywood never attempted anything like it again.

Thank you Mr. Shigeta for being a bright light as I came of age. He was a reminder that we can aspire to be more than the "acceptable professions" of doctors, engineers or businessmen (or, in my case, an architect). We can take risks. We can be actors, artists, poets, writers, singers, dancers or whatever else we want to be.

Imelda Marcos' story is made for theater

When the Marcoses were in power in the Philippines, they banned the musical "Evita" because the parallels to the dual dictatorship was too obvious. It was perhaps inevitable that Imelda's rags-to-riches story - with her penchant for memorable quotes, infamous shoe collection, a reputed affair with actor George Hamilton and a love for the glamor and spotlight - end up on the Broadway stage.

"Here Lies Love" returned to Broadway July 9 for an open-ended run after garnering rave reviews last year.

Even with the uncertain future of George Takei's "Allegiance" and the too-short-of-a-run of the Bruce Lee musical, which starred Filipino-American martial artist/dancer Cole Horibe, Asian dancers and singers will have more than their normally limited number of opportunities to portray Asians in revivals of Miss Saigon and The King and I. Slowly, in little baby steps, producers are starting to cast Asians in roles that don't specifically call for an Asian actor.

Plans are afoot to put up productions of the Marcos musical in London and San Francisco. I can't wait when it comes to San Francisco, which was the center of anti-Marcos activities in the U.S. during the 21 year reign of the dictator.

Deep in the middle of the anti-Marcos movement in the U.S. was the Philippine News, where I honed my journalistic chops as a layout artist, proofreader, columnist, reporter and editor. Led by fiery editor and publisher Alex Esclamado, some of the stories that we printed about the despots'  regime seemed so fantastical that mainstream media couldn't believe it and as a result, the PhilNews suffered a credibility problem it could never overcome.

However, when the dictatorship fell, and the horrors of that rule were fully exposed, and western reporters began reporting on the Philippines dictatorship, especially by Phil Bronstein with the San Francisco Examiner -- only then did the U.S. media realize that things were even worst than what was reported by PhilNews. Reporting by US media, usually using Esclamdo's contacts and sources, eventually put pressure on the Marcoses.

Many of the people who walked in picket lines, wrote letters, made films, wrote scathing commentaries and risked their businesses, reputations and lives working against the dictator still live in the Bay Area. It will be interesting to see if they join the audience to sing along or dance with Imelda and Ferdinand in the highly  interactive production where the audience become part of the story. At various times during the show they are fellow nightclub dancers, Filipino voters and finally they become the masses that became the "People Power" that dethroned the dual dictators.

The production wanted to move into a mainstream theater but the physical requirements of the show, ie. no seats in the orchestra section, precluded any of the traditional venues. And that's a problem the show will have when it moves to London in October. Unfortunately, there are not many venues in SF that can accommodate the production. (How about the vacant Palace of Fine Arts? Imelda would love the irony of finally winding up in a palace again.)

The musical is NOT an ode to the dictatorship. It is NOT a history lesson. It is a musical that offers an unapologetic look back at an era in the Philippines that is still having repercussions on the political  scene. 

We may not have brought down the final curtain on the Marcos story. Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos' son, Bong Bong, has been elected President of the Philippines in 2022 after extensive rewriting of history and the collective memory loss of voters, many who were born after the reign of the conjugal dictatorship.

Editor's Note: Having not seen the musical, I can't give a review, but here is a sampling of reviews from the early production.

Here's a review from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/06/18/here-lies-good-stuff/

And a review from the Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/theater/review-here-lies-love-is-a-swirling-dynamic-first-ladys-biography-to-a-disco-beat/

Is America ready for a TV show with Asian leads?

Could ABC's new television show featuring an Asian American family be the series I've been waiting for since the 1950s? I'm hoping it is.

All props to Mindy Kaling for "The Mindy Project" but I suspect mainstream America never thought of her as Asian after her long run in "The Office." There are two ways to battle stereotypes: one is to play down the differences demonstrating that we're all the same with the same flaws, same wants, and same dreams and goals; the other way is to bust the stereotypes wide open.

The Mindy Project depicting a young woman looking for love, looking for respect and career success, clearly is using the former approach. From the looks of the trailer and other sneak peeks, FOB is going for the latter approach.

The sitcom is based on the childhood of chef and restaurateur Eddie Huang as he grew up in Orlando, Florida in the 1990s. "Little Eddie," (how can you not like that name?) is also a bling-wearing, swearing hip-hop fanatic, a far cry from the nerd stereotype most caucasian Americans have of Asian students. The lead character is the son of fellow blogger Jeff Yang and he writes:

"The show is like nothing you will have ever seen before on television. If it makes it to the air, it will blow minds, raise eyebrows and, to quote a line that my son says as Little Eddie, 'change the game.'" A game-changer, eh? That's a lot to put on one single show. But if you consider the scarcity of Asian roles on TV and the movies, much less, fully-rounded characters, its hard not to think in those terms.

I remember the first attempt - "All American Girl" starring Margaret Cho. That was a dismal failure when producers tried to turn Cho into an all-American girl. It didn't last a season and is one of the big regrets of the comedienne.

I faithfully watched it, even when it wasn't funny, out of loyalty and eagerness to see it succeed, as if I counted in the Nielsen ratings.
Since then, a few inroads have been made by Asian actors, but roles for Asian actors have been far and few between and never as the main roles.

I may seem to make too much of media portrayals of Asians but the media -- TV, movies, commercials and print --- is where most Americans gain their impressions of unfamiliar situations, countries and people -- even if it's crazy and fantastic. There are people out there who are preparing for a zombie apocalypse, for goodness sake!

But more importantly, the media is where stereotypes are born and reinforced. The quiet, studious image is one that I've fought against all my life. Not that that's a negative stereotype, but there is so much more to individuals that people overlook because of the first impression that's made. Many times, that first impression is made before they even meet you ... because of that damn stereotype playing on the silver screen or the boob tube: always the sidekick, not the hero; always the doctor's assistant, not the surgeon; always the submissive one, not the leader; the friend, but not the best friend; always the nerd, not the hiphop fanatic.

Its taken 20 years for a major network to attempt an Asian family comedy again. And I'll probably watch it out of loyalty and curiosity. For sure I'll be pulling for it. I just hope its funny and the audience is laughing "with" -- not "at" -- the characters.

The month of May is . . .

I'd be remiss not to mention that May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. Let's hope next year at this time we'll be talking about the second season of Fresh Off the Boat.

The cast of "Fresh Off the Boat." Will non-Asians be able to relate?