Asian Americans cast in national touring company of 'Hamilton'

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

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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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TGIF FEATURE: Conrad Ricamora joins Hamilton challenge

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Conrad Ricamora

CONRAD RICAMORA, one of the series regulars on television's How To Get Away With Murder, joined the online challenge launched by Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Hamilton.

The Filipino American actor challenged Lea Salonga and Ashley Park to join the challenge to sing their favorite numbers from the musical Hamilton.

RELATED: Filipino American wins Human Rights Campaign award

Ricamora, a veteran of Broadway having appeared in Tony-award winning Here Lies Love and The King and I, posted:

Taking a timeout from my social media break to accept your challenge .@mattmcgorry!!! I just donated to support the 'Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition' - an amazing group of nonprofits working to better the lives of immigrants. Your donation of $10 at prizeo.com/Hamilton will give you a chance to win 2 tickets to the LA Opening of Hamilton with flight and hotel! I challenge @ashleyparklady @iammarkbautista and @msleasalonga and anyone who can afford it, to make a donation and sing their favorite song from Hamilton! Don't forget to hashtag #Ham4All ;)

The donations coming from the challenge benefit the Immigrants: We Get The Job Done Coalition, a group of agencies providing legal assistance to immigrants. 

TGIF FEATURE: The 'Hamilton' Challenge goes viral: 'Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)'

THERE'S A LINE in the hit musical Hamilton that never fails to bring the house down: "Immigrants, we get the job done."

Although the lyrics were written before Donald Trump's election, a video has been produced to reflect the current debate over immigration. 

The new video of "Immigrants, we get the job done" was released Wednesday  (June 28) by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in time for America's birthday, July 4th, as we reflect on what makes this country great. It portrays refugees and immigrants from around the world in camps, garment sweatshops, fruit-picking fields and crowded trains. It is accompanied by a new song, set to rap lyrics, about their struggles, setbacks and contributions to society.

This election cycle has brought xenophobia and vilification of immigrants back to the forefront of US politics. This is a musical counterweight," Miranda wrote in a commentary on the music community website Genius.com.

Riz Ahmed, the British/Pakistani actor that starred The Night Of, is featured in one of the segments as Riz MC, along with rappers K'naan, Residente andSnow Tha Product, appear in the video to rap their verses as immigrants from various backgrounds work, struggle, and ultimately come together. 

"The music vid + track I always wished existed," Ahmed tweeted. "Beyond proud to be part of it."

The video, which was directed by Tomás Whitmore, is part of a social media campaign -- #Ham4All -- asking participants to sing a song from Hamilton and to make a donation to the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition,  and -- not unlike the viral Ice Bucket Challenge -- then challenge two friends to do the same, The coalition, made up of legal agencies, immigrants and civil rights groups, provides legal representation and advocacy for “immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers who come to us in search of the American Dream.”   

Entrants have a chance to win tickets to see Hamilton in Los Angeles. Famous contributors so far include Steph and Ayesha Curry, who challenged Olivia Munn and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Others who have taken part include Gina Rodriquez, Ben Stiller, Shonda Rhimes, and the cast and crew of The Beguiled.

Lin-Manuel Miranda joins Ayesha and Steph Curry in the video challenge of Immigrants (We Get The Job Done).

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Cast of Hamilton delivers a message of diversity to Mike Pence

THERE ARE some privileges to getting elected as Vice President. Gov. Mike Pence took advantage of his newly acquired position of influence by securing the-most-difficult-to-obtain tickets to the musical Hamilton.

I wonder if he got the message from the performance Friday night (Nov. 18).

For certain, he received the message from the cast. As the play ended, the actor who played Aaron Burr, Brandon Victor Dixon, acknowledged that Mr. Pence was in the audience, thanked him for attending and added, “We hope you will hear us out.” He then began to read the message written by the show's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Vice-president elect Pence, who has also advocated for funding for gay conversion therapy, got booed by a significant number of audience members. 

I wonder if Pence — who has said "Congress should oppose any effort to put gay and lesbian relationships on an equal legal status with heterosexual marriage," and "Congress should oppose any effort to recognize homosexual’s (sic) as a 'discreet (sic) and insular minority' entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws" — knew that the cast was filled with queer people, people of color, immigrants and children of immigrants.

According to one audience member, the audience gave a standing ovation during the play at the line, “Immigrants, we get the job done,” one theatergoer, Christy Colburn, wrote on Twitter.

She added: “Crowd went NUTS at King George’s lines ‘when people say they hate you’ & ‘do you know how hard it is to lead?’ He had to stop the song.”

Upon hearing of the incident, President-elect Donald Trump couldn't hold back and had this to say on Twitter on the following day:

The cast was not "harassing" Pence. I thought they were very respectful. Dixon had this to say in response:

Pence listened to the message and was seen walking out of the theater smiling. But did he HEAR the message?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Earlier versions of this post was in error. Javier Munoz did not read the message to Pence.

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