Equity and Equality on Broadway- Page 4
Equity and Equality on Broadway
#75Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/4/25 at 9:12pm
Matt Rogers said: "Yeah, here’s a subject related reply, Miss “Moderator”. You are a disgrace if you are actually Asian as you claim, and you want less Asian roles on Broadway."
Asian people with good intentions just don't want to stab white people in the back by engaging in this racist act, like the mob with bad intentions does in the MHE situation. Equity should always be a two-way street. If any percentage is off, it's theirs.
Matt Rogers
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/04
#76Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/4/25 at 9:18pm
Jesus Christ. Unreal.
Updated On: 9/4/25 at 09:18 PM#77Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/4/25 at 9:22pm
Thanks for the nice chat, I will not react on you anymore from now on.
Matt Rogers
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/04
#78Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/4/25 at 9:26pm
Seb28 said: "Thanks for the nice chat, I will not react on you anymore from now on."
No one knows who you are talking about because you are too stupid to use the quote button, although it’s pretty obvious you mean me, to which I say - Hallelujah!
Don’t worry. I’ll still call you out on your right wing racist bullsh*t. Hopefully others will too.
#79Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/4/25 at 9:27pm
Seb28 said: "I counted at least 56 of 617, which is 9,08%, which is higher than both the New York state and the USA population demographics. For contrast, the percentages of white actors compared to the populationis shockingly behind that. So what do we do now? Celebrate it or keep attacking the last white actor standing, which happens withMHE now?"
Are you able to post your breakdown? I can.
Nobody is attacking the last White Actor standing. They just feel it odd that the one show that prior centered East Asian actors in principle roles (the only one currently doing so) would decide to forgoe that after immediately winning the Tony for Best Musical. Like I said before, 3 shows are accounting for almost half of all Asian representation on Broadway out of 23 musicals. You mentioned that white representation is down below the US rate, which is true but it does actually exceed the percentage in NYC by like 9%. Even the AAPI population in the city is 5-7% above either of our numbers. Its also due to a few specific shows that are centering not white stories. Buena Vista, Hell's Kitchen, Lion King, Hamilton, Aladdin, and MJ. Its done with intention. There are still plenty of shows where White cast members make up the majority and they're heavy hitters on Broadway currently like Wicked (35/4
, Chicago (15/24), Death Becomes Her (16/25), Mamma Mia (19/31) Just In Time (16/19), etc. The chart is up there for your reference.
#80Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/4/25 at 9:43pm
TheatreFan4 said: "Nobody is attacking the last White Actor standing. They just feel it odd that theone show that prior centered East Asian actors in principle roles
You mentioned that white representation is down below the US rate, which is true but it does actually exceed the percentage in NYC by like 9%. ."
I didn't type it out like you in such a beautiful chart, I just counted. And it's not about the city percentages but also New York State and the USA because people from all over the state and the country audition for Broadway shows. In any case, when looking at both of our findings, there is no need to demand more roles for this group at this point. Asian people with good intentions just don't want to stab white people in the back by engaging in this racist act, like the mob with bad intentions does in the MHE situation. Equity should always be a two-way street. If any percentage is off, it's theirs.
There is no controversy about this show for people who want equality. Which is the majority of the audience. The audiences will see the celebration of a 90% asian cast, which is great and 2 lead robot roles that look like a mixed race couple in the way it has been cast so far. 99% of the audience thinks Criss is white too. And the role description said "All Ethnicities" from the start. That's all there is to it.
#81Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/4/25 at 9:53pm
Seb28 said: "I didn't type it out like you in such a beautiful chart, I just counted.In any case, when looking at both of our findings, there is no need to demand more roles at this point. Asian people with good intentions just don't want to stab white people in the back by engaging in this racist act, like the mob with bad intentions does in the MHE situation. Equity should always be a two-way street. Ifany percentage is off, it's theirs.
Oh so you just... kept all those numbers in your head that fast after I posted mine? Because it's kind of a lot of websites to go through and count up that you had a number so quickly. Thing about the numbers being written out like I did is it tells a more complete story. You just wanted to provide numbers and say that's enough when the reality is that it is not. You said the second part of your post 3 times now in 2 different threads, don't you feel like you're spinning your wheels and not getting any traction? Again, this was the only show on Broadway with East Asian leads having just won the Tony for Best Musical. I know you like to act like that doesnt mean anything, but you know that it does. There's no demanding, we all hold no power at all as we can see ABF opened in the show. Those buying tickets do not care about the situation because it does not concern them. We're allowed to have these conversations and not just have them shut down because "there's enough" when the reality is far more nuanced than that and you know that but you choose to dismiss that.
#82Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/4/25 at 10:05pm
TheatreFan4 said: "Oh so you just... kept all those numbers in your head that fast after I posted mine?
We're allowed to have these conversations and not just have them shut down because "there's enough"."
You are aware of the fact that we have discussed all of this weeks ago? I used the notepad when we all were counting back then. There already was a general consensus about the numbers and percentages.
And yes, we are definitely allowed to have these conversations, but the already adequate number of roles is not the point here. Nobody is complaining about that. There is space for that. The problem is the complaining about the last white person standing in a 90% asian cast. Especially because we know how skewed the numbers already are for that group, more skewed than any other group. Equity should always be a 2-way street.
#83Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/5/25 at 11:54am
BorisTomashevsky said: "There are more unemployed gay white male actors in New York than there are unemployed Asian male actors of any persuasionin New York. We all know this.
It is therefore harder for the individual gay white maleto get a job on Broadway than it is for the individual Asian male of any persuasion."
I feel like my willingness to engage in this conversation is finally winding down, but I have to point out this is not a sound logical conclusion at all. Let's say there are 100 people in group A (here standing in for gay white male actors), 20 (or 20%) of whom achieve their desired success, leaving 80 "failures" in group A. And let's say there are 50 people in group B (here standing in for Asian male actors), 5 of whom (10%) succeed, leaving 45 "failures." Clearly there are many more "failures" in group A than group B, but each individual in group A had a much higher chance of success than those in group B.
#84Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/5/25 at 11:58am
Seb28 said: "There already was a general consensus about the numbers and percentages."
No, there was not such a consensus, which is why I really appreciate TheaterFan4's contribution of actual data to the conversation. We don't even have a consensus about what is the proper benchmark for comparison (city, state, country, world - I'd probably pick the NYC metro area myself). But it's certainly a good start to have actual data to look at rather than hand-waving.
BorisTomashevsky
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/30/22
#85Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/5/25 at 12:27pm
Why did they have a higher chance of success? They all have equal opportunity to audition for the role. It’s entirely possible that 25 from group B get offers. There will always be more disappointed group A performers in any universe.
And the word “offer” is very important. It takes two to tango. If Wicked has no AAPI people in the cast right now, that doesn’t mean they didn’t make offers to any.
Further, to TheatreFan’s point about Wicked not having any AAPI people in the cast… If Wicked (or any other show) had a half black, half Asian person in the company, how would that be charted? One point in each of the two columns?
You can always count on me 🎶
#86Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/5/25 at 3:04pm
BorisTomashevsky said: "Why did they have a higher chance of success? They all have equal opportunity to audition for the role. It’s entirely possible that 25 from group B get offers. There will always bemore disappointed group A performers in any universe.
And the word “offer” is very important. It takes two to tango. If Wicked has no AAPI people in the cast right now, that doesn’t mean they didn’t make offers to any.
See now you're just making statements that have no way to being verified as your way to support that its easier for Asian Gays to be hired than White Gays. You realize how insane you sound right?
Further, to TheatreFan’s point about Wicked not having any AAPI people in the cast… If Wicked (or any other show) had a half black, half Asian person in the company, how would that be charted? One point in each of the two columns?"
Almost like why I started with that caveat that this is very surface based on (largely) appearances and likely has things misattributed to different groups which is why the actual group who do this professionally takes so long.
Its why this blanket statement of "they're overrepresented!" Makes no actually sense. It's a complicated nuanced situation that some in this thread dont want to acknowledge is complicated. Or that it is so complicated that we should just throw up our arms and say things like "nobody will ever be happy!"
#87Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/5/25 at 5:20pm
BorisTomashevsky said: "Why did they have a higher chance of success? They all have equal opportunity to audition for the role. It’s entirely possible that 25 from group B get offers. There will always bemore disappointed group A performers in any universe."
I provided a hypothetical scenario in which your premises hold but your conclusion is false. Group A had 80 "failures," but each individual had a 20% chance of success; group B had fewer "failures" (45), but each individual nonetheless had a lower chance of success (10%).
My point was just to refute your reasoning; I acknowledge that this scenario might have limited bearing on any aspect of the reality of being a NYC theater actor.
#88Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/6/25 at 12:02pm
In conclusion, let us respect, value and preserve these points, the intention and vision of the actual creators of MHE:
"We wrote a show about robots so we could engage more intimately with the most basic human questions of love and loss, creating the roles of Oliver and Claire to be avatars of these universal questions. They were meant to be products created by a global company, and so never bore Korean names, even in the Korean version of the show.
Throughout the American development, we tried various approaches to casting. At some points along the journey, we cast the roles explicitly as Asian, thinking that it might help make the setting more quickly apparent. However, on seeing that, we also were not satisfied. To say that seeing *any* Asian actor on stage “quickly suggests Korea” seemed not only like a stretch, but regressive, or even offensive to the uniqueness of Korean culture.
The robot roles are ethnically undefined, and our Broadway casting breakdown reflected this. The actors were cast because they fit the roles. In Oliver/Darren’s case, it was his ability to project boyishness and innocence, with a not-leading-man-broadway-belt style of voice.
Over the last several years, we have been heartened to see Asian performers playing Evan Hansen, Orpheus, Abe Lincoln, Sally Bowles, and others. Leading roles for Asian performers have long been painfully scarce, and these shows excitingly made gestures toward universality with expansive casting, and rightly gave opportunities to actors from identity categories who previously had few options. With Maybe Happy Ending, we wanted to write a show in which every role could be played by an Asian performer, but without the intention that the robot roles always would be."
They understand what true equity/equality is. I have much respect for them.
#89Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/6/25 at 2:16pm
Again, the fact that you can rattle off nearly every Asian lead on Broadway from the last decade on one hand... kind of part of the problem...
#90Equity and Equality on Broadway
Posted: 9/6/25 at 3:11pm
The list is endless. And this is about percentages of work opportunities, not about vanity and role types, as we have discussed before. If you care about work opportunities there is another race you should be more worried about, as the skewed percentages have shown. And that's all great, there is even room for 90% asian cast shows next to that, nobody complains about that. But that doesn't give you the right to want to kick out the last white person out of a neutral role. Equity is a two-way street.
Updated On: 9/6/25 at 03:11 PMVideos