Equity and Equality on Broadway — Page 4

Jesus Christ. Unreal.

Updated On: 9/4/25 at 09:18 PM

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.

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.

Updated On: 9/4/25 at 09:43 PM

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.

Updated On: 9/6/25 at 10:05 PM

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 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!"

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, not 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 shows excitingly making 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.

Updated On: 9/7/25 at 12:02 PM

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. But you clearly don't. There is even room for 90% asian cast shows next to that (which you should celebrate but you don't), and nobody complains about that. There's space for all of it. That's how open-minded the group that you are against really is. 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: 9/7/25 at 03:11 PM