MAYBE HAPPY ENDING Reviews- Page 38

[Ensemble1698878795]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 2:04am

BorisTomashevsky said: "“It's absolutely baffling they didn't just go with someone of 1/4 or 1/2 asian decent who is white passing like Darren. This seems to stem just because he is dating the lead actress over anything they used for their Tony voting.”

For the third time I’ll say there’s offering and then there’s accepting. Before offering, a person has to audition and be able to do what it requires technically. Even then, a person might not want to audition at all because replacing in a musical is not the aim of some performers. Especially when the first actor won an award. Even if the show is a smash hit. It’s just not an option for some actors and their agents.

Piser might have been offered and might have turned it down, because someone like him likely wants to shape a career where he isn’t known as the Eurasian who replaces the other Eurasian.

Sweeney Todd went through multiple offers before Tveit and Foster accepted, and you can tell that just by seeing how Wrong they were for the parts. A Sweeney and Lovett from a dinner theatre in Arkansaswould have been more appropriate.

And yes I’m also wondering why you haven’t been moderated."

Regardless. It is on the integrity of the creative team to find a replacement who matches the AAPI campaign they preached. No one is seeing MHE for Darren at this point. The show won the Tony, that’s why folks are curious. We can come up with excuse after excuse or we can demand they do better. Which is rightfully the movement right now. 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 2:11am

Ensemble1698878795 said: "BorisTomashevsky said: "Piser would sell less tickets than Andrew is selling. That would be a death sentence. He’s just another three-name who’s done Boq and a couple of flops."

Trust me Andrew isn’t a name folks know in middle America. Andrew could also be a death sentence and your point would be mute. You’re missing the point but then again I forgot you’re racist and don’t care!"

*moot

Please cut and paste one example of me being racist. It seems to me the only racism is coming from the screamers, calling for a modern day artistic segregation.

Please cut and paste one example of “the AAPI campaign they preached”.

Updated On: 8/3/25 at 02:11 AM

[KrupYou]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 8:41am

This story is really picking up speed. MAGA outlets have discovered it and are running with it.....

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 10:01am

Johnny just made a whole lot of enemies. But he also demonstrates that what I said isn’t far from accurate and that more people than you’d think are okay with the casting:

‘In private, many on Broadway are largely OK with [the white guy being cast]. The most common refrain I’ve heard is: “Well, they’re robots.”’

https://nypost.com/2025/08/02/entertainment/broadway-is-in-a-bizarre-uproar-over-the-race-of-an-actor-playing-a-robot/

And if you REALLY want some twisted panties this Sunday, go read the comments on the Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DM5Cj8utLEk/

Updated On: 8/3/25 at 10:01 AM

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 10:15am

Well, yes, and that’s why the minority affected by it has been speaking out about it. This country and industry have a reputation of not supporting members of the Asian American community. There’s also the model minority myth where they think Asians won’t speak up about things out of fear. Since there are way too many examples of unfairness in theatre, it’s 2025 and AAPIs deserve to be heard how they are affected by decisions like this. Nine weeks may sound like a short amount of time, but even one performance sets a precedent.

Boris, you may believe you’re not racist, but your views regarding race are certainly antiquated. Also, no one uses or identifies as “Eurasian” anymore.

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 11:39am

Are there seriously no mods left on this ****ing site?

[hicaesar]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 11:56am

What about the representation and celebration of interracial couples? 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 12:21pm

There's plenty of representation of interracial couples. You see it far more often than Asian actors are cast as leads (and when one actually is, the other lead won't be). Eva Noblezada with Reeve Carney. Eva Noblezada with Jeremy Jordan. Eva Noblezada with any number of Cliffs in Cabaret. Nicole Scherzinger with all but one of the Joe and Max understudies (and that one exception was quickly shuffled back into the ensemble). (And of course there's the current Gypsy casting, the Sally/Cliff casting until the current cast, most of the Moulin Rouge casting...) Interracial couples are not starving for representation. (Indeed, considering how many people claim they had no idea Darren Criss was part-Asian, you must have thought the show had interracial casting already...so maybe it's time for unmistakably Asian couple, which is almost never seen on Broadway?)

Updated On: 8/3/25 at 12:21 PM

[YankeeDani]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 1:21pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "“It's absolutely baffling they didn't just go with someone of 1/4 or 1/2 asian decent who is white passing like Darren. This seems to stem just because he is dating the lead actress over anything they used for their Tony voting.”

For the third time I’ll say there’s offering and then there’s accepting. Before offering, a person has to audition and be able to do what it requires technically. Even then, a person might not want to audition at all because replacing in a musical is not the aim of some performers. Especially when the first actor won an award. Even if the show is a smash hit. It’s just not an option for some actors and their agents.

Piser might have been offered and might have turned it down, because someone like him likely wants to shape a career where he isn’t known as the Eurasian who replaces the other Eurasian.

Sweeney Todd went through multiple offers before Tveit and Foster accepted, and you can tell that just by seeing how Wrong they were for the parts. A Sweeney and Lovett from a dinner theatre in Arkansaswould have been more appropriate.

And yes I’m also wondering why you haven’t been moderated."

It's about integrity and morals. Something you clearly have none of. 

[YankeeDani]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 1:23pm

HeyMrMusic said: "Well, yes, and that’s why the minority affected by it has been speaking out about it. This country and industry have a reputation of not supporting members of the Asian American community. There’s also the model minority myth where they think Asians won’t speak up about things out of fear. Since there are way too many examples of unfairness in theatre, it’s 2025 and AAPIs deserve to be heard how they are affected by decisions like this. Nine weeks may sound like a short amount of time, but even one performance sets a precedent.

Boris, you may believe you’re not racist, but your views regarding race are certainly antiquated. Also, no one uses or identifies as “Eurasian” anymore."

Exactly. Boris using the argument of "well most people agree with me" shows how blind and ignorant he is. Thank you for this post. 

[YankeeDani]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 1:30pm

hicaesar said: "What about the representation and celebration of interracial couples?"

 

Are we in the 1980's?  

[Idiot]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 2:34pm

binau said:  "This is why if there is an appropriate opportunity to ringfence a leading role for an Asian man in a musical ESPECIALLY one that isn’t playing into traditional Asian culture stereotypes it’s a godsend for some of these men who can finally feel there is a place for them without the ongoing frustration of how their ethnicity, which they had no choice or control over, can limit their careers."

Thanks for this.  It moved my needle on this topic a bit.  

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 2:41pm

Dani, please give one example of the absence of my integrity and/or morals.

MrMusic, please give one example of how my views on race are antiquated. Also, the word Eurasian was absolutely used by Asians and Eurasians alike during my time traveling in Asia.

Everyone might enjoy this casting notice from June 2024 which states: “[OLIVER] Character is male (cis, transgender or non-binary), 20s—30s, any ethnicity.” The notice with “Asian” written in it, shared on this forum and by the Oracle in his video, is from 2019. For 2024, both Oliver and Claire were updated to “any ethnicity”.

Here’s an image link to the notice: https://imgur.com/a/HU8ROzF

https://www.broadwayworld.com/equity-audition/MAYBE-HAPPY-ENDING--Broadway--Maybe-Happy-Ending-Broadway-LLC-2024-43323?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwL8jFFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHrNdLz4GEjoc5mKeGwGNhe3584hmiC7UoN2IIVGHQ2v0c5uBVTRPSD31iF6B_aem_EetL-QBV3kdEpWsoiv_FSw

Enjoy your time in the show, Andrew.

Oracle, you may want to update your next video with this more recent casting notice. I like your singing voice so another parody song might be nice too.  

Updated On: 8/3/25 at 02:41 PM

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 3:25pm

GottaGetAGimmick420 said: "Are there seriously no mods left on this ****ing site?"

Just say something that America’s sweetheart, Sutton Ross, doesn’t like and the moderators will instantly appear, like magic! 

[Huss417]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 3:46pm

Like so many other threads here (with the best of intentions) goes off the rails because 1 or 2 people feel the need to. It's unfortunate.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 4:04pm

Bwaygurl2 said: "Yankee dani, please stop quoting the troll. Many of us have it blocked because we don't want to see his crap. You can respond without quoting if you must,but you are just giving the troll oxygen."

Thank you for saying this. I've been avoiding the thread for this very reason, and only ventured a page back to catch binau's post that I missed.

Also, I see Zachary Piser mentioned. If it hasn't been noted, while he would be great, he's unavailable. He's scheduled to be in a show at LaJolla from 8/19-9/21. So that's one non-casting that's excusable.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMIx8wny_JO/

(Which just leaves every other Asian actor available. Because the idea that they auditioned and made offers to every possible Asian actor in New York, were turned down by all of them, so had to go with the star's boyfriend, is ridiculous.)

Updated On: 8/3/25 at 04:04 PM

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 4:11pm

Can someone please tell ForgettableUserName that just because actors may be “available”, they may not have what the role requires in acting or movement or singing. And they may not want to replace. 

Not that that matters, as the 2024 casting notice clearly states “Any ethnicity”. So if all the screamers could please start cleaning up their toys as their argument is entirely fraught…

Updated On: 8/3/25 at 04:11 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 8/4/25 at 1:51am

Binau, thank you for your post. We don't always (or often) see eye-to-eye on things, but everything you say in it is on point.

Asian actors have repeatedly expressed through the past two weeks (and again, FOR DECADES) that they can't even get in the room. That producers and casting directors won't even see them for most parts that aren't written for a specific race (and sometimes not even then!), especially for leading roles, for the exact reasons you describe. The industry doesn’t consider them romantic leads. Earlier in this thread I noted how hard it was for Asian actors, meaning men, to be cast as leads; based on the quotes, Boris evidently came up with a list of a whopping 10 Asian performers who recently played leading roles, which unsurprisingly was something like 7 women and 3 men (or 8 and 2), which only proved the point. Asian actors have fewer opportunities at leading roles than even Asian actresses. (Wow. 10 whole people...)

There are always anecdotal evidence and exceptions people can point to, but they don’t refute the actual lived experiences people have shared and the bigger picture. Telly Leung (who called out MHE and the casting decision) is one of the actors cast as the Phantom in Masquerade, which is great. In the 35 years Phantom was on Broadway, how many Asian actors played the part of someone who wears a mask and facial makeup the whole time, so whose ethnicity really shouldn’t matter? Kevin Gray early in the run, and then... Did it really take until a production that cast six deliberately diverse Phantoms to get another Asian actor in the role? (Of course Raoul is the romantic lead of that show. Masquerade only has three, so they went white/black/Latino. How many Asian Raouls in those 35 years on Broadway? Kevin Gray again, and then…. )

So many people are deflecting by saying robots don’t have races. The point is this is a musical set in South Korea. If ever there were a show that could cast Asian performers for the lead roles, whatever they are, this is certainly it. Instead, the first chance/replacement they got, they immediately went with a non-Asian performer—who has played multiple lead roles and will certainly have the opportunity to do so again, because those doors aren’t being slammed in his face—for the romantic lead of a musical set in South Korea. Several people in this thread have fervently defended Feldman’s right to play this part. I wonder how many of them are equally outraged at the lack of opportunities allowed Asian actors for roles he would have no trouble being seen for, and think it's just as unfair for them as they say it would be for Feldman not to play this one?

Updated On: 8/4/25 at 01:51 AM

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 8/4/25 at 3:34am

For some context: Broadway has a long history of yellow face and whitewashing, where Caucasian men played leading Asian roles: David Wayne as Sakini, the Okinawan in ''The Teahouse of the August Moon''; Larry Blyden as Sammy Fong  in ''Flower Drum Song''; Cedric Hardwicke as Asano, the Japanese businessman in ''A Majority of One,'' etc. In 1990, "Miss Saigon" claimed it had made a ''worldwide search'' to find an Asian to play the Engineer, but after Equity approved Jonathan Pryce for Broadway, it admitted that no such search had been held. (In 2014, Mackintosh acknowledged that he misjudged how much of an issue Pryce's casting would be in New York and now accepts that those who argued that the character should be played by an actor of Asian descent had a valid point.) For decades, that kind of inequitable casting deprived Asian male actors the opportunities and the plum roles they deserved.

In ''Maybe Happy Ending,'' there finally was a leading-man role where Darren Criss became the first Asian-American man to win Leading Actor in a Musical in the 78-year history of the Tony Awards. Set in Korea, the cast was, except for Dez Duron, all Asian-American, including Criss' two understudies: Stephen Huynh and Christopher James Tamayo. The Asian-American community embraced  the Tony-winning ''Maybe Happy Ending'' with love and pride as a sign of progress, and the show said it celebrated Asian representation, notably during Asian Heritage Month. 

And at the very first chance, Criss' go-to replacement in this historic role ... is a Caucasian? There were NO Asian-American actors, let alone Criss' understudies, worthy of the role and responsibility? Now, some are defending one Caucasian actor's chance to play Oliver, but where's the outrage for the generations of Asian-Americans who never got a fair shot on Broadway? It's sad that some folks can't sympathize and see why this was such a slap in the face to Asian-American actors and the AAPI community. This casting also aggravates the ongoing Catch-22: You'll never get more Asian-American male stars if you don't develop and cast them in star-making parts. Somehow, Broadway affords these rare opportunities to young Asian women (like Lea Salonga in "Miss Saigon," Helen J Shen in "Maybe Happy Ending" ) but almost never to young Asian men.

Folks should read Will Aronson and Hue Park's statement, but also the accompanying reactions, such as:

Another.jason: Absolutely disappointed in this. Riding on the coattails of marketing this heavily as an AAPI representation at the Tony’s and now immediately casting the most commonly seen type of white actors in such a titular role is regressive. No amount of your excuses will convince any of us that this is not whitewashing.

Also, here’s the pre-Broadway character description that was published. It’s quite different [than] what you posted:

[OLIVER] Character is male (cis, transgender or non-binary), 20s-30s, Asian. Boyish and innocent appearance. A robot, specifically an obsolete .Helperbot

Kiangelos: On may 9th, you guys posted, "Maybe Happy Ending is proud to be a part of rejoicing Asian representation on Broadway ✨ As we celebrate diverse voices on stage..." but now asian representation wasn't the intent with this show?

Blondeasianpole: This is just painful & sad - and not an apology. I’m sorry for ABF [Andrew Barth Feldman] & I do recognize his talent. I want him to have more opportunities & I would love to see him in those other opportunities. But I would feel utterly betrayed to see white theater-goers flock to see MHE [Maybe Happy Ending] for ABF & for the producers to be rewarded in the box office for this blatant yellow face betrayal. Asian actors are worth hiring & deserve a place for their talents. We celebrated MHE as groundbreaking for this reason & we find out you didn’t even mean to do it??!?!? Ouch.
 

Updated On: 8/4/25 at 03:34 AM

[bear88]

Posted: 8/4/25 at 5:16am

Maybe it’s my own history of seeing shows in the San Francisco Bay Area, where a few more plays and musicals about the Asian or Asian- American experience pop up, but I have frequently been struck by stellar performances by Asian-American actors and then wondered, ‘Why isn’t this guy a star?’ - Joe Ngo in a Berkeley Rep production of Cambodian Rock Band, James Seol in an ACT production of Vietgone, Nick Nakashima in a production this year of Pacific Overtures.

It’s not an easy business, and two of the actors I listed are older, but I guess it struck me because those three performances are among my favorites in recent years. Obviously, all three parts had to be played by an Asian male because they are all historical plays or musicals set mostly or exclusively in Asian countries.

Will Aronson and Hue Park come across as sincere people, and it’s hardly my place as a white theatergoer to question a Korean writer. But what does strike me as disappointing is the idea that Maybe Happy Ending’s status as a universal story is somehow less universal if the Korea-set story keeps using Asian actors on Broadway. That is how they opened the show, with the stars and understudies being of Asian descent (with the concession that many people think Darren Criss is white). If they really wanted to avoid all that, they could have set their story in America.

But they didn’t, and one thing writers forget is that once they release their work into the world, it’s no longer solely theirs. The musical belongs to the audience too.

I understand Aronson and Park’s argument and it’s not their job to make up for all of Broadway’s past missteps. They have a show to promote, and their ambitions are high, that Maybe Happy Ending won’t just recoup but will become a long-running classic, performed everywhere by anyone. But I can hardly blame Asian-American actors and writers for thinking: Again? Already?

The producers will make the decisions they think best and people can have an honest discussion about the issues raised. There is certainly not unanimity, even among Asian-American performers, about this issue - and killing the show hardly seems like an optimal outcome.

Nothing about this is easy, and I feel badly for everyone involved, because Maybe Happy Ending is a lovely musical.

Updated On: 8/4/25 at 05:16 AM

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 8/4/25 at 8:42am

I will say, as someone who knows people in these lead offices, the vibe there and around this show amid this controversy is dark and stormy. However, they are all white -- so I don't know how they didn't see this coming? I digress. Just hope the producers of other asian musicals are watching and learning.

[hicaesar]

Posted: 8/4/25 at 9:35am

MemorableUserName said: "Which just leaves every other Asian actor available. Because the idea that they auditioned and made offers to every possible Asian actor in New York, were turned down by all of them, so had to go with the star's boyfriend, is ridiculous.)"

It's also ridiculous to say that "every other Asian actor" would be a good fit for this role. Naturally they had options - Steven and Christopher being the first 2 obvious options. But to say that literally any asian actor in NYC would be better in this role is a crazy statement. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/4/25 at 9:52am

This was likely the thought process: The guy is dating the current lead. He's somewhat of a name. He seems like a good fit for the role. I think that's likely all the though that went into it.

[yyys]

Posted: 8/4/25 at 12:47pm

Kennedy Kanagawa pointed out in his stories last week the Newsweek interview with Darren Criss in which Darren said:

"But, you know, after this original cast is done with their time in the show, I love that we can dare to have a non-Asian cast, as opposed to the other way around."  Kennedy responded with: "How daring".

The full interview here: https://www.newsweek.com/2025/06/13/tony-nominee-darren-criss-miracle-that-maybe-happy-ending-2077612.html

 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/4/25 at 1:00pm

yyys said: "Kennedy Kanagawa pointed out in his stories last week the Newsweek interview withDarren Criss in which Darren said:

"But, you know, after this original cast is done with their time in the show, I love that we can dare to have a non-Asian cast, as opposed to the other way around." Kennedy responded with: "How daring".

The full interview here:https://www.newsweek.com/2025/06/13/tony-nominee-darren-criss-miracle-that-maybe-happy-ending-2077612.html

"

Apparently it was daring, based on the response it’s received. So Kennedy’s sarcasm is misplaced. 

I’d love to know what black and brown actors are saying about all this behind closed doors. I wonder if the Asian actors would agree with what’s being said in those conversations.

Many of you are now going to try to report this comment as racist, but sadly for you there isn’t an ounce of racism in it.