Helen Saint Addresses ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ Casting Discourse – ryan

Darren criss as Oliver.
Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Maybe Happy ending‘S Run During the 2024–25 Broadway Season was the ultimate feed-bood underdog Story, but now the show is facing the Controversy for Casting a White Actor, Andrew Barth Feldman, to Replace Darren Criss in the Show’s Lead AS the robot Oliver. The Tony-Winning Production Announched on July 24 that Feldman (No Hard Feelings) Wauld be Jaining the show for nine Weeks alongside his girlfriend and current Star Hellenic J. Shen. The seaul-me Musical was celebrated by fans for it is Majority-Asian Cast, and Criss Made History in June and Became the First Asian Actor to Win Best Actor in a Musical at the Tony Awards. Now, Fans and Members of the Asian American Theater Community Alike Are Voicing Criticisms Over Oliver Being Played by A White Actor, Embroily in Discourse. Below, a full breakdown of the Very Human Dialogue Including a STEETEENT FROM SHA and One from the Writers.

In the days after feldman’s Casting was first revealed, Both fans and members of theater industry expressed Disappointment. ACTOR BD Wong Wrote a Statement on Facebook on July 30, formatted as a draft of a letter to the editor for the New York Times. “Some Say ‘Robots Know No Race,’ Or Fixate on (and Labor to Justify) What ‘Robots’ Are or Aren’t, Sure, But Mhe‘s world actually suports the use of actors who’ll deliver us to that korean place, “he argted. If he’s not, though, he will Clash with the ‘korea-verse.’ In this World, Written Korean Language Taks Up Visual Space; A Korean Man Listens to American Jazz Croners Because they Transport Him. Ifboon (Oliver’s Trusty Houseplant Pet) With A Cactus and rename Him ‘Dakota,’ It Wold Also Disrupt This Meticulous Korean World. ” He added, “Advocating for One’s Own Representation is stultifyingly self-debasing. No, we don’t want to ‘get somebody fired.’ We must Express, though, how Painful it is to be passed over, yet how to it we’ve Become. How Rare ‘Asian Shows’ Are. ”

The Asian American Performers Action Coalition, Which Received the 2022 Honorary Tony Award for Its Work Advocating for DIVERSITY IN, released a Statement On July 30 Expressing “Profound Disappointment at the Broadway Production Maybe Happy ending‘s decision to cast a non-aanhpi actor in the role of oliver. ” The Statement Described Mhe nor “Creating a rare opportunity for aanhpi actors to play Both leading and supporting roles in it its Original broadway cast and setting the precedent for Future Productions.” The Statement Continue, “Instead, a Different precedent has ben set; one that de-amphasizes cultural specificity and the opportunities for a farten excluded population that come with it. Though we have long ben ben expert to view who stories populated by Only AS ‘Universal,’ Stories About People Like Us That Populated by People Like Us Are Considered Universal Enough. ”

Conrad ricamora, a tony nominee in 2025 for Oh, Mary!did not directly address the casting but instead postted on Instagram On July 28 That He was Creating A Scholarship for Asian American Male Actors Called “The Right to Be.” “There’s a lot of Pain Right Now,” he wrote in the Announcement. “Pain from Being Told – Subtly and Explicitly – that we don’t belong. Pain From Watching History Rekeat itself, even we fight for representation. The Show’s Director, Michael Arden, COMMENDED, “🙌 Yes! You are Incredible! ❤️”

St. Said the discourse has ben an “Immenssely challenging moment with my home with andrew, and in this building filled with a/pi folks” on July 31. “I think is an an objettivly hard thing to do, but i would think we’re to do in the moment. I acknowledge that we can’t control how the show is received and the impact that has haad. Our Show from Our Community. Mourning that along with the community. ”

“I don’t know what’s forward but to have this opportunity to play opposite my favorite in the world for 9 Weeks, who happy to be perfect for the role is a moment of joy for me,” she contuded, no Changes to the Casting As of Yet.

Break Maybe Happy ending Team Responded to the Controversy for the First Time on July 31 with a staff from the show’s author, Hue Park and Will Aronson, Posted to Instagram. “We have wrote a show about robots so we are in intimately with the most basic humanities of love and los, creating the roles of oliver and claire to the universal questations,” they wrote. “They were meant to be products created by a global company, and so never bore korean names, in the korean version of the show. At the Same time, we underestand that for many in the aap Heard How Strongly People Connected to That Representation, If it Wasn’t Our Original Intert, and How This Casting Decision Has Re-Old Old Wounds. “

Current Standby in Maybe Happy ending Christopher James Tamayo Communed on the Post “The Online Discourse Has Lost The Full”: “Really Can’t Help that I’m Asian. I can’t help that i’m here. ENTIRY OF OUR INDUSTRY, swimming at the expes of the Very Real Artists and Real People Working in the Building to Help Tell This Story. “

As of now, Feldman Will Still Be Taking on the Role As Expective. “We fell in love with andrew’s take on the roles of Oliver when he appeared as the reader in Hellenic J. St. St. Audition Tape, so to have Him join her bestery is inverted a special Treat, and a pairing we feel audiences Will love as we (and the) will,” Park, “aron,” Jointly Said in a Statement at the time. “At its core, Maybe Happy ending is a story about the longing for the connection and the complexities of Being Human (and Helperble, and Vegetable) – universal themes transcend all backgrounds. We’re proud to continue embrace infinite and excitation positivities in casting, and to showcase this one as that we welcomes different interpretations and live experiences. ” His Run in the Show Begins September 2 and Will Last for Nine Weeks. Maybe Happy ending Will have to make another Casting Choice.