‘KPOP Composer Helen Park, Star John Yi On Musicals Representational Impact And Broadways AAPI Inclusion
‘KPOP Composer Helen Park, Star John Yi On Musicals Representational Impact And Broadways AAPI Inclusion
© Provided by The Hollywood Reporter On Sunday night, the latest Broadway finale of the K-POP hit climbed the W50 's circular staircase in Theater Square and across the upper concourse, as cheers from the packed house contrasted sharply with the heartbeat "Bang." . Off”, as in an acoustic EKG.
For those unable to secure tickets, the live feed caught the same swirl of noise (half clap, half clap, all the glow sticks) amidst a sea of bodies against the stage wall. The room's frenetic energy reflects both the messages it captured over the past few days on the show's Instagram timeline and what it hid the night before from KPOP songwriter Helen Park and her many co-stars at the entrance meeting, which she shared with Gershwin. view.
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At the show last weekend on Broadway , KPOP was given the story it deserves, with fans jumping to their favorite songs and clamoring for selfies with the cast. Years of effort that ended early, the KPOP cast became bonafide rock stars on Broadway in their final Sunday appearance.
In the same theater where big names like Jeremy O. Harris and Lin-Manuel Miranda attended the show's final run after it closed on December 6, the first production of the Korean-language Broadway musical made history again. culture. The post-show panel featured Broadway and theater industry AAPI member Park and KPOP actor Jun Yee, playwrights Hansol Jung and David Henry Hwang, and Pun Bandhu of the Asian American Performers Alliance, moderated by Kimi Yam Asian America of NBC. presence on the New York stage.
" KPOP is historic because it's only the third time in Broadway history artist AAPI has created a musical about people like us," said Hwang, the first Asian-American playwright to win a Tony Award.
He continued: "When I started directing plays in 1980, the term 'Asian-American' was not used." "White actors are still playing Asians in Yellowface. So if you look at it since that arc, there's been a lot of progress, and I think we can celebrate how great Asian American scriptwriters, artists, and actors have exploded onto the New York scene... ."
Bandhu, the actor himself, also highlighted the remarkable progress of Asian-American artists, citing data published in the Tony Award-winning organization's annual Theater Vision Report. "There has been, says David, tremendous progress. We've been doing this report for over 10 years, [and] when we started, Asian representation on Broadway was less than 1%, so we're seeing growth." "In our last report we had about 6 percent of all available roles."
But both also admit that theater has not gone far enough in creating opportunities for AAPI talent to grace the Broadway stage. Noting that at least 80 percent of The Great White Road's artists, writers, directors, and producers were white (with about 94 percent of the producers), Bando said that "Asians come out of the 'talk about race in the country' in many polite ways. polite." The result was a "failure" assessment to represent Asian creators and artists in the New York theater industry.
"Theater groups will be applauded if they increase their performance by 2% from the previous year," he said. "What we've learned from this pandemic and racial reckoning, right now, is that change shouldn't be gradual, but incremental. You can create waves of change, and you can create the change you want to see with conscious effort. Organized."
Hwang pointed to an industry trying to find colored audiences beyond its existing Broadway audience to avoid closing like the recently announced KPOP and Ain't No Mo' are struggling to stay open. "As far as Broadway goes, we still have a lot of work to do. We need to figure out how to reach that audience." “This is a show that should be on Broadway and deserves a longer run. We need to think about how to make BIPOC viewers feel welcome, even watching Ain't No Mo. ”
Often, the industry's approach to creativity and audience participation is narrow-minded and ends up trending, says Young, Whiting Award-winning playwright and director. Instead, he suggests that production spaces stop treating artists as homogeneous units and encounter them and their cultural and personal histories wherever they may be.
“Make about it, around it, invite non-Koreans or other non-Koreans and non-Asians and celebrate, but as my human experience, not as your idea of what my past life was like and what it was like. as it suddenly became now”, he opened. Come and learn. "
For composer Park and KPOP star Yi, the panel was emotional, even before viewers got up to share their experiences of the show. Among them were white male fans who, like other growing and passionate Broadway musicals, saw it three times in a short period of time. Rejecting criticism from KPOP producers for displaying "accidental" racism, he told the audience, "There are few of us who understand what they're trying to do." Another model, an ambitious young Taiwanese woman, burst into tears before asking, "How can we save this show?"
While on stage, Yi acknowledged the "test" the show faced during the preview when the cast caught COVID and had to participate in the swings, which the actor said he was "very proud of". What have you learned so far? Eight years also lies in the fact that engaging in any new and original work is a very vulnerable process, and it takes tremendous strength, courage and courage to appear in the arena every day and fight, ”he said.
In addition to the dedication and talent of the cast, Yi spoke about the show's impact on his personal understanding of his character, a journey he took in 2014. The Korean-American actor said, "This show has helped me regain my identity for many years. , eight years old, and it has a lot to do with people like Helen on the team of the show, and being able to be part of a show that celebrates who I am is something I will always cherish."
Park, who cried many times during the session, opened up about how the musical journey during her developmental period in 2014 has transformed her as a player of color. Ten years ago, when I started studying musical theater, I tried to find other successful writers. I try to follow what they do by studying all their work. It really helped, but I always felt like I had to be like everyone else. Then came the KPOP musicals .” “I really love this genre, but I never thought I would be able to write something like this for a musical. So it's something I'm really proud of [doing] everything I want to do in a musical, especially with bilingual lyrics."
The songwriter also hinted at what his trip down Broadway would be like, and ultimately what he wanted to achieve with his existence after going down the "very manly and white" route. “When I came to New York it was like a boys' club. All male composers love to drink beer and talk about the piece, and I must have felt a bit isolated. But I decided to believe that the piece could speak for itself. he said. "I don't care if I become the first Asian composer. I just say, 'I want other Koreans to be happy and feel good about it.'"
While KPOP 's involvement with Circle on the Square was short-lived, Park said he didn't want to give more space to Asians on the Great White Road. "I will not stop expressing it and I hope more people share their stories, emotions and experiences through musicals."
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