Broadway, film, and TV star BD Wong is speaking out against a recent casting change in the Tony-winning musical Maybe Happy Ending—and he’s brought over 2,400 voices with him. The futuristic love story between two robots, Oliver and Claire, made history when Darren Criss became the first Asian-American actor to win a Tony for his role as Oliver. But when Criss stepped down, the announcement that white actor Andrew Barth Feldman would take over sparked backlash from fans who argued the show is an Asian story that should keep Asian leads.
In an open letter, Wong recalled past fights over representation, including the 1990 Miss Saigon casting controversy, saying this moment feels
“as if no time has passed; as if nothing’s changed. As if no one learned anything from that racial dismissal and exclusion 35 years ago.”
He described the decision as “a hard slap in the face” to Asian actors and audiences, noting,
“No, we don’t want to ‘get somebody fired.’ We must express, though, how painful it is to be passed over, yet how used to it we’ve become. How incomprehensibly rare ‘Asian Shows’ are.”
Broadway stars Ali Stroker, Anthony Rapp, Conrad Ricamora, Joaquina Kalukango, and Telly Leung signed the letter. Support also came from Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu. Show creators Hue Park and Will Aronson acknowledged the pain the casting change has caused. However, as of now, the team behind Maybe Happy Ending has not directly responded to Wong’s letter.
