Theater Hall American Broadway broadway,
There is another unknown "nickname",
"great white way" - "white" Old Line.
| Times Square white light |
In the early years, the lights on Times Square were white,
42nd Street all the way to 50th Street,
Filled with white neon lights and billboards,
Hence the name "the great white way",
However, the word has another meaning:
Even in multi-ethnic America,
The Broadway stage has always been a battlefield for white faces.
It is difficult to find the figure of minorities,
Asian actors are even rarer,
Even if it appears, it may just play a supporting role that does not speak...
Yet in this environment,
There are still such a group of excellent Asian actors,
Let the yellow skin shine on the white Broadway stage.
| Wang Luoyong |
On July 4, 1995, Wang Luoyong starred in "Miss Saigon" as the "Engineer" and appeared on the stage of Broadway in New York.
Until February 2001, "Miss Saigon" was discontinued after 10 years of performance, and the huge success of more than 2,000 consecutive performances made Wang Luoyong a well-known actor on Broadway, and won the title of "first Chinese on Broadway", becoming the most famous Chinese star on Broadway and the only Chinese actor to star in a Broadway musical.
In 1999, Wang Luoyong won the Fox Actor Award for Best Actor for this role.
| stills from the performance of "Miss Saigon" Wang Luoyong & Leah Salonga |
"Miss Saigon" tells the emotional story of the love-hate entanglement between an American soldier and a Vietnamese dancer during the war years, and is called the four famous dramas in the history of musical theater along with "Phantom of the Theatre", "Cat" and "Les Misérables".
The large poster of the Broadway version of "Miss Saigon" starring Wang Luoyong once hung in the sightseeing hall on the top floor of the World Trade Center, becoming a mecca for tourists traveling to New York.
In the more than 5 years from 1995 to 2001 when Wang Luoyong starred in "Miss Saigon", there was a saying circulating: if you have not seen Wang Luoyong acting, you are not counted as going to New York.
| Leah Salonga |
Born in the Philippines, Leah Salonga was the first Asian actor to make her mark on Broadway and become an international superstar.
In 1989, at the age of 18, Leah was discovered by Cameron Mackintosh and came to London to star in the musical "Miss Saigon", which became famous because of the role of the heroine Kim and has been internationally famous ever since.
The role won her the Laurence Oliver Award, the Tony Award, and the Drama Desk, The Outer Critics, and Theater World Awards, making her the first actress to win so many international awards for the same role.
She was also the first Asian to play Eponyn in the Broadway musical Les Misérables.
He also sang the characters of Princess Jasmine in the 1992 Disney animation "Aladdin", "Mulan" in 1998 and Mulan in "Mulan 2" in 2004. In recent years, she has also starred on Broadway in "Flower Drum Song", "Loyalty" and "Island Story", and is still active on the theater stage.
| stills from "Loyalty" |
| Huang Rongliang |
Wong was born in New York to parents from Hong Kong. Represented as a Chinese Peking Opera artist in the famous drama "Butterfly Jun", and became the first Asian actor to win the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Drama with this role.
Butterfly Jun is a play by Chinese-American playwright Huang Zhelun based on the life of Peking opera actor Shi Peipu. The story begins with the opera performance of "Madame Butterfly", which tells the story of a French ambassador to China during the Cold War, Garima, who fell in love with the Peking opera man Dan Song Liling.
| stills of "Butterfly King" |
Later, Huang Rongliang voiced the male protagonist of the Disney movie "Mulan" and starred in "You Are a Good Man Charlie Brown" on Broadway. He is also a film and television star, having starred in the films "New Father-in-Law", "Jurassic Park" and "Jurassic World".
He also has a number of well-known American drama works, including "Prison Storm", "Alien Awakening", "The Matrix", etc., and played the villain Dr. Hugo Shi Legend in "Gotham".
| "Jurassic Park" Huang Rongliang plays scientist Henry |
These Asian lights that shine on the Broadway stage have inspired more and more Asians to take to the battlefield of Broadway.
After Leah Salonga rose to Broadway, nearly 100 girls from the Philippines came to Broadway each year to compete for roles.
Today's Broadway also has more and more Asian faces, in addition to the necessary Asian characters, and even challenges traditional white characters.
Especially after the musical "Hamilton" tried to use minorities as protagonists to tell the story of the father of the United States, more theaters and producers began to actively seek out minority actors, giving them the opportunity to break through the traditional role model.
| Phillipa Soo plays Hamilton's wife |
For example, Hamilton's wife is played by a half-Chinese actor philippa soo; Phantom of the Opera also welcomes the first Asian-american Christine Ali Ewoldt; the musical "Mean Girl", adapted from the film of the same name, is also played by an Asian actor Ashley Park, who usually plays the main character played by white actors.
I believe that in the near future, this light will shine brighter and brighter.