Broadway Race Debate Ignites Over White Robot Lead
The recent casting switch in Maybe Happy Ending – the Best Musical Tony winner – has sent the Broadway community into a tailspin.
Hi, I’m Avery Sinclair, the sarcastic cynic here to cut through the buzz with no fluffy hype. Can you believe we are hashing out race politics for a character made of metal and wires?
Maybe Happy Ending, the 2060 science fiction romantic comedy by Hue Park and Will Aronson, first charmed audiences with its heartwarming tale of two defunct robots, Oliver and Claire, on a quest through Seoul. Original lead Darren Criss, who is half Filipino, snagged a Tony for his portrayal of Oliver. But when Criss stepped down, the producers tapped Andrew Barth Feldman, a white actor and real life partner of co-star Helen J. Shen, to take over the robotic circuits.
In hushed Broadway corridors many shrugged, pointing out robots lack culture or ethnicity. Yet a roar erupted online when playwright and actor BD Wong, famed for opposing Jonathan Pryce in Miss Saigon, penned an essay condemning the choice. The Asian American Performers Action Coalition piled on, arguing that roles set in Korea and tied to Asian creators deserve authentic representation. Suddenly social feeds were drowning in hot takes and trending hashtags.
Park and Aronson pushed back in an Instagram post, explaining they never wrote Oliver and Claire as culturally specific. They described their protagonists as global products, “ethnically undefined.” A press release to The New York Times echoed that sentiment, noting the flexibility in casting allows anyone to inhabit these mechanized hearts. Aronson reminded the Los Angeles Times that early workshops already saw Denée Benton, who is Black, paired with white actor Corey Cott in the same parts.
Critics of the casting argue that even if robots are cultureless, the show’s setting and its Asian writing team give subtext and context that matter. Supporters counter that rigid casting rules undermine creative freedom and reduce every role to a checkbox. It’s a debate with no clear winner, but one thing is certain – Broadway never shies away from drama.
Feldman, fresh off his praised performance in No Hard Feelings and We Had A World, will power up at the Belasco Theatre on September 2. Industry insiders predict the uproar will fizzle by curtain rise, then fall on Broadway can go back to its usual business of glitter and show tunes.
So there you have it – Broadway’s latest production is less about love in the future and more about race in the present. Cue the final curtain for this oddball controversy.
And that’s the actual drama, no assembly required.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and New York Post, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
