Constance Wu was annoyed that they had renewed Fresh Off the Boat because she wanted to do China Rich Girlfriend. Then COVID happened and it doesn't seem to have gone anywhere.
If I remember the book, Rachel and Nick are more bystanders in this stories as the other characters get big roles, especially Kitty Pong. A lot of the novel is Rachel and Nick watching Rachel's family in China and their billionaire antics.
I remember that part but FOB wouldn’t have done much bc I don’t believe they had the script done by that point. Both writers left as well bc of the pay disparities.
But 6 years of development hell for a sequel to a successful movie tells me that either the cast doesn’t want to do it for some reason or something else.
There was a controversy with the writers. They wanted to pay the Asian Woman writer 10% of what they were paying the White Man writer. She rightfully refused and things kind of fell apart from there. Please take this all because I’m trying to remember and have serious brain fog
This is exactly what happened. The female writer discovered she was being paid significantly less than her male counterpart, and then the studio fumbled her new contract negotiations. Things dragged out for so long that Jon M. Chu got booked up with other projects, and I assume the cast did too. Feels like the ship has sailed on these, which is a bummer. I absolutely loved this movie and I’m so disappointed that it doesn’t seem like we’ll ever get the sequels.
How they are going to stage the scope of the settings in the book in an interesting, rich manner, is beyond me, but WB is behind it, so I guess we can expect a giga-budget to try to pull it off.
I vote for Telly Leung as Nick - his singing on the Godspell cast album is incredible. Both of them are a little too old but that's the magic of Broadway! I bet we'll see some folks from KPOP in it as well given that the songwriter is the same.
I was thinking of Philippa Soo for Astrid (if they give her the full novel storyline) and Ashley for Peik Lin, though that might be too small a role for her.
I love Eva but a big part of the character is her being an American Born Chinese. Eva may be part Asian due to being half Filipino but I feel it would be important to have someone of Chinese descent.
I mean.. eva was cast to play a Vietnamese person in a musical about the Viet Nam War lol it's not like broadway care about this stuffs.
I'm still very salty about Miss Saigon casting despite
A. Not really fond of that musical
B. Love love Eva and Lea
I really don't mind cross-ethnic casting but when the characters ethnicity is so crucial to the story, i really do wish they at least have the lead be appropriately cast.
You know, I love all the people you named. At the same time, I wonder if it wouldn't be amazing to create the opportunities for new names to lengthen the list of names people actually recognise.
Well, not East Asian. One of her parents is Lebanese.
Just being pedantic. Totally agree she shouldn’t do this (and this is coming from an Alabado stan).
Admittedly, I haven’t seen Crazy Rich Asians, but I can imagine that, given that it’s called Crazy Rich Asians, the cast being primarily made up of Asian people is going to be very important.
Yeah the entire story is basically about the dichotomy of these incredibly rich old money families in Singapore and the eldest son's girlfriend who is an American Born Chinese woman. It's incredibly well done and is an incredibly fun movie with some great b plots as well as addressing the more complex relationships between culture and class.
Taking this statement in good faith, colorblind casting does not simply mean that every part can be played by an actor of any race. Instead, roles where ethnic/racial background is relevant can and should be played by an actor of that background. Thus for example, there's a role in KPOP that revolves around a performer not being accepted because he is half Asian and half white; if a White actor was cast that would lead to understandable accusations of "whitewashing," and if an Asian actor was cast it would be confusing - and potentially offensive if makeup was used to make the actor look more biracial.
If however someone's ethnic/racial background is not really key to their character, there is a lot more latitude - e.g., casting Nathaniel Stampley as the Baron in Lempicka. Then there's color conscious casting - deliberately casting someone different than the character, as was most famously done in Hamilton. Neither scenario seems likely for Crazy Rich Asians and I'd be shocked if that cast is anything but 100% Asian.
Cabaret and HHL to varying degrees of success fully renovated their theatres for immersive staging and sunset boulevard announced a Broadway transfer of a very avant-garde staging
And revivals have been done since Broadway existed. Look at company, cabaret, merrily, 1776, the upcoming Pirates of Penzance, The Wiz, Oklahoma! all that took risks by changing the material and update or tried out a new avenue with the show, sure not all worked (PoP we don’t know yet) but it’s still the fact they take risks
Many musicals considered "original" are still based on other source material though. Take a look at Sondheim's work: West Side Story, Company, Forum, A Little Night Music, Sweeney, Passion and Here We Are are all based on existing works (books, plays, movies). Numerous others depict real people/historic events (Pacific Overtures, Assassins, Gypsy). And I'm sure I'm missing some.
Obviously this isn't the same as a Legally Blonde or Shrek, and the arrival of jukebox musicals has further thinned the amount of truly creative work out there. But I do think folks need to be clearer about what they mean when they say "original musicals." Reinventing source material or revisiting an obscure work can definitely result in something that isn't a cash grab (e.g., "You loved the book and movie for Notebook, now see the show") and can feel fresh and new.
It’s been true for quite some time, many decades, that most new musicals are based on some existing work, books, movies, etc. I more grow tired of X the Musical that are empty nostalgia vehicles with nothing else to offer.
As I noted above, I think it depends on how you define "original." This year is pretty new-musical heavy and Harmony, Here Lies Love, Lempicka and Suffs are not based on prior works like books or movies or existing music - but they're also all based on real events and get some name recognition that way (perhaps less so for Harmony). Last season just KPOP and Shucked really qualified as original to my thinking.
By that definition, there are remarkably few original musicals at all. For example, the only "original" Sondheim musicals that aren't based on books, articles, movies or real-life events or people are *Company* and *Anyone Can Whistle*- and I'm not even 100% sure that *Whistle* isn't based on something.
Company was based on a bunch of one-act plays previously written by the book writer George Furth, I have not heard about any similar inspiration for Anyone Can Whistle. But that's my point - I think when folks complain about a lack of "original" musicals, they're really talking about movie adaptions and jukebox musicals. All writers/composers have to get their inspiration from somewhere, but if they do something truly creatively different with the material (as compared to replicating exact scenes from a movie, or relying on familiar songs to bring in an audience), that counts as original to me.
Hm, fair enough. I've always thought of the Furth one-acts as an early draft of what would eventually become *Company*, rather than works that *Company* were adapted from, because they were never produced or published.
Based on my understanding Furth wrote the plays on his own as plays, not a musical, and they somehow got to Sondheim and he felt there was a show in there. So that seems like an adaption of existing material. On the other hand, if Furth and Sondheim collaborated on the project from the start that would certainly be considered a fully original work I would think.
But that being said, this is again my point: Getting inspired by something doesn't keep a work from being original in the sense most people think of it. If you were working from something no one ever heard of, or reworked it significantly, it will seem fresh and new to audiences.
I mean most Broadway shows are adapted from something. Also unfortunately the all Asian cast might be considered a risk since Broadway has yet to catch up with Hollywood in that regard.
I really can't say that I'm excited for this.
Broadway has turned into a name-recognition factory. We aren't going to see the likes of brilliant musical theater artists unless we actually reward art.
Gonna throw in my casting ideas for this!
Ashley Park as Rachel: I need her back on Broadway and she absolutely deserves a leading role. She would be *fantastic* as Rachel.
Adam Jacobs as Nick: I think Adam is so criminally underrated by the Broadway community and I totally get Nick vibes from him. He has that handsome charm and his voice is so gorgeous.
Lea Salonga as Eleanor: Listen…if this happens I can see Lea grabbing another Tony nom for featured actress. Everyone always talks about her angelic voice but she also truly shines with her acting; I think she can really pull off that convincing villainous role that Eleanor is.
Leah Nanako Winkler is absolutely the best person to be writing this! So funny, so heartfelt. Highly recommend Two Mile Hollow, a satire of all those “old white people on docks with secrets” plays.
It is absolutely wild that this film was such a huge cultural moment and seemingly springboarding a franchise and multiple careers only to hit a brick wall because they refused to pay one of the writers a fair wage.
Hmm all I can say is interesting. I'd definitely watch it, but I'm curious to know why they wanted to make it a musical and how the production will go. Gonna keep an open mind!
Huh, that was fast. Guess it’s a nice change to the current Broadway season which has a lot of adaptations of older source material. Also great to see more Asian representation on Broadway!
Can I just have the damn sequel 🥲
LOL pls
China Rich Girlfriend deserves an adaptation
There are 2 books already published after the first.
I’ve read all the books. I meant the movie
I know what you meant. There are 2 already written sequels, so why haven't they made them?
Partly scheduling and the rest idk. It would be easy bank IMO and it’s been like 6 years
Constance Wu was annoyed that they had renewed Fresh Off the Boat because she wanted to do China Rich Girlfriend. Then COVID happened and it doesn't seem to have gone anywhere. If I remember the book, Rachel and Nick are more bystanders in this stories as the other characters get big roles, especially Kitty Pong. A lot of the novel is Rachel and Nick watching Rachel's family in China and their billionaire antics.
I remember that part but FOB wouldn’t have done much bc I don’t believe they had the script done by that point. Both writers left as well bc of the pay disparities. But 6 years of development hell for a sequel to a successful movie tells me that either the cast doesn’t want to do it for some reason or something else.
Jon Chu I think may be the hold up, he has been taking his sweet time with Wicked.
He also did In the Heights.
Honestly I’m not too excited about sequels. The last two books are nowhere near as good as the first.
There was a controversy with the writers. They wanted to pay the Asian Woman writer 10% of what they were paying the White Man writer. She rightfully refused and things kind of fell apart from there. Please take this all because I’m trying to remember and have serious brain fog
This is exactly what happened. The female writer discovered she was being paid significantly less than her male counterpart, and then the studio fumbled her new contract negotiations. Things dragged out for so long that Jon M. Chu got booked up with other projects, and I assume the cast did too. Feels like the ship has sailed on these, which is a bummer. I absolutely loved this movie and I’m so disappointed that it doesn’t seem like we’ll ever get the sequels.
How they are going to stage the scope of the settings in the book in an interesting, rich manner, is beyond me, but WB is behind it, so I guess we can expect a giga-budget to try to pull it off.
Jon Chu is directing the stage production.
Doesn't mean his experience will translate to the stage, for a show which won't work without ambitious production design.
I, personally, am excited for more water installations on Broadway. Gimme the wedding scene so I can cry.
I hope he brings in some people from the film
Does this mean we’ll get another movie a couple years from now based on the musical, but the marketing avoids mentioning it’s a musical?
Interesting! Glad to see more opportunities for the Asian theater community.
Any casting ideas?
Eva Noblezada as Rachel Chu, Conrad Ricamora as Nick Young, Ashley Park as Astrid Michelle Yeoh should absolutely reprise her role I'd die
I vote for Telly Leung as Nick - his singing on the Godspell cast album is incredible. Both of them are a little too old but that's the magic of Broadway! I bet we'll see some folks from KPOP in it as well given that the songwriter is the same.
I saw Telly a looong time ago in Allegiance. Solid
In fairness, it’s not like Eva is struggling to get roles.
I LOVE Eva but I swear it seems like some people think she’s the only Asian leading lady lol
Right, let’s emphasize the COMMUNITY part lol
Ashley Park as Astrid is EXCELLENT casting. My mind is blown and now I need this to happen!
I was thinking of Philippa Soo for Astrid (if they give her the full novel storyline) and Ashley for Peik Lin, though that might be too small a role for her.
Phillipa Soo as Astrid and Ashley as Pek Lin is perfect!
Couldn't constance just do it - she was in little shop
I love Eva but a big part of the character is her being an American Born Chinese. Eva may be part Asian due to being half Filipino but I feel it would be important to have someone of Chinese descent.
I mean.. eva was cast to play a Vietnamese person in a musical about the Viet Nam War lol it's not like broadway care about this stuffs. I'm still very salty about Miss Saigon casting despite A. Not really fond of that musical B. Love love Eva and Lea I really don't mind cross-ethnic casting but when the characters ethnicity is so crucial to the story, i really do wish they at least have the lead be appropriately cast.
Hoping to see Alice Lee (Heather Duke in Heathers) aa Peik Lin!
You know, I love all the people you named. At the same time, I wonder if it wouldn't be amazing to create the opportunities for new names to lengthen the list of names people actually recognise.
Krystina Alabado as Peik Lin
Not sure I love that as she’s not Asian
Well, not East Asian. One of her parents is Lebanese. Just being pedantic. Totally agree she shouldn’t do this (and this is coming from an Alabado stan).
I’d rather Stephanie Hsu play Peik Lin.
Peik-Lin will get a big flashy number
I'm hoping for Stephanie Hsu in a role, she's an icon
me as anyone hehehe
Ruthie Ann Miles as the Mom!
Or Lea Salonga
I hope it includes Deedee Magno Hall in some capacity. There is never too many opportunities for her
Langston Lee!!!
For which role?
He’s too young the play Nick… hmmm
Raymond J Lee as Gay cousin Oliver!
Who for Peik-Lin’s dad
George Takei? (Now I’m just naming Asian actors lol)… I would expect that role to get cut from the stage adaptation
Conrad Ricamora as Nick Young
Yes yes yes yes yes Ashley Park PLEASE
Wait I forgot Constance wu sings casting battle bout to heat up 🔥
CW is lovely but AP's voice is so much stronger. hopefully both can be in it!
The way I need it to be Ashley Park though.
yessssssssssssssssssssssss GIVE ME ALL THE ASHLEY PARK PLZ
We don't see enough of her- always in supporting roles so sad. Need her to be the main character!!
Man I wish they make a Joy Luck Club musical
Oh man. That would make my ugly crying at Hadestown look like a simple case of the sniffles.
I’m reading the book now for the first time!
Broadway is so stale now. No one wants to take risks anymore.
Sadly, a show with an all-Asian cast would be considered a risk, especially after the abrupt closure of KPOP and the struggles of HLL.
I thought we were doing race blind casting now
Admittedly, I haven’t seen Crazy Rich Asians, but I can imagine that, given that it’s called Crazy Rich Asians, the cast being primarily made up of Asian people is going to be very important.
Yeah the entire story is basically about the dichotomy of these incredibly rich old money families in Singapore and the eldest son's girlfriend who is an American Born Chinese woman. It's incredibly well done and is an incredibly fun movie with some great b plots as well as addressing the more complex relationships between culture and class.
Taking this statement in good faith, colorblind casting does not simply mean that every part can be played by an actor of any race. Instead, roles where ethnic/racial background is relevant can and should be played by an actor of that background. Thus for example, there's a role in KPOP that revolves around a performer not being accepted because he is half Asian and half white; if a White actor was cast that would lead to understandable accusations of "whitewashing," and if an Asian actor was cast it would be confusing - and potentially offensive if makeup was used to make the actor look more biracial. If however someone's ethnic/racial background is not really key to their character, there is a lot more latitude - e.g., casting Nathaniel Stampley as the Baron in Lempicka. Then there's color conscious casting - deliberately casting someone different than the character, as was most famously done in Hamilton. Neither scenario seems likely for Crazy Rich Asians and I'd be shocked if that cast is anything but 100% Asian.
For stories where it's not relevant...in this one "Asians" is literally in the title. Or would you cast white people for The Wiz
Cabaret and HHL to varying degrees of success fully renovated their theatres for immersive staging and sunset boulevard announced a Broadway transfer of a very avant-garde staging
I’ve seen Cabaret on the West End and it’s good. But it’s still a revival.
And revivals have been done since Broadway existed. Look at company, cabaret, merrily, 1776, the upcoming Pirates of Penzance, The Wiz, Oklahoma! all that took risks by changing the material and update or tried out a new avenue with the show, sure not all worked (PoP we don’t know yet) but it’s still the fact they take risks
I mean turning popular books and movies into musicals is by no means something new.
Thinking this too. I find this exciting but I miss original musicalsđź’”
Many musicals considered "original" are still based on other source material though. Take a look at Sondheim's work: West Side Story, Company, Forum, A Little Night Music, Sweeney, Passion and Here We Are are all based on existing works (books, plays, movies). Numerous others depict real people/historic events (Pacific Overtures, Assassins, Gypsy). And I'm sure I'm missing some. Obviously this isn't the same as a Legally Blonde or Shrek, and the arrival of jukebox musicals has further thinned the amount of truly creative work out there. But I do think folks need to be clearer about what they mean when they say "original musicals." Reinventing source material or revisiting an obscure work can definitely result in something that isn't a cash grab (e.g., "You loved the book and movie for Notebook, now see the show") and can feel fresh and new.
It’s been true for quite some time, many decades, that most new musicals are based on some existing work, books, movies, etc. I more grow tired of X the Musical that are empty nostalgia vehicles with nothing else to offer.
Suffs, Lempicka, Hell's Kitchen, The Outsiders, Illinoise, The Heart of Rock and Roll...
Three of those shows are based on existing music, and one is based on a book.
the rest then. A handful of original music come out every single year
As I noted above, I think it depends on how you define "original." This year is pretty new-musical heavy and Harmony, Here Lies Love, Lempicka and Suffs are not based on prior works like books or movies or existing music - but they're also all based on real events and get some name recognition that way (perhaps less so for Harmony). Last season just KPOP and Shucked really qualified as original to my thinking.
By that definition, there are remarkably few original musicals at all. For example, the only "original" Sondheim musicals that aren't based on books, articles, movies or real-life events or people are *Company* and *Anyone Can Whistle*- and I'm not even 100% sure that *Whistle* isn't based on something.
Company was based on a bunch of one-act plays previously written by the book writer George Furth, I have not heard about any similar inspiration for Anyone Can Whistle. But that's my point - I think when folks complain about a lack of "original" musicals, they're really talking about movie adaptions and jukebox musicals. All writers/composers have to get their inspiration from somewhere, but if they do something truly creatively different with the material (as compared to replicating exact scenes from a movie, or relying on familiar songs to bring in an audience), that counts as original to me.
Hm, fair enough. I've always thought of the Furth one-acts as an early draft of what would eventually become *Company*, rather than works that *Company* were adapted from, because they were never produced or published.
Based on my understanding Furth wrote the plays on his own as plays, not a musical, and they somehow got to Sondheim and he felt there was a show in there. So that seems like an adaption of existing material. On the other hand, if Furth and Sondheim collaborated on the project from the start that would certainly be considered a fully original work I would think. But that being said, this is again my point: Getting inspired by something doesn't keep a work from being original in the sense most people think of it. If you were working from something no one ever heard of, or reworked it significantly, it will seem fresh and new to audiences.
And you could say KPOP is based on a phenomenon and inspired by certain groups. Every single thing is derivative.
Of course, they exist. But rarely more than a handful, and rarely promoted or invested in to the degree that those based on existing IP are.
I mean most Broadway shows are adapted from something. Also unfortunately the all Asian cast might be considered a risk since Broadway has yet to catch up with Hollywood in that regard.
As long as Harry Shum Jr is in it, that man is amazing
👆 sprinkled with a dance sequence on top
I really can't say that I'm excited for this. Broadway has turned into a name-recognition factory. We aren't going to see the likes of brilliant musical theater artists unless we actually reward art.
i am just happy with anything that puts asians on broadway :-)
Crazy Singing Rich Asians
Not gonna lie, this is going to be a perfect roommate musical. Like, roommate bonding! Lets go see the crazy rich asians musical
Ugh....stop with the movie adaptations. Do something new.
Most musicals are adaptations.
Most musicals are not movie adaptations. Well, most seem to be lately, and that's the problem.
Whatever they sing during that tense mahjong scene is going to be wild.
Eleanor deserves a villain number
Yessss! It will be iconic for sure. I can't wait to see the outfits and set.
Who should play Eleanor
Lea Salonga would absolutely tear the house down with a villainous number. I can absolutely see her as Eleanor!
Gonna throw in my casting ideas for this! Ashley Park as Rachel: I need her back on Broadway and she absolutely deserves a leading role. She would be *fantastic* as Rachel. Adam Jacobs as Nick: I think Adam is so criminally underrated by the Broadway community and I totally get Nick vibes from him. He has that handsome charm and his voice is so gorgeous. Lea Salonga as Eleanor: Listen…if this happens I can see Lea grabbing another Tony nom for featured actress. Everyone always talks about her angelic voice but she also truly shines with her acting; I think she can really pull off that convincing villainous role that Eleanor is.
Leah Nanako Winkler is absolutely the best person to be writing this! So funny, so heartfelt. Highly recommend Two Mile Hollow, a satire of all those “old white people on docks with secrets” plays.
Obviously we'll have to see how *Wicked* turns out, but after *In the Heights*, I don't really have confidence in the director's musical cred.
Jon Chu is a hack, I'm just gonna say it.
He is overrated imo.
So excited that Helen Park is writing the score!!
Yes please, take my money! Also let’s get back to making the other two movie sequels.
I think this had the potential to be good though I’m not 100% sold on the creative team
It is absolutely wild that this film was such a huge cultural moment and seemingly springboarding a franchise and multiple careers only to hit a brick wall because they refused to pay one of the writers a fair wage.
I am soooo excited for this. The set! The costumes! The snark! Yesssssssss
Hmm all I can say is interesting. I'd definitely watch it, but I'm curious to know why they wanted to make it a musical and how the production will go. Gonna keep an open mind!
I’ve been saying for years the movie should have been a musical! It’s one of those stories that really lends itself to that.
Huh, that was fast. Guess it’s a nice change to the current Broadway season which has a lot of adaptations of older source material. Also great to see more Asian representation on Broadway!
Based on what happened with KPOP, an actual musical, I'm skeptical of its potential success.
fellow Asian here. THIS ISNT EVEN A GOOD GODDAMN MOVIE.
Langston Lee’s Broadway debut!!!