Is Broadway Really Inclusive to People of Color? Celebrating Filipino Performers and the FIRST Black Filipino Belle

WRITTEN BY LAUREN GAYNOR, LEO ALBEA, ELLE LAVIN,
FRANCESA JANA SANTIAGO AND MANNA DELLOTA

For the longest time, Broadway’s stages have been filled with world-changing and progressive narratives which have all been lead by people of color! Lea Salonga brought Filipinos pride when she made history in becoming the first Asian woman to win a Tony award for her role as Kim in the musical Miss Saigon. Today, there are numerous Filipino performers headlining or contributing to American theater like Eva Noblezada and now H.E.R. as Belle in ABC’s Beauty and the Beast 30th anniversary special! The Grammy award winning R&B artist will take part in the first hybrid Disney musical ever on Broadway. The special will air on December 15 on ABC and stream on Disney+ – a triumph in accessibility for BIPOC viewers who would not be able to afford to see the show.

But is Broadway actually inclusive to us as it looks? Ironically, Broadway’s stories, especially the POC-centered ones, are mostly owned and written by white creators. And we are yet to see Filipino stories portrayed on stage because just like Hollywood, the roles we are mostly given are of every ethnicity except our own. 

Image from Playbill.

Image from Broadway Direct.

While Filipinos are able to adapt and be casted in productions from western waters, ours don’t get to do the same. Back in the Philippines, the theater industry is composed of a diverse set of shows that actually reflect the cultural experiences of Filipinos such as musicals like Noli Me Tangere (based on Jose Rizal’s book of the same name) and Ang Huling El Bimbo that uses songs of the iconic 90’s OPM band the Eraserheads. Broadway’s diversity is unfortunately limited to it’s cast on stage as only 25% of its audiences are non-white and most POC communities don’t have access to it due to high-costs. It isn’t fair for people of color to have no means of watching stories about themselves, while white producers continue to profit from it.

Despite this all, Filipino faces on stage are a huge win. In the last decade or so, shows about Filipino life have found their footing on stage with popular musicals like Filipino American, Here Lies Love, and On This Side of the World.

Still, if we want more acknowledgement and accurate representation in Broadway, we need to collectively demand for it. The louder we ask and the more we support our current talents, the faster we can convince producers and directors to showcase the musicals from the Philippines in Broadway stages and fund original works from Filipino-Americans. Time and time again, our community proves to be skilled in both onstage and offstage and while we have a long way more to go, there are already so many of us pushing for authentic representation. It’s never too late to join in as well!

For more on the topic, come watch this video on the official One Down channel or if you enjoy content like this give our podcast “The Chismis: Canceled” a listen!