Asian actor shoves aside racial barriers in casting

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Welly Yang is all about facing the challenges of being Asian and being bypassed for roles because of his race. Though he's done some big roles in major shows (Thuy in "Miss Saigon" on Broadway is his most notable), he's had to shape and mold his own productions to maintain dignity in his craft.

Welly Yang auditioned local talent for his "Hello Broadway" show at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. Greg Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

"As an Asian actor, there's certainly a struggle because of the scarcity of roles," he said. "But in the past nine years, since I've been in business, there have been tremendous changes. There have been signs of progress, partially because of the fact that people before us made a difference."

Still, he said, he and others in the same boat need to anticipate the challenges. And the performing arts is a key way to raise awareness, expand horizons, and get folks up to snuff about the plight of Asian performers.

"The arts have a strong power to touch people," he said. "It's our mission, to use that power to affect social and artistic progress; I believe the arts can serve as that force. When voices are missing from that expression, culture is less for it."

Yang, 29, was in Hawai'i recently to conduct auditions for his two-show, one-day presentation of "Hello Broadway," a revue of show tunes, Oct. 5 at Blaisdell Concert Hall. His island "find" is Natasha Echevarria, 12.

"Rather than wait for mainstream moguls to do shows, you pretty much have to have the initiative, for both artists and entrepreneurs, to create your own stories," said Yang.

For this outing, which he is directing, he's enlisted two Hawai'i troupers, Jade Stice and Cliffton Hall, and Hall's girlfriend, DeeDee Lynn Magno, to join him.

"I'm very excited about the calibre of the Hawaiian talent," he said about his auditions, which attracted quality, not quantity.

"Certainly, the adult candidates were polished; but I was amazed at the younger people and how good they were; just blew me away. I saw several young Jades, young Clifftons. Just fantastic; it's kind of an indication that the Hawai'i talent out there now are inspiring the younger ones at home to seek some success in the business."

He decided to go "youthful" to contrast the ages of his colleagues. In doing so, he is accomplishing a goal — to help jump-start a career. Another mission is to share world-class Asian-American stories on the national and international stage. He's started to do this with his landmark rock musical, "Making Track," which has had limited bookings in the United States and in Taiwan, with more to come.

"My good friend Chris Lee (the movie producer) told me growing up in Hawai'i, everybody's used to seeing Asian performers in musicals like 'Oklahoma,'" said Yang. "It's not so common on the Mainland. Certainly, not among the young people."

For his premier island show, Yang wanted to present a full-fledged musical, knowing this market's thirst for and support of tunefests. Nothing suitable was available for this year.

However, he is involved in a musical version of Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet," an earlier art-circuit hit film that crossed cultural barriers, which is being prepped initially for the Asian theaters but potentially a prospect for Hawai'i. It will bow in Taipei this fall and also journey to Singapore and Hong Kong this winter.

Tim Bostock, who is co-presenting "Hello Broadway," is interested in "The Wedding Banquet," which would be part of Yang's mission "to bring Asian stories out into the mainstream." Selections from the new musical will be previewed in the "Hello Broadway" show here, said Yang.

Yang is a New York native, but his parents came from Taiwan, where he has done a lot of performances and even recordings.

He joined the "Miss Saigon" company in 1993, initially as an ensemble member, then as Thuy's understudy. He left in 1995 but returned in 1996, when he played Thuy for a year before quitting to form Second Generation.

Thuy, the heavy in the Tony Award-winning musical, gave Yang valuable work experience. "So many of the roles I play are terrible people, so when I meet people, they're surprised that I'm really a pretty nice guy," he said. "When you're acting, you're not acting the role as a villain; you're just doing your best, not thinking of it in bad terms. Even Osama bin Laden think he's a hero.

"As a performer, I've found myself playing gangsters, geeks, heavies; you need the experience to grow. Without that experience, it's difficult to grow. It's also a little moral/social dilemma: Should you take a part you know could be demeaning, and you have to do accents? But you're an actor, and it is a job," he said.

"Thuy was a thrill to do, really. He's in love with this woman ... for him, it's an ownership thing."

During his "Saigon" gig, Yang asked to understudy Chris (the soldier who falls in love with Kim, the role which earned a Tony for Lea Salonga). "Of course, he had to be Caucasian, so I found a make-up artist who could make me look Caucasian." He didn't get the green light.

"True artistic excellence should have no regard for skin color; it's something that Randy Kim (Randall Duk Kim, the Honolulu-reared actor who's played numerous Shakespearean role and who is one of the secondary leads in the upcoming Broadway revival of "Flower Drum Song") proved. World-class work defies racial generational barriers."

Yang said he views his company as one with world class performers dealing with world-class stories; "so in a sense, if we're able to do the kind of stories we'd like to share, we've won."