紐約舞臺新變化 更多亞裔演員

After decades of inching toward center stage, Asian-American theater actors are facing something that they’ve rarely enjoyed in New York: demand.

幾十年來，亞裔美國戲劇演員在緩慢地向舞臺中央靠近，如今他們得到了過去在紐約極少能享受的東西：需求。

An unusual bonanza of jobs is in the offing from new shows as well as two anticipated Broadway revivals, “The King and I” and “Miss Saigon.” More plays and musicals are also telling stories from Asian viewpoints, a long-held goal of Asian-American artists. And increasingly, Asians are landing roles that traditionally go to non-Asian actors.

他們罕見地得到了大量工作機會，包括一些新劇以及兩部備受期待的百老匯復排劇——《國王與我》(The King and I)和《西貢小姐》(Miss Saigon)。現在越來越多的戲劇和音樂劇也從亞洲的角度講述故事，這是亞裔美國藝術家們一直以來的夢想。越來越多的亞裔得到了過去由非亞裔演員飾演的角色。

The biggest game-changer is “Here Lies Love,” one of those rare musicals that become critically acclaimed commercial hits Off Broadway and have an open-ended run. Even more uncommon, it’s all about an Asian character. The subject is Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines. With a cast of 17, the show is the first in years to offer the prospect of steady employment to Asian-American actors. Productions of “Here Lies Love” are also in the works for San Francisco and London this fall, with Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, under consideration.

對局勢影響最大的是《愛在這裏》(Here Lies Love)，它是少數幾部叫好又叫座的外百老匯音樂劇，而且它的演出計劃尚無結束時間。更不同尋常的是，它完全是一部關於亞洲人物的戲劇。女主人公是菲律賓的前第一夫人伊梅爾達·馬科斯(Imelda Marcos)。該劇有17位演員，是多年來第一部可以保證亞裔美國演員有穩定工作的音樂劇。《愛在這裏》今年秋天在舊金山和倫敦的演出正在籌備中。同時有望在洛杉磯、西雅圖、丹佛以及澳大利亞的悉尼和墨爾本上演。

“Asians are used to being the third actress to the right of the star,” said Ruthie Ann Miles, a Korean-American who spent 10 months in a blond wig on the road in “Annie” before landing the role of Mrs. Marcos. “The wig,” she added, “was supposed to make me fit in with my two white sisters. Those were the things a lot of us did to get work.”

“亞裔過去是明星右邊的第三位女演員，”韓裔美國女演員露西·安·邁爾斯(Ruthie Ann Miles)說。在得到馬科斯這個角色之前，她在《安妮》(Annie)巡演期間戴了十個月金色假髮。她補充說，“那個假髮是爲了讓我和兩個白人姐妹外形一致。我們很多人爲了得到工作都這樣做過。”

Actors say they are also making steady gains in smaller theaters, landing more roles that they describe as “nontraditional.” In recent months a Japanese-born actor played Romeo opposite a white Juliet at the Classic Stage Company and a Filipino-American actor was Bill Sikes in “Oliver!” More Asian-Americans have also been creating characters named Heather and Claire who were not written specifically as Asian.

演員們說他們在較小規模的劇院也不斷取得了進步，得到了更多他們描述爲“非傳統”的角色。最近幾個月，一位日本出生的演員在經典舞臺公司(Classic Stage Company)的戲劇中飾演羅密歐，飾演朱麗葉的是個白人女演員；一個菲律賓裔美國男演員在《奧利弗！》(Oliver!)中飾演比爾·塞克斯(Bill Sikes)。更多亞裔美國演員在飾演名叫希瑟(Heather)或克萊爾(Claire)這樣的人物，劇本中沒有明確說明這些人物是亞洲人。

“Casting directors are starting to take Asian diversity seriously, after focusing mostly on black and Hispanic actors,” said Pun Bandhu, an actor who was cast as several minor characters in the 2012 Broadway revival of “Wit.”

“在演員多樣化方面，選角導演們在主要關注黑人和拉美裔演員後開始認真考慮亞裔演員了，”演員潘之友(Pun Bandhu)說。他在2013年的百老匯復排劇《智慧》(Wit)中出演了幾個小角色。

For the 2014-15 season, at least three new plays written by Asian-Americans will open Off Broadway — including one, “Straight White Men,” in which the female playwright, Young Jean Lee, is offering her take on white characters. Such new works are rarer on Broadway; while there have been African-American productions of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “A Streetcar Named Desire,” there has yet to be an Asian-American Big Daddy or Stanley Kowalski.

對2014-15演出季來說，至少有三部亞裔美國人寫的新劇本將在外百老匯上演，包括女劇作家李永珍（Young Jean Lee，音譯）的《正直的白人》(Straight White Men)，她在該劇中表達了自己對白人的看法。這樣的新劇在百老匯更少見：雖然那裏有非裔美國人演的《熱鐵皮屋頂上的貓》(Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)和《慾望號街車》(A Streetcar Named Desire)，但是還沒有亞裔美國人演的《冒牌爸爸》(Big Daddy)或《斯坦利·科瓦爾斯基》(Stanley Kowalski)。

Yet casting does begin next week for “The King and I,” which will start performances in March at Lincoln Center Theater and feature about 30 Asian characters. “Miss Saigon,” which reopened in London last month with Asian-American actors in lead roles, is expected to return to Broadway during the 2015-16 season; the show has more than a dozen Asian characters and originally ran 10 years on Broadway.

不過，《國王與我》下週將開始選角，明年3月將在林肯中心劇院上演，其中有大約30個亞洲人物。《西貢小姐》上個月在倫敦重演，由亞裔美國演員飾演主要角色，它有望在2015-16演出季返回百老匯。這部戲劇有十多個亞洲人物，最初在百老匯演了十年。

But compared to “The King and I” and “Miss Saigon,” which have been criticized for recycling some Asian stereotypes, the Filipino-centric story of “Here Lies Love” represents both an artistic breakthrough and an emotional high point.

但是，《國王與我》(The King and I)和《西貢小姐》被批評爲重複對亞洲的刻板印象。而《愛在這裏》的故事則是以菲律賓人爲中心，代表了一種藝術突破和情感上的高點。

“For years I’ve mentored Asian actors to prepare themselves for the lack of Asian parts out there,” said Jose Llana, a Filipino-American actor who plays Ferdinand Marcos in “Here Lies Love.” “Until now my best strategy was auditioning for Hispanic roles as well, because I can look the part,” he added, noting that he played El Gato in the Broadway musical “Wonderland.”

“多年來，我一直讓亞裔演員做好亞洲人物角色不多的心理準備，”菲律賓裔美國演員約瑟·利亞納(Jose Llana)說。他在《愛在這裏》中飾演費迪南德·馬科斯(Ferdinand Marcos)。“之前我的最佳策略是參加拉美裔角色的試演，因爲我的外貌跟他們相像，”他補充說。他提到自己曾在百老匯音樂劇《愛麗絲漫遊仙境》(Wonderland)中扮演笑面柴郡貓(El Gato)。

Still, he has slowly started winning roles that traditionally went to white actors. He was cast as Bill Sikes in “Oliver!” last fall at Paper Mill Playhouse — a decision that surprised him so much that he asked executives if the audience would accept him in the role. (“No one batted an eye,” he recalled.) It was a far cry from his experience in the lead role of Melchior in a Sundance Institute workshop of the musical “Spring Awakening” in 2000. By the time the show reached Off Broadway and then Broadway in 2006, the role had gone to Jonathan Groff, who is white.

不過，他慢慢開始獲得一些以前通常由白人演員飾演的角色。去年秋季他被選中，在造紙廠劇院(Paper Mill Playhouse)的《奧利弗！》中扮演比爾·塞克斯。這個決定讓他感到十分意外，他甚至向主管們詢問觀衆能否接受他飾演這個角色（“沒有一個人表示驚訝，”他回憶說）。這跟2000年他在聖丹斯學院講習班飾演音樂劇《春之覺醒》(Spring Awakening)主角梅爾基奧(Melchior)時的經歷大相徑庭。該劇2006年先後在外百老匯和百老匯上演時，這個角色改由白人演員喬納森·格羅夫(Jonathan Groff)飾演。

Trip Cullman, a director who mostly works Off Broadway, has cast several Asian-American actors, including Sue Jean Kim and Maureen Sebastian, in roles that were not explicitly Asian.

導演特里普·卡爾曼(Trip Cullman)大部分時間在外百老匯工作，他選了幾位亞裔美國演員——包括金素珍（Sue Jean Kim，音譯）和莫林·塞巴斯蒂安(Maureen Sebastian)——飾演一些沒有明確說明是亞洲人的角色。

“I like it when the casting of a play reflects my experience of the world around me,” said Mr. Cullman, who is white. “Expanding my collaborators’ notions of who could be ‘right for a role’ seems to me to be a moral and political duty.”

“我喜歡讓一部戲劇的選角反映我對周圍世界的體驗，”卡爾曼說。他是白人。“在我看來，讓我的合作者們在誰能‘勝任這個角色’的理念方面放開思路是一種道德和政治責任。”

The numbers of Asian-Americans in New York theater roles have been stubbornly low for years. Between the 2006-07 and 2012-13 theater seasons, Asian-Americans filled about 3 percent of the roles on Broadway and at major Off Broadway theaters, according to a new study by Asian American Performers Action Coalition, an advocacy group. Hispanics had roughly the same numbers of roles, while black actors had 14 percent and white actors had 79 percent.

多年來，亞裔美國演員在紐約劇場擔任角色的比例一直很低。亞裔美國演員行動聯合會（Asian American Performers Action Coalition，它是一個倡議組織）最新的一次研究表明，在2006-2007和2012-13演出季，亞裔美國人在百老匯和主要的外百老匯劇院出演角色的比例約爲3%。拉美裔的比例跟亞裔差不多，黑人佔14%，白人佔79%。

On Broadway, where producers tend to cast Hollywood names to help sell tickets, Asian-Americans actors are still more likely to be the wise adult or the best friend. In “Matilda,” Celia Mei Rubin is in the ensemble and understudies the role of Mrs. Phelps, the kindly librarian who has been played so far by black actresses. In another musical, “Mamma Mia!,” Ashley Park is in the chorus and understudies the character of a best friend, usually played by white actress.

在百老匯，製作人們喜歡選用好萊塢名演員來幫助提高票房，亞裔美國演員仍然主要是扮演智慧的大人或最好的朋友。西莉亞·梅·魯賓(Celia Mei Rubin)在《瑪蒂爾達》(Matilda)的演員名單中，候補飾演親切的圖書管理員費爾普斯夫人(Mrs. Phelps)，此前該角色都是黑人女演員扮演的。在另一部音樂劇《媽媽咪呀！》(Mamma Mia!)中，阿什莉·帕克(Ashley Park)是合唱隊的一員，同時候補飾演一個最好的朋友，這個角色通常是白人女演員飾演的。

Some shows with Asian-related story lines and characters, like recent revivals of “Flower Drum Song” and “Pacific Overtures” and David Henry Hwang’s play “Chinglish,” have struggled to find audiences on Broadway. A new musical, “Allegiance,” about a Japanese-American family in a World War II internment camp, starring George Takei and the Tony Award winner Lea Salonga (from the original “Miss Saigon”), has waited a year so far to get an offer from one of Broadway’s theater owners.

一些故事或人物與亞洲相關的戲劇，比如最近的復排劇《花鼓歌》(Flower Drum Song)和《太平洋序曲》(Pacific Overtures)以及黃哲倫的《中式英語》(Chinglish)，在努力吸引百老匯觀衆的興趣。新音樂劇《效忠》(Allegiance)講述的是“二戰”拘留營中的一個日裔美國家庭的故事，由喬治·竹井和託尼獎獲得者莉亞·莎隆嘉（Lea Salonga，曾出演原版《西貢小姐》）主演。該劇在爭取百老匯某位劇院老闆的同意，到目前爲止已經等了一年。

“You need Lucy Liu to have a hit on Broadway,” said Tisa Chang, who in 1977 founded the Pan Asian Repertory Theater, which significantly expanded opportunities for Asian-American performers. “But ideas like an Asian-American production of an American classic are absolutely workable.”

“要想在百老匯引起轟動，你需要請劉玉玲出演，”張瑜說。她在1977年成立了泛亞劇場(Pan Asian Repertory Theater)，爲亞裔美國演員增加了很多表演機會。“但是讓亞裔美國演員主演美國經典劇目是完全可行的。”

If it’s Off Off Broadway, that is. A new “Death of a Salesman” is running in a 99-seat theater through June 29 starring South Asian actors as the Loman family, including the show’s producer, Saima Huq, as the matriarch Linda. She put up $25,000 from savings and credit cards to mount the show.

在外外百老匯，情況的確如此。新排的《推銷員之死》(Death of a Salesman)正在一個有99個座位的劇場上演，持續到6月29日，由幾位南亞演員扮演洛曼(Loman)一家，該劇的製作人塞馬·胡(Saima Huq)飾演女家長琳達(Linda)。她用自己的積蓄和信用卡湊了2.5萬美元來製作該劇。

“There was no way I could ever imagine playing an iconic role like Linda unless I put on the show myself,” she said.

“除非我自己製作，我想不出還有其他辦法來扮演琳達這樣的標誌性角色，”她說。

But “Here Lies Love” did not rely on Asian-American creators or producers; most of them are white.

但是《愛在這裏》的創作者或製作人大部分是白人，不是亞裔美國人。

“It shows that white and Asian artists can create really great work together,” said Ms. Miles, who was born in Arizona and spent much of her childhood in South Korea. “You get to tell the ultimate story — a person’s whole life story — and that person is a very complicated, very human, stereotype-free Asian who is surrounded by other Asian characters. It’s a dream come true for me.”

“它表明白人和亞裔藝術家們能夠一起創作出真正的好作品，”邁爾斯說。她出生在亞利桑那州，童年的大部分時間在韓國度過。“你能夠講述一個終極故事——一個人一生的故事——那個人非常複雜，非常人性化，不是固有的亞洲人形象，她周圍的人也是亞洲人。對我來說，它是美夢成真。”