What Bryan Cranston And My Filipino-American Family Have In Common
In celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Credit: Screenshot taken from https://tgfsowtvc.tumblr.com/
Welcome to Part Dalawa of my AAPI Heritage Month 2023 series (Part Isa here)! Let’s cut to the chase. You may be wondering what on earth the dad from Malcolm in the Middle has anything to do with Filipinos, or Asians at all for that matter. But if you are Fil-Am or know someone who is Flip, I bet you can spot it right away from the cover photo that shows the kitchen of Breaking Bad’s main character.
Commonality #1
So both Walter White and I, not to mention countless other old-skool Filipinos such as comedian Jo Koy’s inay, have a giant spoon and fork on their wall. Except you can see from the below photos that mine is a modern (metal not wood) deconstructed (spoon and fork in different places) take.
Giant spoon and canvas of my birthplace next to my front door. Photo by the author (Marmi Le)
Giant fork above kitchen window, and gotta have The Last Supper (but mine is the Salvador Dali one, not the DaVinci that my generation grew up with). Photo by the author (Marmi Le)
Commonality #2
I will go so far as to say that the Philippines’ greatest export in terms of culture is our phenomenal live musical theater talent! We Flips crush it every single time we get on stage. It’s in our blood or something. You just know that you are in for an evening of fun whenever you hand a microphone to your Tito, Ate, Kuya, heck even Lola. For most of us, that usually means breaking out the pamily karaoke machine to see who can get the loudest applause for their rendition of Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”
But in MY fam, we are so next level: both my first cousin AND Mr. Cranston were winners of a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for 2022!
Credit: Screenshot taken from https://ladramacriticscircle.com/los-angeles-drama-critics-circle-announces-2022-award-recipients/
There’s me last year with my daughter and cousins after watching Marc music direct East West Players’ production of Assassins. So proud of you Mackerman!! Photo by the author (Marmi Le)
So, not to brag but my cuzzo has also music directed Olivier Award nominated Jon Jon Briones in La Cage aux Folles as well as his daughter Isa Briones (she of Hamilton and Star Trek: Picard fame) in the 2018 Ovation Awards Best Musical Next to Normal, for which she won for Featured Actress; and the always great Deedee Magno Hall (Steven Universe) won for Lead Actress.
My cousin is such a big deal in the LA musical theater world that he has even met Disney and Broadway LEGEND Lea Salonga when she was in town to star in Flower Drum Song. I am so super jealous, you have no idea. Closest I ever got to having a personal interaction with her was in the early days of the interwebs; there was alt.leasalonga and she legit answered individual fan questions.
I have a bunch of musical theater programs that I saved over the years and framed. I wanted proof that I got to see Lea Salonga live on stage in a musical, so I had the wherewithal to keep this one for over two decades! Photo by the author (Marmi Le)
I asked her what was it like to duet with Peabo Bryson for Aladdin and The King and I because he was THE ultimate balladeer back in the day (“Tonight I Celebrate My Love” with Roberta Flack and “If Ever I’m In Your Arms Again” — I mean my goodness gracious). And she actually replied with a nice message gushing about Peabo and signed off with her name in big ol’ ASCII puffy letters 😃
More musicals with Filipino Americans in them that you should watch
So back to Jon Jon, you may have seen him on TV recently as Belle’s dad Maurice in the live Beauty and the Beast they had on Disney+. Belle was played by H.E.R., the musical genius who is actually part Filipina (nee Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson).
Well, both she and Lea are producers of the new David Byrne and Fatboy Slim musical Here Lies Love about the life of Imelda Marcos, which will have its Broadway debut this summer. And Lea herself will be in the cast as Ninoy Aquino’s mother from Jul 11-Aug 13. So needless to say, this is totally worth me flying to NYC and bunking with my Tita in the Bronx or my Tita in Queens, just to experience this!
Finally, if you live in the Los Angeles area, and you want to be awesome and support Asian American theater like Paul Newman, then you must go see the latest East West Players production that my cousin is music directing through June 4, 2023:
Credit: https://eastwestplayers.org/ewpworld/
I don’t live in LA anymore, but you bet I am making a special trip to see this! OK, well gonna sign off soon and see if I can go find a 21st century version of Weapons of Moroland to complete my Filipino-inspired wall decor…
Addendum to that last section
Just got back from LA a couple days ago, and OTSOTW did not disappoint! This musical about Filipinos on the same one-way flight from Ninoy Aquino International to JFK was very funny and touching, with great staging and performances from the entire cast. And obvi the music was great! My fave numbers were the ones about the parol, cooking with Lola, and “My mother is an immigrant!” All based on true stories from our families who paved the way. Someone had to be the first one. So, again I really encourage you all to see it if you can. Everyone will enjoy this, not just AAPI!
This article originally appeared on Medium
This was a great read. I enjoyed the light-hearted and relaxed tone of your writing. And as an Australian I did not know about the big spoon and fork thing - which I thought was super interesting.
Thank you
LEA SALONGA I DIE!!!!!! "KIIIIIIIIIMMMMM!!" And Here Lies Love already sounds like a goddamn Tony slam dunk!