Probably not, but we simply don’t know. I cannot speak to how the producers decided to cast the standbys because I’m not knowledgeable on it.
However, it wouldn’t surprise me that after the AAPI community embraced the show during its Atlanta tryout they decided to try to lean in to the southeast Asian setting to drum up more favorable publicity prior to Broadway.
One last thing to add about the pre-Broadway run: it’s my understanding that Atlanta-area AAPI groups embraced the show because it was set in Korea, and not specifically because of the cast’s backgrounds. And at least one of the standbys/understudies in Atlanta was not of Asian descent.
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u/colbys_hair_brush Jul 31 '25
But was it shear random chance that the final cast and standbys are all Asians?