On Global Filipinos: FilAm artists take on major roles all across Broadway (Part 2)

By Loida Nicolas Lewis

Two other leading Filipino American thespians making their Broadway débuts are Tatiana Cordoba in “Real Women Have Curves” and Kay Sibal in the musical “Six”.

Twenty-five-year-old Tatiana is Latina Filipina, whose parents are of Costa Rican and Filipino descent. She plays the lead role of Ana Garcia, also famously played by America Ferrera in the film with the same name. At age 4, the San Francisco native announced to her parents that she plans to move to New York, a dream that she made into reality after completing her B.F.A. in Musical Theatre at Boston Conservatory. Now, she’s singing songs by Joy Huerta (of the Grammy-winning duo Jesse & Joy) and Benjamin Velez, and dancing to the choreography of Tony-winning director Sergio Trujillo on her Broadway debut.

Kay plays Katherine Howard, the fifth of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England in 1540 depicted in the musical “SIX”, an interpretation of women power from 21st century viewpoint. 

Also 25 years old and a proud San Francisco FilAm, Kay’s experiences in the performing arts include “Invincible,” Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” “Spring Awakening,” “Grumpy Monkey,” and was also a contestant in TV’s The Voice (Season 26).

(Another Filipina, Sierra Fermin plays the alternate to Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife, which means on certain performances, we get to have 2 Filipina Queens onstage!)

Many remember Conrad Ricamora as the heroic Ninoy Aquino in the immersive Broadway musical “Here Lies Love”, where the audience become part of the disco crowd in the theatrical story telling of the rise and fall of former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. 

This season, Conrad, who is an award-winning actor-singer-writer, is playing the role of Abe Lincoln in the outrageous farce “Oh, Mary!”. It is an imagined persona of Mary Todd Lincoln’s desire to return to the cabaret. As New York Times reported it: “It merely wants you to lose your breath guffawing, especially with a series of switchback shocks at the end, so cleverly conceived and executed they’re hilarious.”

I consider Abraham Lincoln as one of the best Presidents of the USA because he firmly navigated the country before, during and after the civil war, including passing the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution to outlaw slavery. That said, I found “Oh, Mary!” to be a little too raunchy for my taste, and in my opinion, disrespects the great President. However, if you want to see Conrad in what Time-Out describes as “the funniest Broadway play in years,” head out to Lyceum Theater now because it ends on June 28, 2025. 

Aside from the actors headlining their Broadway shows, it’s also worth mentioning that there is quite a number of Filipinos playing principal roles on Broadway:

British Filipina, Claire-Marie Hall who trained at Mountview Academy in London is currently playing Jean Leslie in the Olivier Award winning “Operation Mincemeat” at the Fortune Theatre, a role she originated in the West End. Other theatre credits include Cosette in “Les Miserables” (West End), U/S Dea in “The Grinning Man” (West End), and the UK National Tours of “High School Musical” and “The King & I”, as Gabriella Montez and Tuptim respectively. 

Seventeen-year-old Filipina American singer, songwriter and actor Angelica Hale makes her Broadway debut in one of the principal roles as Trisha in “Boop! The Musical.” You may remember her from the TV show “America’s Got Talent” when she became a finalist at 10 years old, receiving the “golden buzzer” from Howie Mandel for her rendition of “Fight Song.”

Last but not the least, Filipino American actor on Broadway’s Hamilton for several years since 2019 is Marc Delacruz,  who is so polyvalent, as the French would say, poorly translated as versatile, that he is the standby for almost all the major characters in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s megahit musical. 

Marc has therefore played as Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Marquis de La Fayette/Thomas Jefferson, John Laurens/Philip Hamilton, King George, and when needed, Marc covers the roles of Philip Schuyler / Doctor / James Reynolds. As a swing, his bio on Playbill shows that Marc has covered over 20 roles to date in the production.On one occasion, he was on for Alexander Hamilton for Act 1, but as one cast member had to be taken out due to an emergency mid show, he entered Act 2 as Thomas Jefferson! 

Nearly 34 years ago, the opening of “Miss Saigon” with Jonathan Pryce repeating his London role as the Vietnamese “Engineer”, created such a dissonance among the Asian American acting community that a huge demonstration was held in front of the Broadway Theater in 1991. It was so rare to see Asians onstage then, which was why there was a huge uproar when one role that could have showcased an Asian American was given to someone who is not Asian. 

But now in 2025, Filipino/ Filipino American actors are performing major roles on different stages in The Great White Way! And as I’ve been told, there are 26 other actors of Filipino descent playing principals or ensemble in over 19 musicals and plays on this Broadway season!

The glass ceiling has been broken! Hopefully this theatre evolution in New York City is here to stay, and it is my wish that this “evolution” will eventually spread its influence in the entire theatre industry, making it a more equitable and inclusive space.