New Michael Arden Interview in Vulture Talks MHE Controversy and QoV
Listening to you talk about your first musicals, I was kind of struck by how they all centered marginalized communities. You had Deaf West 'Spring Awakening,' the Caribbean culture in 'Once on This Island,' and a Jewish man under attack in 'Parade.' What did you learn from working on those shows?
There’s so much to culture that I don’t know. You have to walk into a situation saying, *“*Here’s my white flag. I know nothing. Help me help you tell your story, and let me put light on it.” I was drawn to those revivals because they went, “Here’s a story about this thing over here.” It was 1880s Germany after the Milan Conference on Deafness. Sometimes you need to travel far to get to yourself. People love Pixar movies because they’re able to actually see themselves in a talking animal toy more so than watching a person. We can be more emotionally affected when we think we’re looking through a telescope.
Late last year, there was a big controversy over 'Maybe Happy Ending' casting Andrew Barth Feldman. How did you feel about that?
That was an interesting time. There were a lot of conversations that were really important that came out of that. I did a lot of reflecting on it. My job as a director is to realize the vision of the writer in some way and to take the audience on a journey where they hopefully forget about where they are. Having worked on that show forever, our first cast was a white Oliver and a Black Claire.
That was a workshop?
Our first workshop was that. It was always the writers’ intent for those robots to be played by anyone. I’m there to help achieve their vision. It was hard to see people be hurt by something, where the intention of the creators wasn’t to hurt, but it was clearly a real thing. What’s interesting is what happens with art when people feel ownership of a piece. Ultimately, it begs the question, Can you tell artists what art they can make?
Listen, it was very hard at the time, but I’m so glad that we went through it. Thousands upon thousands of people got to see Andrew Barth Feldman be incredible in Maybe Happy Ending. He was phenomenal. He’s one of my favorite actors. Currently on Broadway, one of our standbys, who will hopefully play Claire one day, is a Black actor named Savy Jackson. There’s a way of acknowledging how people have supported the show and taken ownership of the show, while also remaining true to the ultimate goal of the show, which is for the casting to be inclusive. There are Korean characters who will always need to be played by Korean actors. But in terms of the robots, I think we want as many people to be inspired and see themselves in this world as possible.
You never put out a statement when the cast and creatives were coming under heavy criticism. Why was that?
I never felt it was helpful for me to speak at that moment. Certainly, that was the advice that I was given by my representative. If people are going to be upset, me saying something isn’t going to change how they feel. The best thing I can do is in my work, as I have tried to do my entire career — to create as many diverse opportunities as possible. I had Alex Newell play the Mother of the Earth! I ask, “What can I do that isn’t necessarily reactionary, but is proactive in casting and can broaden opportunities for communities?” Ultimately, I stand behind everything.
When you look back at your other musical this season, 'Queen of Versailles,' what do you feel?
That show is really great. Listen, it was not without its problems. However, it was incredibly unique. I’ve never seen anything tackle the subject matter that particular show did. I’m really proud of the production and what we did visually and what Kristin did and what Sherie did when she went on.
We did the show in Boston before Trump was reelected, and there was a willingness to buy into satire in a way that, once he was reelected, people were not there to laugh anymore. I remember being in previews, maybe, when the assassination attempt occurred, and thinking, Oh, man, I wonder how this is all going to play. We never wanted it to be a goofy send-up making fun of these people, because that felt completely uninteresting to me. We were trying to smartly and honestly show these people and use the French court as a foil to examine the deep, problematic nature of wealth and these people. I think we did that. When the show opened, we were in Trump 2.0 and people didn’t want to even entertain looking at the wealthy Republicans, especially in the theatergoing community. Then there was the internet shit storm that was the Charlie Kirk thing, and people didn’t actually look at it for what it was. They were looking at it through several lenses. I wonder if the show had opened this month, how it would be received. [This interview occurred before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.]
I think that there will probably be some amazing revival someday and people will say it’s amazing.
Did you try to pivot during previews when you sensed that the audience was not receptive?
You are also dealing with a true story. What are we going to do? Put her in prison at the end? That would be much less interesting than it being a cautionary tale. We just tried to tell the story truthfully and make it as entertaining and surgically interesting as possible.
Before 'Queen of Versailles,' you had won two Tonys in three years and every show of yours was received rapturously. What was it like to experience this kind of rejection?**
Well, it sucked. It was terrible for everybody. People’s livelihoods depend on this, as does mine. If the show isn’t running, I don’t get paid either. It was really hard. A lot of people who were passing judgment on it didn’t actually see it. They were just piling on the fun thing to hate, which is unfortunately a big problem in the industry and in the theater community, if that is a real thing.
What do you mean by “the theater community, if that is a real thing”?
The theater community loves to hate on or make fun of something, and it’s just because it’s drama kids. With Spider-Man, nobody said, “How unfortunate; think of all the people that have put so much work into it.” They were like, “Oh, this is a fucking shit storm.” That is always going to be more fun.