Aladdin's Angelo Soriano on Anti-Asian Violence and Broadway's Comeback

DANCEBUZZ • May 10, 2021

Angelo Soriano by Josh Dela Cruz / courtesy the artist

Filipino-American theatre artist Angelo Soriano has called Aladdin on Broadway home since 2014. Then, the pandemic all but shuttered the theatre industry.

Over a year later—and just days after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Broadway could reopen in September—we caught up with the multi-hyphenate creative, who shared his feelings about the rise in violence toward AAPIs, how he believes the artist community can help and the steps he's taking to prepare for his return to the New Amsterdam Theatre stage.

How are you? How has life been without Broadway?

Life without Broadway, when all you knew was doing 8 shows a week, is exactly how it sounds: odd. To turn off the lights of Broadway meant turning off a part of me that was used to comfort, routine and financial security. The live-performance industry suffered a massive blow, but, luckily, I had other means of survival, like my freelance videography work and my drone business, R3D Shifters.

What do you miss most about performing?

I miss the family unit I walked into every night at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The friendships in that theater are real. Bonds in the cast are real. You see your musical-theatre family more than your real one—but I think the Broadway community thrives on this love.

Soriano backstage at "Aladdin" on Broadway / courtesy the artist

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Did you learn anything about yourself in the absence of your day-to-day routine?

That's a good question. I think the biggest thing I learned is that a fallback plan can go beyond a plan B or C or D. As a freelance artist for more than 12 years, I've learned that you can never be too prepared for an extended period of unemployment—but a year and a half off is quite a different beast.

I also learned that comfort doesn’t always equate to security, and it took a pandemic to wake me up to that reality. It really changed my mindset on how I define "security," and, I think, before [the pandemic], my perception of "security" was flimsy ... at best. [Laughter]

Rumors are circulating that some shows will be rehearsing in August. Are you able to tell us a little bit about that?

For now, the plan seems to be returning to Broadway at the end of September, which means a month-long rehearsal process starting end of August, and that should be ... interesting. Some company members are returning from being new parents, working new jobs, living out of state or may not be as conditioned for 8 shows a week as they once were. For me, I’m just anxious to get back on my dancing feet.

But, honestly, I'm not looking forward to leaving behind certain aspects of the "pandemic lifestyle," so to speak: I will miss having evenings free to dine with my wonderful wife; I’ll miss not having to nurse a wear-and-tear injury after a show. But, at the end of the day, I finally get to return to my dream job—and I will never take that for granted.

What has your response been to the uptick in anti-Asian violence?

As a child, I was a victim of bullying. Kids singled me out because I was still learning English. [Soriano moved to the US from his native Philippines at age 8.] So, to see this rise in violence has been, I guess what many people would consider, "triggering" for me. Seeing more and more of these incidents happening in the news only reminds me that there were way too many red flags I've ignored throughout my life; moments that I wrote off as just "part of my daily” or as “people just taking advantage of my passiveness.” But I no longer stand for it.

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How can the dance community support AAPI communities right now?

For the most part, the dance community has, in my experience, been supportive of the AAPI community. And as long as we continue to value individualism in dance, the art will continue to be a rich platform for passionate Asian talent.

But there's still some work to be done: the more the industry welcomes AAPI communities into our dance institutions, dance conventions, commercials, films and to T.V. and the stage, the more likely it is that AAPI kids will grow up seeing and knowing they have a place in every medium of the entertainment world.

Resources for supporting AAPI communities: