Scandal no more: Fil-Am performances 120 years after St. Louis World’s Fair

1904 St. Louis World’s Fair/Library of Congress

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Audiences attending the shows at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (or Muny for short) this year will get to see Filipino American thespians on stage in the next few weeks.

The Muny is considered as America’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theater series.

Poignantly, 120 years ago, in the same park where the Muny stage is located, more than a thousand Filipinos were sent by the Philippine government to “perform” at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the 1904 World’s Fair.

The contingent included the Philippine Constabulary and its band, Boy Scouts, students, and midget siblings. Filipinos were “displayed” alongside Native Americans, Africans, dwarves and bearded ladies.

But the hit of the contingent (and of the fair) would be the Igorot, a blanket term for indigenous peoples from the Philippines’ northern highlands.

FILE PHOTO: 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair program/ Instagram and the University of Michigan Library website

With their scantily clad and tattooed bodies, the Igorot performed dances to gong music at scheduled times during the day.

Scandalous

The scandalous draw for fairgoers was the dog eating by the Igorot. It was something they only did occasionally for ceremonial purposes. But for the fair, it became a daily show.

In the following years, over 200 women and men would go on to perform in Igorot shows across the US, in cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco and other world’s fairs in Portland and Seattle, among others.

(More information about the Filipino contingent at the 1904 World’s Fair can be found in the book Barangay to Broadway: Filipino American Theater.)

It is definitely a different milieu for today’s Filipino American performers in theater, film, TV, online and other mediums. Thanks in no small part to many pioneering Fil-Am artists and activists along the decades who have worked to increase a foothold and gain visibility, recognition and respect in the different performing professions and industries.

Today

The Muny’s staging of “Les Miserables” in June featured Emily Bautista (HBO Max’s “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin”) as Eponine and Red Concepcion as Thernardier.

(From left) Filipino Americans Red Concepcion (Thernardier) and Emily Bautista (Eponine) preparing backstage during The Muny’s staging of “Les Miserables.” CONTRIBUTED

Bautista has performed as Kim in “Miss Saigon” on Broadway and on national tour. Concepcion is currently in Broadway’s “Chicago” as Amos Hart.

In the musical “Waitress,” opening on July 30, Lissa deGuzman will play Dawn.

With lyrics and music by Grammy Award winner Sara Bareilles, the story centers on Jenna, a baker who dreams of escaping her job, small town and rocky marriage. Adapted from the 2007 film, it’s a celebration of friendship, motherhood and the magic of a homemade pie.

DeGuzman was last seen in St. Louis as Elphaba in the national tour of “Wicked” and she is currently the standby for Elphaba on Broadway. Other Broadway credits include Jasmine in “Disney’s Aladdin” and “King Kong.”

In “Anything Goes” in August, Spencer Jones will play Spit.

Cole Porter’s hilarious musical comedy is a tap-dancing romp on the high seas where two unlikely pairs on the S.S. American set sail for true love and a boatload of comedic chaos.

Jones was in the Broadway cast of “Uncle Vanya” starring Steve Carrell (NBC’s “The Office”). For The Muny, he has been in “The King and I,” “Spamalot,” “Shrek the Musical,” “South Pacific,” among others.

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