Press
Britney Spears Musical Once Upon a One More Time Sets Full Broadway Cast
By David Gordon for TheaterMania
Full casting has been announced for the Broadway premiere of Once Upon a One More Time, beginning performances Saturday, May 13, at the Marquis Theatre, with opening night set for Thursday, June 22.
Joining the previously announced Briga Heelan (Cinderella), Justin Guarini (Prince Charming), Aisha Jackson (Snow White), Jennifer Simard (Stepmother), and Adam Godley (Narrator) are Brooke Dillman (Original Fairy Godmother), Ryann Redmond (Belinda), Tess Soltau (Betany), Gabrielle Beckford (Rapunzel), Ashley Chiu (Sleeping Beauty), Nathan Levy (Clumsy), Ryan Steele (Prince Erudite), Morgan Whitley (Princess Pea), Lauren Zakrin (Little Mermaid), Matt Allen, Liv Battista, Karissa Bruno, Jacob Burns, Pauline Casiño, Selene Haro, Joshua Daniel Johnson, Amy Hillner Larsen, Justice Moore, Kevin Trinio Perdido, Mikey Ruiz, Salisha Thomas, Josh Tolle, Diana Vaden, Stephen Scott Wormley, and Isabella Ye.
Written by Jon Hartmere, Once Upon a One More Time uses the songs of Britney Spears (including “Oops!…I Did It Again,” “Lucky,” “Toxic,” and more) to tell the story of a group of fairy tale princesses whose lives are changed when they read Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. Keoni and Mari Madrid serve as directors and choreographers, with David Leveaux serving as creative consultant.
She Said – Official Trailer
How Harvey Weinstein’s Real-Life Survivors Made ‘She Said’ Come to Life
By Elizabeth Wagmeister for Variety
Rowena Chiu, another Weinstein survivor, provided the film with crucial input. Both she and her husband are characters in “She Said,” and advised the creative team on the accuracy of their storylines. Chiu, who is on the witness list to testify in Weinstein’s current trial, was Perkins’ Miramax co-worker in the ’90s. After she accused the movie mogul of attempted rape at the Venice Film Festival, she and Perkins ended up signing an NDA, in hopes of creating a safer environment at Miramax. Instead of inspiring change, the agreement only ensured their silence. Like many other women, Chiu is grateful for “She Said,” yet notes the complexities around telling survivors’ stories. For starters, the film gives the journalists, not the accusers, the most screen time.
ASHLEY CHIU: 10 YEARS IN NYC, THANK YOU & GOODNIGHT Comes to 54 Below
54 Below will present Ashley Chiu in “Ashley Chiu: 10 Years in NYC, Thank You & Goodnight” on Saturday July 13th at 9:30pm. A culmination of her decade long journey in the concrete jungle, that took her to Broadway by way of law firms, lululemon, and ludicrous dates, Ashley Chiu and her very special guests celebrate and reminisce on her trek through the grit and grime of the Big Apple, and reveal the door to her next chapter. Featuring music from Broadway hits such as Wicked and Annie as well as contemporary pop hits from the likes of Britney Spears and Meghan Trainor, Ashley and guests are sure to entertain and delight.
Amazing Asians in the Arts: Ashley Chiu
Interview for The Cre8sian Project
Killer Casting: 080 The Women of She Said (Podcast)
Hollywood Casting Director Lisa Zambetti is joined by movie and TV buff Dean Laffan to discuss the shows we all love, which feature killer casting.
EIGHT IMMORTALS Song Cycle
Social media sensations Sam Tsui and Casey Breves have unveiled their latest musical endeavor, a song cycle titled ‘Eight Immortals’, which draws inspiration from a series of popular Chinese myths. The powerhouse cast features stars from across Broadway with credits from “& Juliet” and “Caroline or Change” to “Miss Saigon”. ‘Eight Immortals’ has been brought to life by Justin David Sullivan, Samantha Williams, Jon Jon Briones, Ashley Chiu, Casey Breves, Sam Tsui, Ben Jones, and Megan Loughran.
PODCAST: How to Succeed In Theater (by sacrificing everything)
Episode 3: How to be a Broadway Princess and Find your Prince Charming with Ashley Chiu
Please welcome, Broadway’s Sleeping Beauty, Ashley Chiu! Ashley is one of the principle princesses in Once Upon a One More Time, currently at the Marriott Marquis here in New York. Today we chat about her journey to broadway including her very intentional approach to creating a balanced career, an extremely impressive COVID pivot, and finding her muggle prince charming.
Ashley Chiu and Angela Yeoh Tell Rowena Chiu’s Story of Sexual Abuse in “She Said” Film
Interview with Giannina Ong & Jessica Liu for Mochi Mag
Ashley Chiu: A Silent Portrayal of Rowena Chiu
In her early 20s, Rowena Chiu was accosted by Weinstein at the Venice Film Festival in 1998. When she confided in her coworker Zelda Perkins about the attempted rape, she and Perkins were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements about the incident, a manipulation tactic Weinstein frequently used to muzzle anyone he thought might reveal his behavior.
“Rowena’s journey with trauma has continued,” Ashley Chiu acknowledges, “That’s evident in the film from the beginning with the assault. But then she lived in Hong Kong for several years, isolated by herself. She attempted to take her own life twice.” Though the footage depicting her suicide attempts did not make the final cut of the film, Ashley Chiu notes that people who experience sexual assault face a complicated journey toward healing and continue to “grapple with the trauma in their daily lives.”
For Ashley Chiu, a Broadway and theater actor, being cast in the role was an incredible and weighty experience. Aside from being her first film role, she told Mochi that it was the first role for which she didn’t know what she was auditioning; the description simply said it was a non-speaking part for a young Chinese woman who was Oxford educated. “[For the audition, they had me do] a scene emotional in nature that required no speaking, and the example that the audition gave was that you’re folding laundry and you pick up a sweater of someone who’s passed and you start crying and you hold it to your face,” she shares.
After she was cast, Ashley Chiu immediately started reading everything about Rowena Chiu, from the op-ed about the racialized aspect of the assault to the press that she did with Twohey and Kazan for their book. “Between everything she had written and sort of how traumatizing the experience was for her, I made the choice to not reach out to her at the time,” Ashley Chiu states. “Because I didn’t want her to have to relive it and retell it to me.”
After filming, Ashley Chiu did meet Rowena Chiu. Ashley Chiu notes that Rowena Chiu doesn’t like to use the word naive when describing her younger self but rather that she “had a youthfulness and trusting nature.” She would go to Zelda Perkins and ask “How do I do this?” when she was responsible for things like waking up Weinstein at 6:00 a.m. He had a penchant for rolling out of bed naked in front of his assistants and tolerating not only sexual harassment, but also verbal and emotional abuse.
“She was trying to do her job,” Ashley Chiu remarks. “That’s the most heartbreaking part of being young is that it’s so difficult to take a step back and say, ‘Oh, my gosh, something horrible has just happened. And maybe this is a job I shouldn’t be trying to do.’ This is a job where more people should be waving a flag and saying that no one should be doing this job because this is horrendous. It’s a gross use of mistrust, because she was so young.”
Trust Your Instincts with Ashley Chiu
Podcast with Salisha Thomas for The Salisha Show
Ashley Chiu is a screen and stage Actress, Singer, and Dancer. Born and raised in San Francisco, she holds a BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is seen in the hit production Once Upon A One More Time.
ASHLEY CHIU 