“Before the Parade Passes By”

This chapter introduces a new perspective of reading the musical that celebrates minoritarian performance, examines the historical purposes and significance of both the all-Black and all-Asian Hello, Dolly, and parses the messages of social advocacy embedded in minoritarian casting practices of the musical. In a Hello, Dolly production with a minority cast, when a minority actor sings the declaration song “Before the Parade Passes By” to celebrate the ways she stands apart from the majority or normative, the musical shifts into a new and profound realm of representation and semantics. The organization that has been spearheading this mission is the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC), founded by a group of Asian-American actors to increase visibility on New York City’s stages. In the production, Dolly was portrayed by Christine Toy Johnson, co-founder of the AAPAC and the performer Baayork Lee had in mind for the role from the start.