'Maybe Happy Ending' Star Helen J. Shen Responds to Andrew Barth Feldman Casting Controversy

<p>-

  • 'Maybe Happy Ending' Star Helen J. Shen Responds to Andrew Barth Feldman Casting Controversy</p>

<p>Rebecca RubinJuly 31, 2025 at 11:42 PM</p>

<p>Helen J. Shen, the star of Broadway's "Maybe Happy Ending," is defending the show's recent decision to recast the lead male role with a white actor.</p>

<p>Producers announced last week that Andrew Barth Feldman, a white actor, would replace Darren Criss, who is of Filipino descent, as the helperbot known as Oliver. Critics of the casting choice have argued that Oliver should continue to be portrayed by a member of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community given the musical's Seoul setting.</p>

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<p>Criss, who originated the role on Broadway and won a Tony for his performance, announced he is leaving the show on Aug. 31. Feldman ("Dear Evan Hansen," "No Hard Feelings") is scheduled to join "Maybe Happy Ending" on Sept. 2 for nine weeks alongside Shen, who originated the role of Claire on Broadway. Feldman and Shen are dating in real life.</p>

<p>"I've been struggling to hold multiple truths within me that seem to contradict. I have and continue to be extremely proud to look the way I do and to co-lead this Broadway show. I know the hurt that people feel because growing up, I would have found a beacon of hope in seeing our show on TV on the Tony Awards. A part of me is mourning that along with the community," Shen said in a statement. "This has been an immensely challenging moment within my home with Andrew, and in this building filled with A/PI folks to say the least. I don't know what's forward, but to have this opportunity to play opposite my favorite actor in the world for 9 weeks, who happens to be PERFECT for the role is a huge moment of joy for me."</p>

<p>"Maybe Happy Ending," a love story about two abandoned robots, opened on Broadway last fall and initially struggled to sell tickets until word-of-mouth and rave reviews changed the show's trajectory. It won six Tony Awards, including the top prize for best musical. Meanwhile Criss cemented history as the first actor or Asian American descent to nab the best lead actor in a musical prize.</p>

<p>"Every perspective on this situation contains truth. I am excited to champion more A/PI works, the way the community has championed 'Maybe Happy Ending,'" Shen's statement continued. "I'm also excited to see work that has a completely different take than 'Maybe Happy Ending,' that can contradict itself, that can be many things, proving that diaspora is a tapestry, and not a monolith."</p>

<p>View this post on Instagram</p>

<p>A post shared by helen j shen ｜沈雨田 (@helenjshen)</p>

<p>"Maybe Happy Ending" authors Hue Park and Will Aronson responded to the controversy in a separate statement, saying they were "extremely saddened that the show, a decade-long labor of love for us, could ever become a source of confusion, anger or pain."</p>

<p>"We wrote a show about robots so we could engage more intimately with the most basic human questions of love and loss, creating the roles of Oliver and Claire to be avatars of these universal questions," they wrote on Instagram. "They were meant to be products created by a global company, and so never bore Korean names, even in the Korean version of the show. At the same time, we understand that for many in the AAPI community, the makeup of our opening night cast became a meaningful and rare point of visibility. We've heard how strongly people connected to that representation, even if it wasn't our original intent, and how this casting decision has re-opened old wounds."</p>

<p>View this post on Instagram</p>

<p>A post shared by Maybe Happy Ending (@maybehappyending)</p>

<p>They acknowledge that leading roles for Asian performers have "long been painfully scarce" but expressed optimism about recent color-blind casting in "Dear Evan Hansen," "Hadestown," "Oh, Mary!" and "Cabaret."</p>

<p>"Over the last several years, we have been heartened to see Asian performers playing Evan Hansen, Orpheus, Abe Lincoln, Sally Bowles, and others. Leading roles for Asian performers have long been painfully scarce, and these shows excitingly made gestures toward universality with expansive casting, and rightly gave opportunities to actors from identity categories who previously had few options," they continued. "With 'Maybe Happy Ending,' we wanted to write a show in which every role could be played by an Asian performer, but without the intention that the robot roles always would be."</p>

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Dozens of countries with no deals face higher tariffs as trade deadline nears

<p>-

  • Dozens of countries with no deals face higher tariffs as trade deadline nears</p>

<p>CHRISTOPHER RUGABER July 31, 2025 at 9:17 PM</p>

<p>FILE - A cargo ship heads to Long Beach, Calif., in this June 19, 2025, file photo. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, files)</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Numerous countries around the world are facing the prospect of much higher duties on their exports to the United States on Friday, a potential blow to the global economy, because they haven't yet reached a trade deal with the Trump administration.</p>

<p>Some of the United States' biggest trading partners have reached agreements, or at least the outlines of one, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Even so, those countries face much higher tariffs than were in effect before Trump took office. And other large trading partners — most notably China and Mexico — received an extension to keep negotiating and won't be hit with new duties Friday, but they will likely end up paying more.</p>

<p>President Donald Trump intends the duties to bring back manufacturing to the United States, while also forcing other countries to reduce their trade barriers to U.S. exports. Trump argues that foreign exporters will pay the cost of the tariffs, but so far economists have found that most are being paid by U.S. companies. And measures of U.S. inflation have started to tick higher as prices of imported goods, such as furniture, appliances, and toys rise.</p>

<p>For those countries without an agreement, they could face duties of as much as 50%, including on large economies such as Brazil, Canada, Taiwan, and India. Many smaller countries are also on track to pay more, including South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and even tiny Lesotho.</p>

<p>The duties originated from Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" announcement that the United States would impose import taxes of up to 50% on nearly 60 countries and economies, including the 27-nation European Union. Those duties, originally scheduled for April 9, were then postponed twice, first to July 9 and then Aug. 1.</p>

<p>Will the deadline hold this time?</p>

<p>As of Thursday afternoon, White House representatives — and Trump himself — insisted that no more delays were possible.</p>

<p>White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump "at some point this afternoon or later this evening" will sign an order to impose new tariff rates starting midnight on Friday.</p>

<p>Countries that have not received a prior letter on tariffs from Trump or negotiated a trade framework will be notified of their likely tariff rates, Leavitt said, either in the form of a letter or Trump's executive order. At least two dozen countries were sent letters setting out their tariff rates.</p>

<p>On Wednesday, Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social, "THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE IS THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE — IT STANDS STRONG, AND WILL NOT BE EXTENDED."</p>

<p>Which countries have a trade agreement?</p>

<p>In a flurry of last minute deal-making, the Trump has been announcing agreements as late as Thursday, but they are largely short on details.</p>

<p>On Thursday, the U.S. and Pakistan reached a trade agreement expected to allow Washington to help develop Pakistan's largely untapped oil reserves and lower tariffs for the South Asian country.</p>

<p>And on Wednesday, Trump announced a deal with South Korea that would impose 15% tariffs on goods from that country. That is below the 25% duties that Trump threatened in April.</p>

<p>Agreements have also been reached with the European Union, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. The agreement with the Philippines barely reduced the tariff it will pay, from 20% to 19%.</p>

<p>And which countries don't?</p>

<p>The exact number of countries facing higher duties isn't clear, but the majority of the 200 have not made deals. Trump has already slapped large duties on Brazil and India even before the deadline was reached.</p>

<p>In the case of Brazil, Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday imposing a 50% duty on imports, though he exempted several large categories, including aircraft, aluminum, and energy products. Trump is angry at Brazil's government because it is prosecuting its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, for attempting to overturn his election loss in 2022. Trump was indicted on a similar charge in 2023.</p>

<p>While Trump has sought to justify the widespread tariffs as an effort to combat the United States' chronic trade deficits, the U.S. actually has a trade surplus with Brazil — meaning it sells more goods and services to Brazil than it buys from that country.</p>

<p>Negotiations between the U.S. and Canada have been complicated by the Canadian government's announcement that it will recognize a Palestinian state in September. Trump said early Thursday that the announcement "will make it very hard" for the U.S. to reach a trade deal with Canada.</p>

<p>Late Wednesday, Trump said that India would pay a 25% duty on all its exports, in part because it has continued to purchase oil from Russia.</p>

<p>On Thursday, the White House said it had extended the deadline to reach a deal with Mexico for another 90 days, citing the complexity of the trade relationship, which is governed by the trade agreement Trump reached when he NAFTA in his first term.</p>

<p>For smaller countries caught in Trump's cross hairs, the Aug. 1 deadline is particularly difficult because the White House has acknowledged they aren't able to negotiate with every country facing tariff threats. Lesotho, for example, a small country in southern Africa, was hit with a 50% duty on April 2, and even though it was postponed, the threat has already devastated its apparel industry, costing thousands of jobs.</p>

<p>"There's 200 countries,'' the president acknowledged earlier this month. "You can't talk to all of them.''</p>

<p>___</p>

<p>AP Writers Josh Boak and Wyatte Grantham-Philipps contributed to this report.</p>

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Dozens of countries with no deals face higher tariffs as trade deadline nears

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Federal court denies Boston bomber's request for new judge to oversee death sentence appeal

<p>-

  • Federal court denies Boston bomber's request for new judge to oversee death sentence appeal</p>

<p>LEAH WILLINGHAM July 31, 2025 at 10:23 PM</p>

<p>1 / 2Boston Bomber AppealFILE - This photo released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on April 19, 2013, shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man convicted of carrying out the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing attack. (FBI via AP, File)</p>

<p>BOSTON (AP) — A federal court on Thursday denied a request by attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to remove the judge overseeing the protracted legal battle over his death sentence.</p>

<p>The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument made by Tsarnaev's lawyers that U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole should be recused from the case because, the lawyers contend, he is not impartial. During an August 2024 hearing, Tsarnaev's attorneys pointed to what they said were comments O'Toole made about the case on podcasts and at public events during the appeals process.</p>

<p>In a two-page judgment released Thursday, appeals court judges ruled that O'Toole should continue to preside over the case, determining that "two panel discussions and a podcast in which Judge O'Toole discussed various aspects of organizing complex jury trials and the problems associated with social media in that context" did not constitute grounds for his removal.</p>

<p>One of O'Toole's attorneys, David E. Patton, didn't immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.</p>

<p>A federal appeals court in March 2024 ordered O'Toole to investigate claims of juror bias by the defense and to determine whether Tsarnaev's death sentence should stand. He was convicted of helping carry out the 2013 bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds of others near the marathon's finish line.</p>

<p>It's unclear when O'Toole might rule on the juror bias issue. If he finds that jurors should have been disqualified, he should vacate Tsarnaev's sentence and hold a new penalty-phase trial to determine if Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death, the appeals court said.</p>

<p>In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence given to Tsarnaev after the 1st Circuit threw out the sentence in 2020. The circuit court found then that the trial judge did not sufficiently question jurors about their exposure to the extensive news coverage of the bombing.</p>

<p>The 1st Circuit took another look at the case after Tsarnaev's lawyers urged it to examine issues the Supreme Court didn't consider. Among them was whether the trial judge wrongly forced the trial to be held in Boston and wrongly denied defense challenges to the seating of two jurors who they claim lied during questioning.</p>

<p>Tsarnaev's guilt in the deaths of those killed in the bombing was not at issue in the appeal. His lawyers have argued that Tsarnaev fell under the influence of his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in a gun battle with police days after the bombing.</p>

<p>Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted of all 30 charges against him. Prosecutors portrayed the brothers — ethnic Chechens who moved to the United States from Russia more than a decade ago — as full partners in a brutal and coldblooded plan to punish the U.S. for its wars in Muslim countries.</p>

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Conan O'Brien Says Adam Sandler Saved 'SNL' From Feeling Like 'Life or Death' and Brought Fun Back: 'This Is a Possibility? You Can Like' Working Here?

<p>-

  • Conan O'Brien Says Adam Sandler Saved 'SNL' From Feeling Like 'Life or Death' and Brought Fun Back: 'This Is a Possibility? You Can Like' Working Here?</p>

<p>Zack SharfAugust 1, 2025 at 12:05 AM</p>

<p>Conan O'Brien told fellow "Saturday Night Live" alum Andy Samberg during a chat on the "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" podcast that Adam Sandler more or less saved the NBC sketch comedy series from sinking into behind-the-scenes despair in the early 1990s. O'Brien was a writer on "SNL" from 1998 to 1991. Sandler joined as a cast member in 1991 and stayed on the show through 1995.</p>

<p>"I was in that state of mind, and I think, you know, [Robert] Smigel and [Bob] Odenkirk and Greg Daniels were like, 'It's life or death,'" O'Brien said (via Entertainment Weekly). "And it feels like that's kind of how everyone feels."</p>

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<p>But Sandler's vibe was notably different. "He was like, 'This is so much fun to be at 'SNL. Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. Yippee!'" O'Brien remembered. "And he had that, 'I'm going to do Opera Man. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. This is great, guys!' I was like, 'This is a possibility? You can like this?'"</p>

<p>O'Brien admitted last year that he regretted how intense he was during his "SNL" days. It seems like Sandler did not have this problem.</p>

<p>"I was way too intense, and I think I robbed myself of some fun that I could have had," O'Brien said at the time. "I did have a lot of fun, but I think I could have had more fun. And I think I could have maybe written there a little longer if I didn't make it such a grind for myself."</p>

<p>"I burnt out. I burnt out. And [Lorne Michaels] could not have been nicer," O'Brien added about his "SNL" experience. "This was a couple years before he contacted me about the late night show. But I was burnt out and I was like, 'I've got to go,' and that's when I went to 'The Simpsons.'"</p>

<p>Odenkirk, a writer on the show from 1987 to 1991, shared similar thoughts as O'Brien during an interview with EW earlier this moth, saying: "I was too hard on the show. I had a lot of attitude when I got hired there, like, 'This show could be better, this show could be 'Monty Python,' this should be more cutting edge, this should be more dangerous.' And I was frustrated by it not representing purely my point of view. I wanted it to be me, my show."</p>

<p>Watch O'Brien and Samberg's full podcast episode in the video below.</p>

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Conan O’Brien Says Adam Sandler Saved ‘SNL’ From Feeling Like ‘Life or Death’ and Brought Fun Back: ‘This Is a Possibility? You Can Like’ Working Here?

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'Make it work mentality' culture at DC airport questioned after fatal crash

<p>-

  • 'Make it work mentality' culture at DC airport questioned after fatal crash</p>

<p>Michelle Del Rey , USA TODAYJuly 31, 2025 at 9:13 PM</p>

<p>Air traffic control employees at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) are often forced to "make it work" with limited resources, Federal Aviation Administration officials said during the second day of the National Transportation Safety Board's hearing into a fatal January crash.</p>

<p>Sixty-seven people died after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet on January 29 over the Potomac River close to Washington. It was the deadliest U.S. aviation accident in decades.</p>

<p>The NTSB launched a probe into the tragedy, which includes a three-day investigative hearing taking place this week. Here are some major takeaways.</p>

<p>Takeaway #1: The FAA allegedly knew of ongoing risks at DCA</p>

<p>Preliminary investigative results released shortly after the accident showed the FAA was aware of ongoing risks at the airport, particularly with military aircraft, but did not take action before the crash, the NTSB alleged.</p>

<p>Other issues with DCA included airspace congestion and a shortage of air traffic controllers.</p>

<p>Following the tragedy, the FAA restricted the use of military helicopters along Route 1, a helicopter route on the Potomac River that passed in front of DCA's runway 33.</p>

<p>Wednesday and Thursday's portions of the hearing partly focused on the roles the Army and FAA played on the night of the crash, with NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy telling FAA officials the agency did not act on warnings from air traffic control staff who had previously suggested flight path changes to avoid collision threats.</p>

<p>"Every sign was there that there was a safety risk, and the tower was telling you," said the chairwoman.</p>

<p>In a statement posted to X, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, who has been a leader in the investigation into the incident, said: "The NTSB hearing revealed the conflicts on the DCA helicopter routes were so clear that an air traffic control working group suggested changing them.</p>

<p>"What caused the FAA's oversight to be so flawed that they couldn't fix this problem before this tragedy occurred?"</p>

<p>Is flying still safe?: Yes. Here's what travelers should know.</p>

<p>Takeaway #2: The 'make it work mentality'</p>

<p>NTSB investigator Brian Soper asked air traffic control officials whether a "make it work mentality has been normalized at DCA airport."</p>

<p>National Airport Operations Manager Clark Allen said he believed it had.</p>

<p>"There's limited real estate for the airport and where to put aircraft, and that can back up very easily," Allen testified. "So, being a high-volume, high-complexity airport, with not a lot of real estate, you have to keep things moving in order to provide a safe and efficient service."</p>

<p>Bryan Lehman, an FAA front-line manager, said his tower is currently dealing with many of the issues DCA has and is performing "non-standard air traffic maneuvers" on a daily basis.</p>

<p>"We take pride in it," said Lehman, adding, "But I will say that at a certain point, it's too much."</p>

<p>Investigators also pressed officials on staffing turnover. Allen said Wednesday that the DCA control tower has had approximately 10 air traffic wardens since early 2013.</p>

<p>"Air traffic managers are responsible for considering any sort of changes to routes, any sort of changes, amendments, evaluation of routes annually," Homendy responded. "You've had 10 air traffic managers in a pretty small amount of time. You've had five in the past five years, three in the past two years. How are they supposed to know to do that if you keep switching air traffic managers?"</p>

<p>The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) seal is seen during the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Midair Collision Investigative Hearing on July 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.Victims' families respond</p>

<p>Many of the victims of the plane crash were children and their parents returning from a figure skating competition in Wichita, Kansas.</p>

<p>Speaking to ABC affiliate WJLA, Aisha Duggins, whose sister Kiah Duggins died in the crash, said the hearing "brings me hope that we're having these conversations," even though some of the results of the investigation are "deeply unsurprising."</p>

<p>Contributing: Nathan Diller, USA TODAY</p>

<p>Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected].</p>

<p>This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FAA, Army grilled on Potomac plane crash in investigative hearing</p>

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'Make it work mentality' culture at DC airport questioned after fatal crash

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