Michael Maliakel & The Tabernacle Choir
Indian American performer Michael Maliakel, best known for claiming the spotlight on the Broadway stage as Disney’s Aladdin, will be seen singing in a 90-minute special, “Joy: Christmas with The Tabernacle Choir,” which will air on PBS and BYUtv this month. The performance was recorded over three nights last December in front of a live audience at the 21,000-seat Conference Center at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. He shares the stage with British actress Lesley Nicol and a cast of more than 500 people.
A few years ago, Maliakel was part of the Broadway adaptation of Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding, which had an all-South Asian cast. Once again, he is on the all-South Asian cast of Maya, a musical about Gandhiji’s salt march.
In an interview with India Currents, Maliakel fielded questions about Christmas memories, playing Aladdin, and the experience of being a South Asian man in showbiz today.
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Edited excerpts:
India Currents: What was the most difficult part of preparing for this choir?
Michael Maliakel: I only got a short period of time off from Aladdin to come do the show. When you’re in the trenches of doing eight shows a week on Broadway, there’s a certain baseline level of fatigue that you learn to exist with. So it would have been nice to roll into Salt Lake City a little bit better rested but for the most part it was a beautiful experience.
IC: One of the songs in the program is “God Help the Outcasts” from the musical and film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” based on Victor Hugo’s novel from the 1830s. Yet, it has so much contemporary significance…
MM: Oh man, that song was probably my favorite moment from this program, because it is, sadly, a very timeless message. There are so many places in the world where that message needs to be heard… it’s devastating to think of how many lives have been lost. It doesn’t have to be a political thing but just about understanding the humanity of people who don’t look like us, people who may live in a different part of the world. No one life is worth more than another. It’s a reminder to think about those who have less than us, people who are struggling; it puts our struggles in context.
IC: Share your early Christmas memories growing up as a child of Indian immigrants in New Jersey. Were you ever in Kerala for Christmas?
MM: Our family is Catholic so church was a big part of our lives growing up. Christmas was always very much about getting dressed up and going to the Midnight Mass. My first time learning how to sing was in the children’s choir at church, so it often meant singing for Christmas services as a kid and as we got older. It was always about music; it set me on the path of making music a part of my life. We had pretty humble Christmases at home, my parents would do their best to give us anything that we’d asked for in terms of presents. Christmas brunch at home was often Indian food; it wasn’t your normal Christmas ham and all of that, it was usually pretty standard South Indian cuisine.
We always made our trips to India in the summertime, so I’ve never actually spent Christmas in Kerala… hopefully someday I’ll get to experience that.
IC: Success is liberating, but I am curious about what I call the ‘Aladdin hangover.’ When a show or character is such a big part of your professional identity, can it become limiting as you navigate new projects?
MM: I would say, rather than a hangover, it sort of felt like a little bit of a comedown, of getting back into the routine of regular life. When you’re on a Broadway schedule — performing eight times a week for three years — especially in a demanding role like Aladdin where you’re responsible for carrying the show, you have to structure your life around that… that became like a monk lifestyle in a lot of ways.
In terms of how it’s affected new work and new projects… Aladdin is such a specific energy; he’s a youthful character, the show has a lot of joy, and you know, the Disney of it all. My toolbox and my experience as a singer is much wider than just that so there’s been a little bit of trying to convince people that I can play a grown-up too… (laughs)
I’m excited about digging into stuff that’s a little meatier, that uses more of my full voice. But generally speaking it has helped open a lot of doors for me.
IC: What do you enjoy more, acting or singing?
MM: My introduction to performing was through music. Most of my education in terms of performing has been as a musician and a singer. I came to acting and theater a bit later. But I’m at a point in my career where I think of the two going hand in hand, especially as a Broadway performer and a musical theater artist… storytelling through song is really compelling, it helps us tell stories that are important and universal, it connects people and makes people feel seen.
IC: As a South Asian man in showbiz, what problems do you think need urgent attention?
MM: I really believe in the phrase ‘representation matters.’ It’s a very meaningful thing for someone from an under-represented group in society to see themselves on screen, in mainstream media. Those moments are foundational in shaping people’s experiences in terms of feeling like they belong, like that their needs and wants and desires are just as valid as any other person’s.
For a long time it’s what dissuaded me from pursuing a career as a performer… the fear that ‘is there a place for me in this world?’ I didn’t see many people who looked like me doing it and succeeding. It took me a while to work up the courage to dare to be maybe the first person in a lot of those spaces. That has changed a lot since I’ve been at it, which is encouraging.
For Aladdin, I’ve received so many beautiful messages on social media and even at the stage door, from young brown people, young South Asian people, young minorities in general… to have them say ‘it’s so meaningful to see someone like you succeed at something like this’ is my greatest takeaway.
Seeing the breadth of roles offered to people that look like me become more nuanced and more varied is exciting. There’s a way to go, sure, but I’m encouraged by how far we’ve come.
IC: Does landing racially ambiguous roles or work that isn’t informed by your country of origin remain a challenge, though? To rephrase, can your work ever be about just the work and not about representation?
MM: In an idealized situation it should really just be about your talents and how you meet the expectations of the role. That’s ultimately the goal. I do feel there is a certain threshold — I guess you’d call it a glass ceiling. If the role has nothing to do with your race then that sort of eliminates that need for qualifying someone’s talent or whether they deserve to be in a certain space.
In the actor world I have a ‘type’ — there are certain roles I am well suited for. If there’s only one Indian role out there for a certain TV show, I’ll often be submitted for it whether or not I’m the right type for it because it’s a numbers game, but the reality is that we’re all very different; we all have different personality types and different energies.
The more opportunities there are, the better we are able to represent who we are as people beyond the color of our skin and our background. In the long term that’s what I’ve got my eyes on.
IC: Name some of your favorite South Asian performers today.
MM: Mindy Kaling’s influence and activism is moving the needle for South Asian culture. I’m a fan of Padmalaxmi; she approaches her work with a lot of fun and joy.
In the theater world, folks who’ve trail-blazed include friends like Manu Narayan, who was probably the first South Asian man to ever lead a Broadway show (Bombay Dreams, 2004, for which A.R. Rahman composed music). When I moved to New York, I was walking into audition rooms and people sort of scratched their heads not really knowing what to do with me, so I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for them a decade earlier.
IC: What’s your favorite Christmas song?
MM: It’s got to be “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Frank Sinatra).” It brings all kinds of nostalgic memories of Christmases with my family.
The 90-minute “Joy: Christmas with The Tabernacle Choir” special will air on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 8 p.m. ET and Tuesday, Dec. 24 at 9:30 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org, and the PBS Video app, with the special available for streaming Nov. 28– Jan. 1. BYUtv will air it on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 9 p.m. ET with repeats through Christmas Day, and it will be available to stream for free on the BYUtv app and BYUtv.org.