BWW Exclusive: THE KING & I's Kelvin Moon Loh Talks Passionate Post; Shares Cast Reaction

As BWW reported earlier today, Kelvin Moon Loh, who currently appears in Rodgers and Hammerstien's The King and I at Lincoln Center took to Facebook this week to share his strong feelings about an incident which occurred during the second act of Wednesday's matinee performance, involving a child in the audience with autism.

Loh explains that the audience began to become impatient with the child and his mother, who was unable to control his noise level during the performance. He shares that it saddened him deeply to see people reach the point of yelling at the woman and her child and he reminded us all that theater is meant to be enjoyed by everyone, not just those who are able to sit patiently and watch quietly. Read the Facebook post in full here

Today, Loh speaks exclusively with BWW about his passionate Facebook post and shares how his fellow cast members and Lincoln Center have responded to the tremendous reaction it has elicited.

Your beautiful post has received such a strong and positive response. Are you surprised by the reaction?

It's been absolutely insane. I had no idea that something I posted while on a dinner break from the show would receive such attention. I'm a little overwhelmed to be honest with you. In the last 24 to 48 hours I just had a lot of random Facebook requests, but when I woke up this morning I have a couple of thousand! And I also spoke with ABC and NBC also reached out to me today, it's been quite a crazy morning.

Can you talk about what motivated you to write the post?

Well the one thing that I am hoping will happen is that it will bring awarenes of parents who have children with special needs and the fact that they have the same right to enjoy theater as we get to enjoy it every single day without thought. It's something I feel really strongly about promoting.

You said in your post that you strongly believe theater should be something for everyone, not just those who are able to sit quietly through it.

Correct, and I firmly believe that because the people who do come to theater, I find them coming from such diverse backgrounds and a lot of people come to theater because they've felt different in some way, so somebody with special needs is exactly the same as us in that way. We come to theater because we have found some kind of love for it, and they have the right to enjoy it as much as anybody else. Now I understand that there are a lot of shows out there who offer "friendly" performances, and I really commend them, but on any given night, there are many shows that do not offer those programs, so still I think shows should be completely accessible for anyone and everyone, that's what theater's about.

How do you answer those who argue that the price of a theater ticket is expensive and perhaps they also have the right to enjoy it without interruption.

Yes, well here's the thing. I completely understand that and I've already gotten a little bit of backlash about that, like "hey, of course you can feel that way because you are getting paid to be on that stage." To be honest with you, I've seen a lot of theater in my time, I worked as a Broadway usher for many, many years before I became a Broadway actor, and I've seen distubances that happened inside of the theater and I completely understand that yes, you want the most perfect evening.

But what's happening is, you're not seeing a movie, you're seeing a live show, so live theater to me is not just what's going on on the stage, but also the experience you are having in the audience with all these other people. And yes, there was an unfortunate situation, there was an outburst, or there's some kind of disturbance to you, but you have to understand that life and reality doesn't stop just because we sat down for a moment in the theater. And I understand it's expensive but you have to have compassion for this mother who came to the theater and was wanting the exact same experience as you. She wanted to have a wonderfully, beautiful experience at the theater. This was an occurance that she could not have anticipated, and because she couldn't anticipate it, how can we as people who love the theater as well, condemn somebody for that? So that's where my heart is at.

And to be honest with you, if it got louder, if we couldn't continue the show, I don't think that there is anyone in my company or the Lincoln Center institution, that wouldn't have stopped the show, taken care of the situation, and then continued with it. That happens all the time. But in that moment, that is not what was required. And I'm sure if there was anyone in that audience who felt their theater experience was completely ruined by the incident, they could have reported back to Lincoln Center and they would have gladly get them another show, because that's what that institution is about, it's about compassion.

Have you had a chance to speak with your fellow actors in the cast about the incident, and if so, what has their reaction been?

I definitely have. When this was happening, it was during Ruthie Ann Miles scene, and when I saw her off stage briefly before she re-entered for the final scene, both her and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes. All she could say was "shame," and at the time, I didn't know what side she was saying "shame," did she think shame for bringing a child that was going to be disruptive to the show, or shame on the audience for reacting the way that they did. And after we talked about it, it became clear to me that she said "shame" because that was a mother dealing with her child, and in that moment it was out of anyone's control. And actually during the scene, Ruthie had taken a really long pause, because that's what you do, just to reflect a moment and let it all calm down, so it was in the middle of her beautiful performance, and she wasn't fazed by it, she knew this was something that was happening, which was very real and she in that moment is talking to her son in that scene and how powerful that this was being mirrored against reality, right across from her.

So I've had a lot of different cast members reach out to me, I have the support of Lincoln Center, I have the support of everyone in the cast. So yes, it is a very difficult situation and I understand it from both sides, but really what it is, it's about empathy, it's about this moment in time. It's not just about this perfectly crafted musical moment that you wanted to experience, this was something that was really happening in real life and we had to take a moment to take it in and just see it from walking in someone else's shoes, and understand how that mother felt in that moment. And that's what we do in theater, we come to learn, we come to feel and to me, to brush off an important moment like that just to have a better theatrical experience which is not as real to what's happening in front of you, seems absurd to me.

Well thank you so much for speaking with us about this today.

Thank you so much for reaching out to me.