Ethan Yaheen-Moy Chan: Taking a Lead in F. Scott Fitzgerald Musical, "Diamond as Big as the Ritz"

Johana Gracia Lara and Ethan Yaheen-Moy Chan. Photo by Emma Dickson

Kick off the 2024-25 off-off-Broadway theater season with the new musical-comedy, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, (www.ritzmusical.com) playing for a limited three-week run this September at the ATA Sargent Theatre in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Based on the early 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald comic novella of the same name, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, is told through the eyes of young couple seeking to immigrate to the U.S. as they imagine Fitzgerald’s characters appearing before them on stage.

Ethan Yaheen-Moy Chan plays the male lead, jumping back and forth in time, acting as John in the Fitzgerald story and as Yash as a present day immigrant being held in an immigration office that straddles the American-Canadian border.

Here's the background about Ethan:

• Grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, attended LaGuardia Arts on the Upper West Side followed by Western Connecticut State University for my undergraduate degree.

• Still lives in Forest Hills! 

• He did NOT always want to be in the theatre! He started as a classically trained pianist, but didn't really find a path until studying classical voice at LaGuardia Arts. From there he found theatre, and the rest is history! If he hadn't been a actor, he would have been a journalist of some kind.

• He describes both Yash and John as idealistic and naive characters who learn about the world (and themselves) by seeing the world as it truly is.

• He says that the easiest part of his track in Ritz has definitely been getting to know Yash. "I come from a family of immigrants," he says. "Everyone wants the United States to be what Yash thinks it is, and knowing the given circumstances of my family's journey to the United States, that's been relatively easy to dissect and understand.  The biggest hurdle for me has been mapping out John's evolution through the story; to go from a bright-eyed kid who takes wealth and money at face value to seeing the evil that is sometimes needed to maintain wealth.  I had a similar journey in terms of who I've grown up to be, but that process took me years, and I'm still learning.  John needs to make that transition in months (or 90 minutes, depending on how you look at it) and that's extremely difficult for me to grasp."

• His favorite role to date is Anthony in Sweeney Todd.  "However, I love doing new work, and my favorite roles have come from two very special new musicals that are near and dear to my heart," he says. They are called Double Helix and BLENDED 和 HARMONY respectively. 

• Roles he's love to play next would either be Atung in The Chinese Lady or Moon Gyet in The Far Country.  Both of these works are plays by Lloyd Suh, and they explore a similar period in American history where anti-Chinese xenophobia was at its highest (at least until the COVID-19 pandemic). He says, "In my 10-ish years of acting (with about 5 of those years being "professional"), I've only gotten to play a Chinese person once.  To do that again, for work that speaks to me and the experience of those who came before me, would be a dream.  Shoutout to Lloyd Suh!"

From September 13-29, there are 16 performances at the ATA Sargent Theatre on 54th Street in Midtown Manhattan. Dates and more information about the show are at ritzmusical.com. This is 90-minute, no intermission musical with catchy melodies. Take a minute to listen to this dynamite all-star Broadway cast sing, “Enough Already,” a song from the show that was nominated in England for Best New Song. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=706ExF-sdJQ).

Veteran director and Broadway actor John Hickok directs a cast of five that includes Ethan, Johana Gracia Lara, Megan Lomax, Bobby Barksdale and Richard Rowan. The Diamond as Big as The Ritz features music and lyrics by Seth Bisen-Hersh and book and additional lyrics by R.C. Staab.  

Tickets are only $29 with the code EARLYBIRD at https://tinyurl.com/SeeRitz. For more information, check out ritzmusical.com.