“Between Our Worlds - A Vietnamese minimusical.” - the senior who brought the first Asian cultural musical to AUBG By: Alexander Stamatov & Zhelyana Borisova Hayley Ngoc Mai Nguyen is an AUBG senior from Vietnam. She majors in History and has a self-designed major in Music, Theater, and Film. Initially, she wanted to study at an American university in the U.S., but compared to AUBG, it was too expensive. She realized that even though she would study at AUBG, she could still go to the U.S., which made it a better choice. In her freshman year, she joined the Broadway Performance Club (BPC), which turned out to be the most important part of her overall AUBG experience. “I have been in the club since my freshman year, I was a back vocal then, and then in my second year, I was a dancer, and then COVID happened. In my third year, I wasn’t here at all, and now this year, I am the choreographer and part of the creative team, and together we did Cabaret, we did the choreography, we did the tour, we did the performances, and basically everything we were wishing for, ever since our freshman year,” she said. Compared to other musicals in the past that BPC has done, Cabaret did not have that many dances. Still, they faced a challenge because this year, they were very understaffed. After a two-year break of no performances, it was hard for BPC to revive the club. Nonetheless, Hayley found pleasure in her work. “I did enjoy it a lot. At the end of the day, I am doing what I am passionate about. These are the people that I love and want to spend time with. It’s hard, I complain about it, but I am happy that I did it,” she said. For her senior project, she created a musical out of a Vietnamese folklore story that she knew from when she was a little kid. A story very close and personal to her, which she felt that even though many people have heard of, not many know what it is really about. The musical is called “Between Our Worlds - A Vietnamese minimusical,” which premiered on April 26. This is the first Asian cultural musical done in AUBG. Hayley chose different Vietnamese songs, and with the help of a friend of hers who studies Music and Theater in the U.S., they adapted them into the musical. Creating the musical involved a lot of additional creative writing, then translating since she had only the plot of the folklore story. A challenge that she faced was translating some of the lyrics of the songs into English. “Some particular phrases or words may sound nice in one language and don’t 4 SPRING 2022 | AUBG DAILY Photo courtesy of Svetozara Staykova. Photo courtesy of Svetozara Staykova. sound the same in another, so it was very hard to try and balance that out. I also wanted to rhyme because I wanted everything to sound like one big poem, so that part was quite challenging. In the end, it all came together nicely,” she said. For Hayley, it was important to reassure the cast of whatever they wore, performed, or experienced. They do not have to worry about cultural appropriation. As well as mistakes they may or may not make that could offend the culture. “Even though it is a very heavy cultural experience, I wanted it to be a nice experience for the cast and the audience, and for them to have some new experience that is useful and exciting altogether,” Hayley said. The interview with Hayley ended with these closing remarks: “A lot of things happened to me this academic year, a lot of plays, productions and they just happen so fast I don’t always have the time to process them, but I am very proud because my project was the first Vietnamese production, and probably the first Asian production that we have here, and something that is so heavily cultural when it comes to characteristics. I hope that it also means something to the people who came to see it and also want to tell their stories because I am sure that people also have their own experiences and they always have their very special stories to tell. I remember yesterday when I was walking, I asked my Indian friend, “Why don’t you make an Indian musical?” and she told me ‘’When I saw yours, I just had so many ideas and wanted to do everything, and there is this story in my culture that I want to share..” and I just feel like I did something, maybe it was not huge, but it is something that I find very meaningful, something that can be considered like a start of something new. I am very grateful for everyone that was with me on this journey.”
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