World Premiere Cast Recording of On This Side of the World AVAILABLE TODAY!
Contact: Gavin Pak, (213) 542-2489, gpak@eastwestplayers.org
Peter Goldman (213) 500-8532 p.goldman@dcpublicity.com
For more press and event information: www.eastwestplayers.org
For press photos or interview requests: gpak@eastwestplayers.org
“On This Side of the World transcends any one race and speaks to every immigrant story and to those who feel ‘othered’ in our society. It’s a celebration of the human spirit willing to begin again wherever it lands.”
–South Pasadenan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE • LOS ANGELES, CA
World Premiere Cast Recording of On This Side of the World AVAILABLE TODAY!
June 5, 2024, Los Angeles, CA | East West Players (EWP), the nation’s longest-running Asian American theater and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works, releases the World Premiere Cast Recording of the soaring new musical, On This Side of the World.
The World Premiere Cast Recording of On This Side of the World was recorded August 1, 2023 at Studio 770 in Brea, CA. East West Players exceeded its crowdfunding goals to produce this album, making it the historic company’s first cast recording since its 2005 production of Imelda: A New Musical. The On This Side of the World: World Premiere Cast Recording will be distributed to backers immediately and will be available for purchase via Bandcamp beginning today, June 5, 2024. The cast album provides an hour and fifty-eight minutes of music over 24 tracks.
Visit eastwestplayers.bandcamp.com to purchase the On This Side of the World: World Premiere Cast Recording today!
Cast members of On This Side of the World will perform selections from the show at 7:30 pm, Tuesday, June 18 at Tuesday Night Cafe. This free event does not require tickets and will take place in the Union Center for the Arts’ Aratani Courtyard at 120 Judge John Aiso St, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Tuesday Night Cafe is hosted by Tuesday Night Project and is one of the longest-running free arts & performance series in Downtown LA and the oldest currently running Asian American open mic space in the country.
The world premiere production of this musical featuring music & lyrics by Paulo K Tiról and created with & directed by Noam Shapiro performed a sold-out, extended run at East West Players’ David Henry Hwang Theater in Los Angeles from May 11 through June 10, 2023. In On This Side of the World, a woman flies from the Philippines to America with a one-way ticket and a suitcase full of stories. Each story is collected from immigrants who came before her. Suspended above the ocean, she replays these stories in her mind as she searches for the courage to embrace her future. This world premiere musical gives voices to Filipino immigrants navigating old lives and new beginnings, 8,000 miles from home.
About this monumental recording, On This Side of the World composer & lyricist Paulo K Tiról shared, "During the show’s world premiere run at East West Players, audiences would leave the theater wanting to hear the score all over again. At the same time, people who couldn't make it to Los Angeles—because they were on the East Coast, in Manila, or somewhere in between—said they wished they could experience the show. So, I was over the moon when East West Players told Noam and me that they wanted to produce a world premiere cast recording. Now, after months of crowdfunding and putting the album together, I couldn't be more grateful and excited to share the score of On This Side of the World with Filipinos, immigrants, and musical theater lovers across the United States and around the world. And as more people get to know the show, my hope is that more theaters become interested in bringing it to their own cities."
“It took only one song for me to fall in love with On This Side of the World back in 2018,” expresses the show’s co-creator & director Noam Shapiro. “After sharing the show with audiences on both coasts, I’m thrilled that more people will hear Paulo’s gorgeous music and lyrics across the country and around the world. On This Side of the World is an open-hearted, uplifting original musical. Listeners are in for a treat. We hope this album will inspire other theaters to program On This Side of the World so that new audiences can experience these stories.
Visit eastwestplayers.bandcamp.com to purchase the On This Side of the World: World Premiere Cast Recording today!
Cast & Credits
The East West Players’ world premiere cast of On This Side of the World reprises their roles for this recording: Steven-Adam Agdeppa* (EWP’s Crazy Talented Asians, CTG’s A Christmas Story, The Musical, The Wallis’ Invincible: The Musical, La Mirada Theatre’s Grease! & In the Heights), Zandi De Jesus* (Artists at Play’s This is Not a True Story, Miss Saigon, La Jolla Playhouse’s Most Wanted), Michael C. Palma* (EWP’s Mamma Mia! & Imelda: A New Musical, Cold Tofu Improv), Cassie Simone* (Disney’s Rogers: The Musical, La Mirada Theatre’s Hunchback of Notre Dame & RENT, A Noise Within’s Man of La Mancha), Andrea Somera* (EWP’s Assassins, A Noise Within’s A Christmas Carol), Shaun Tuazon* (EWP’s Mamma Mia!, San Diego Rep’s Vietgone). Melvin Biteng (Disney Jr. Live: Costume Palooza Nat’l Tour, Avenue Q, Mamma Mia!) and Justine Rafael (EWP’s Spring Awakening & Crazy Talented Asians, Paris Las Vegas’ Bat Out Of Hell), who understudied the production, are also featured.
The World Premiere Cast Recording features the original production’s band: Marc Macalintal (conductor/keyboard), Vincent Reyes (guitar), Khris Kempis (electric & upright bass), Christopher Spilsbury (drums & percussion), and Rebecca Yeh (cello).
The album, recorded at Studio 770 in Brea, CA, is produced with the contributions of Andy Lowe (lead producer), Edward Khris Fernandez* (line producer), Josh Bennett (mixing engineer), Paul Dateh (mixing engineer), Daniel Ho (mastering engineer), and Shantih Haast (recording studio engineer).
The creative team of the world premiere production included direction by Noam Shapiro, music direction by Jennifer Lin and Marc Macalintal, choreography by Allen Lucky Weaver, orchestrations by Ian Miller, scenic design by Yi-Chien Lee, sound design by Maddi Deckard, projection design by David Murakami, costume design by Jaymee Ngernwichit, properties design by Glenn Michael Baker, lighting design by Szu-Yun Wang, and stage management by Edward Khris Fernandez*.
Artist Biographies
Paulo K Tiról (Music & Lyrics) is a composer, lyricist, and bookwriter originally from Manila, Philippines and now based in northern New Jersey, NJ. His work includes music and lyrics for On This Side of the World (created with and directed by Noam Shapiro; world premiere at East West Players; presentation at NAMT Festival 2020; residencies at the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Catwalk Art Institute, Access Theater; readings and workshops at East West Players, Musical Theatre West, Prospect Theater Co., Access Theatre/Three Hares); music, lyrics, and book for Dear America, adapted from the memoir of journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas (directed and book co-written by Noam Shapiro; residencies at the Drama League, Theater Latté Da, Catwalk Art Institute); music, lyrics, and book for Called (developed as a Dramatist Guild Foundation Fellow); and orchestrations for the off-Broadway musical, Felix Starro (Ma-Yi Theater Co.). He was commissioned to contribute to Prospect Theater Co.’s off-Broadway song cycle, Notes from Now, and Rattlestick Theater’s Gen Speak. He is also an award-winning composer of choral liturgical music, with work published by Oregon Catholic Press. Training: Ateneo de Manila University; Berklee; MFA Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch (full-tuition scholarship); BMI. More at www.paulophonic.com.
Noam Shapiro (Director & Co-Creator) is a DC- and New York-based director and the Producing Artistic Director of Three Hares Theater. He was the 2022-2023 Drama League Next Stage Resident Director, where he developed Dear America, adapted from the memoir of journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas, with Paulo K Tiról. Noam was the SDC Foundation’s inaugural Kurt Weill/Harold Prince Directing Fellow at Encores! New York City Center, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, a Manhattan Theatre Club Directing Fellow, a Drama League First Draft Resident Artist, and a winner of OPERA-America’s Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize for The Little Prince. His recent projects include On This Side of the World (East West Players; Rhinebeck Writers Retreat; NAMT Festival; Three Hares/Access Theater), Sweeney Todd (Yale Dramatic Association), Gonzo (LaGuardia Performing Arts Festival), Speaking as Then (Columbia University School of the Arts), Little League (Three Hares), The Laramie Project (Johns Hopkins Barnstormers), and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Lyra Theater). Associate Member of SDC. BA Yale. www.noamshapiro.com
About East West Players
East West Players (EWP) is one of the nation’s longest-running theaters of color and the largest producer of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) creative work. Since its founding in 1965, it has produced more than 230 shows and has received regional and national accolades, including being honored as one of America’s Cultural Treasures by the Ford Foundation. EWP leads the Asian American theater movement, using its platform to advocate for comprehensive and intersectional diversity, equity, and inclusion practices through world-class theater. EWP invests in the future of Asian American artists by offering career development classes for both seasoned and emerging artists, as well as its arts education programs. To learn more, visit eastwestplayers.org.
Acknowledgements
East West Players is supported in part by the Ford Foundation, Perenchio Foundation, Aratani Foundation, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and Dwight Stuart Youth Fund.
Contact: Gavin Pak, (213) 542-2489, gpak@eastwestplayers.org
Peter Goldman (213) 500-8532 p.goldman@dcpublicity.com
For more press and event information: www.eastwestplayers.org
For press photos or interview requests: gpak@eastwestplayers.org