New musical love story about ambition, espionage, betrayal & redemption set in the 1940’s before the fall of Shanghai gets concert staging.
Friday, December 2 at Merkin Hall
HONG KONG JOURNEYS will present a concert staging of excerpts from LOST SHANGHAI, a new musical with book/ lyrics by Angel Lam and Richard Caliban and music by Angel Lam, on Friday, December 2 at Merkin Hall.
LOST SHANGHAI is a musical love story about ambition, love, espionage, betrayal and redemption set in the tumultuous pre-revolution days of the 1940’s leading to the fall of Shanghai. A young man falls in love with a Shanghai nightclub singer who, unbeknownst to him, has been forced into service as a sort of Matta Hari by the secret police to lure and entrap suspected communists. These two unlikely lovers share a strange fate that transcends revolutions and lifetimes.
Directed by Richard Caliban, LOST SHANGHAI will star Austin Ku (Grammy-Award nominated Soft Power at the Public Theatre), Kai An Chee (Miss Saigon, Broadway revival tour) Mandarin Wu (Pan Asian Rep), Gen Parton-Shin (Japanese Broadway productions of Rent, Next To Normal, Rocky Horror Show; host of American cable TV show "TV Japan Club") with musicians Gordon Lee (harmonica), Yang Yi (gu zheng), Graeme Steele Johnson (clarinet), Patrick Yim (violin), Ben Larsen (cello) Hyungjin Choi (piano) and Alex Wyatt(percussion). The production team includes Andrew Freeburg (projection design) and Mandarin Wu (choreography consultant).
For more information on LOST SHANGHAI visit lostshanghai.weebly.com
Dr. Angel Lam (Composer, Story Concept) is a Grammy-nominated composer praised as "Timeless" (by Carnegie Hall), "Precious, soaring lyrical lines” (Metropolitan Opera, Opera News), and “both poignant and important” (Yo-Yo Ma). She has received three Carnegie Hall commissions before the age of 29, including a cello concerto dedicated to Yo-Yo Ma and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, commissioned by Carnegie Hall – New York City wide festival "Ancient Paths, Modern Voices". She was featured in the Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble album “New Impossibilities,” and “Off the Map.” In the latter she was nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Crossover Album. Her works are frequently toured by international ensembles. Between 2017-2019 five music groups toured her works in eighteen cities of Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, Iceland, Belgium, Scotland, and the United States. As composer, librettist and artistic director, her evening-length musical June Lovers was commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival on their 40th anniversary. Her theatre works have been performed at Theatre Row, Here Arts Centre, The Tank, Queens Flushing Town Hall, and The China Institute of New York. She is the recipient of Opera America’s prestigious Discovery Grant award and Hong Kong Arts Development Council Literary Award. For full bio/press: www.angellam.com
Richard Caliban (Book, Lyrics) Richard Caliban is a NYC based playwright, director and composer who has worked across the country and internationally. He was Artistic Director of famed Cucaracha Theater (“The most exciting experimental theater company in New York.” — NY Times); directed the celebrated site specific En Garde Arts production of Mac Wellman’s Crowbar — winner of two Obies and an Outer Critics Circle Award; and his own MoM - A Rock Concert Musical won “Outstanding Musical” at the New York International Fringe Festival. His work has been seen at The Public Theatre, Primary Stages, Playwrights Horizons, Geva Theatre, The Victory Theater, The Cherry Lane, La Mama, HERE, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Naked Angels, Denver Center Theatre, The Actors Playhouse, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Theatre Row, the RS9 Theater in Budapest, the IIkhom Theater in Tashkent Uzbekistan and many others. For full bio/press: www.richardcaliban.com
HONG KONG JOURNEYS featuring LOST SHANGHAI runs Friday, December 2, 2022 at 7:30pm. Merkin Hall is located inside Kaufman Music Center at 129 West 67th Street (between Broadway & Amsterdam, New York, NY 10023). Tickets are $25 for general admission, $10 for student and $20 for seniors, available at www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org or 212-501-3330.