East West Players Announces World Premiere Cast Recording for ‘On This Side of the World’
Contact: Gavin Pak, (213) 625-7000 x18, 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
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE • LOS ANGELES, CA
East West Players Announces
World Premiere Cast Recording for
On This Side of the World
Music & Lyrics by Paulo K Tiról
Created with & Directed by Noam Shapiro
August 22, 2023, Los Angeles, CA | East West Players (EWP) the nation’s longest-running Asian American theater and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works, announces the World Premiere Cast Recording of the soaring musical On This Side of the World. 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.
The World Premiere Cast Recording of On This Side of the World is currently in production. East West Players is organizing a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo to help with the launch of this album–the historic company’s first cast recording since its 2005 production Imelda: A New Musical.
EWP’s Interim Managing Director Adrian Budhu says, “We were blown away by the love and support audiences showed On This Side of the World. We heard you loud and clear: we have to make a cast recording of this incredible production. East West Players has already committed resources to creating this album and to properly compensating the endlessly talented artists whose contributions made this show the sensation it was. We’re calling on the support of our community to help bring this project to the finish line. This crowdfunding campaign will help us recoup some of the costs of production and give audiences a chance to be a bigger part of this show’s amazing journey.”
To support East West Players’ World Premiere Cast Recording of On This Side of the World, visit tinyurl.com/ewpworldalbum.
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, eight-thousand miles from home.
About this monumental recording, On This Side of the World composer & lyricist Paulo K Tiról shared, "During the world premiere of On This Side of the World, audiences left the theater after every performance wanting to hear the score again. Friends 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 said to Noam and me that they wanted to record an original cast album. I couldn't be more grateful for this opportunity to share this score and the incredible work of our cast, band, and music team 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 get to hear Paulo’s gorgeous music and lyrics on both sides of the world. Recording this album with our complete cast from East West Players is a dream come true. Since the end of our run in June 2023, their performances have only gotten sharper—it’s like they’ve been performing the show eight times a week. Listeners are in for a treat.”
Visit tinyurl.com/ewpworldalbum for more information.
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, The Wallis’ Invincible: The Musical, La Mirada Theatre’s Grease! & In the Heights), Zandi De Jesus* (Miss Saigon, La Jolla Playhouse’s Most Wanted, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Nat’l Tour), Michael C. Palma* (EWP’s Mamma Mia! & Imelda: A New Musical, Cold Tofu Improv), Cassie Simone* (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 Crazy Talented Asians, Paris Las Vegas’ Bat Out Of Hell), who understudied the production, are also featured.
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, orchestration 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*.
Paulo K Tiról (Music & Lyrics) is a composer, lyricist, and bookwriter originally from Manila, Philippines and now based in Jersey City, 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 is the 2022-2023 Drama League Next Stage Resident Director, where he is developing 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