Alvin Y. F. Ing, Star of Pacific Overtures and Its Revival, Dies at 89 / August 8, 2021 by David Hwang

Mr. Ing also starred in the Broadway revival of Flower Drum Song, featuring a revised book by David Henry Hwang.

Alvin Y. F. Ing, who starred in both the original 1976 Broadway production of Pacific Overtures and the musical's Main Stem revival in 2004, passed away July 31 due to COVID-19 complications at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. He was 89 and had been fully vaccinated.

Also known as Alvin Ing, the trailblazing actor was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, May 26, 1932.

Alvin Y. F. Ing

In 1960 Mr. Ing appeared in a tour of The World of Suzie Wong, which played engagements in both the U.S. and Toronto, and in the late '60s he was part of productions of the Jerry Herman musical Mame at Caesar's Palace and the Sacramento Music Circus.

Mr. Ing made his Broadway debut December 31, 1975, with the first preview of the aforementioned Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman musical Pacific Overtures, which officially opened January 11, 1976, at the Winter Garden Theatre. In the '60s, Mr. Ing had headed TAAPA (Theater for Asian American Performing Artists), which, according to his Playbill bio, convinced producer-director Harold Prince to cast Pacific Overtures with an all-Asian company. He played several roles in the Tony-nominated musical—which follows Commodore Matthew Perry on his journey to Japan in 1853 on a U.S. mission to open up trade relations—including Shogun's Mother, Observer, Merchant American, and Admiral.

Mr. Ing had one other Broadway credit, the 2002 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song, playing the role of Chin opposite Tony winner Lea Salonga's Mei-Li. It was not his first outing with the 1958 musical; he had previously starred in the musical's national tour, eventually playing the role of Wang Ta more than any other actor.

HONG KONG SUPERSTAR ANDY LAU REJECTED HOLLYWOOD FILMS INCLUDING ‘M BUTTERFLY’ THAT DEGRADE CHINESE / July 31, 2021 by David Hwang

Lau turned down 'M Butterfly' because "the character he was asked to play had to lick the toes of a foreigner"

Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau refused to take on Hollywood roles that degraded Chinese people.

God Of Gamblers director Wong Jing said Lau rejected roles after reading the script.

“He felt the roles he had to play degraded the Chinese. So, he decided to reject it,” Jing said.

The 59-year-old star even turned down 1993’s M Butterfly based on David Henry Hwang’s play because “the character he was asked to play had to lick the toes of a foreigner.”

Other films Lau was asked to audition for include Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Spiderman 3 and Sandman.

Lau remains the most awarded Hong Kong singer and has appeared in 140 movies.

Watch Trailer for On Broadway Documentary, Featuring Hugh Jackman, George C. Wolfe, Helen Mirren, More / July 31, 2021 by David Hwang

Oren Jacoby’s film will arrive in New York movie theatres August 20

Oscar nominee Oren Jacoby’s documentary On Broadway—which chronicles how Broadway, on the verge of bankruptcy in the '70s, avoided collapse and reinvented itself—will be released in New York August 20. The film will subsequently open in Los Angeles August 27 prior to a national rollout.

Watch a trailer, featuring interviews with Hugh Jackman, Helen Mirren, George C. Wolfe, Ian McKellen, Christine Baranski, and Alec Baldwin, above.

The story of Broadway's self-reinvention is told by a cast that also includes August Wilson, Hal Prince, James Corden, John Lithgow, Tommy Tune, Alexandra Billings, David Henry Hwang, Oskar Eustis, Nicholas Hytner, Jack O’Brien, Daniel Sullivan, Trevor Nunn, Julie Taymor, Sonia Friedman, Jeffrey Seller, and Tony Kushner.

Directed by Jacoby, On Broadway is executive produced by Pat Schoenfeld, Stephanie P. MccLelland, No Guarantee Theatricals, John Breglio, Betsy West, Barbara H. Freitag, and Riki Kane-Larimer and produced by Jacoby and Holly Siegel.

Cinematography is by Buddy Squires, Bob Richman, and Tom Hurwitz with editing by Abhay Sofsky, Ted Raviv, Steven Wechsler. The film is a Kino Lorber release.

Costume designer Emilio Sosa elected chair of the American Theatre Wing / July 28, 2021 by David Hwang

Emilio Sosa will be the new board chair of the American Theatre Wing. (Photo: Shevett Studios)

Broadway costume and fashion designer Emilio Sosa has been elected chair of the American Theatre Wing.

Sosa will succeed David Henry Hwang and Ted Chapin, who will continue to be active within the Wing as immediate past chairs. He is joined by newly appointed vice-chairs Dale Cendali, Patricia Crown, James Higgins, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Lee Perlman and Nadine Wong.

Pam Zilly will serve as treasurer and Natasha Katz will serve as secretary. The American Theatre Wing offers educational programming and support to emerging theater artists and acts as the co-presenter of the Tony Awards.

Asian Composers Reflect on Careers in Western Classical Music / July 26, 2021 by David Hwang

DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBERBY BRIGHT SHENG Libretto By David Henry Hwang and Bright Sheng / June 14–July 3, 2022 — DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER
**BY BRIGHT SHENG**
**Libretto By David Henry Hwang and Bright Sheng / June 14–July 3, 2022**

For all their shared experiences, each of these five artists has a unique story of struggles and triumphs.

Bright Sheng

Asian composers who write in Western classical musical forms, like symphonies and operas, tend to have a few things in common. Many learned European styles from an early age, and finished their studies at conservatories there or in the United States. And many later found themselves relegated to programming ghettos like Lunar New Year concerts. (One recent study found that works by Asian composers make up only about 2 percent of American orchestral performances planned for the coming season.)

When I left China, it was a time of economic and cultural reform. I’m glad I came to the United States, but I do have a little bit of guilt. I probably could have done more there. At the time, my ambition was to try to learn Western music and become the best composer, pianist and conductor I could be. I was fortunate to work with many fantastic musicians and meet Leonard Bernstein, who took me under his wing for five years. Now, at 65, when someone asks me if I consider myself a Chinese or American composer, I say, in the most humble way, “100 percent both.” I feel well-versed in both cultures.

Occasionally, there has been racism and misunderstanding, but that is inevitable. Would that be different if there were more Asian people running orchestras? Maybe. My response has just been to try to produce the best music I can. I wrote an opera for San Francisco Opera — “Dream of the Red Chamber,”. It’s based on a very popular Chinese story, and when I worked on it with David Henry Hwang, we asked ourselves: “Is this for a Western audience or Asian audience?” We decided first and foremost it should just be good, and it had to be touching. Good art should transcend.

TARZAN Swings Into Theatre West Virginia This Weekend / July 23, 2021 by David Hwang

Tarzan will swing into Theatre West Virginia beginning this weekend with performances July 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

Based on Disney's epic animated musical adventure and Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan of the Apes, Tarzan features heart-pumping music by rock legend, Phil Collins, and a book by Tony Award-winning playwright, David Henry Hwang. High-flying excitement and hits, like the Academy Award-winning "You'll Be in My Heart," as well as "Son of Man" and "Two Worlds," make Tarzan an unforgettable theatrical experience.

Washed up on the shores of West Africa, an infant boy is taken in and raised by gorillas who name him Tarzan. Apart from striving for acceptance from his ape father, Tarzan's life is mostly monkey business until a human expedition treks into his tribe's territory, and he encounters creatures like himself for the first time. Tarzan struggles to navigate a jungle, thick with emotion, as he discovers his animal upbringing clashing with his human instincts.

Read more at Broadway World

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Patti LuPone, Viola Davis & More Appear in New Documentary, ON BROADWAY / July 22, 2021 by David Hwang

As theater goers prepare for the return of Broadway after an unprecedented absence of eighteen months, Kino Lorber is proud to announce the Friday, August 20th release of Academy-Award nominee Oren Jacoby's documentary ON BROADWAY, an enlightening and moving tribute to one of the most vibrant legacies of New York City, and the inside story of Broadway's last self-reinvention as told by an all-star cast.

Broadway was on the verge of bankruptcy in the 70s with talk of tearing down theaters and replacing them with parking lots; the plays were considered obsolete and audiences severely declining. The documentary explores how, thanks to innovative work, a new attention to inclusion and the sometimes-uneasy balance between art and commerce, an industry on the verge of extinction not only avoided collapse, but managed to reinvent itself and come back stronger.

Legends of the stage and screen take us behind the scenes of Broadway's most groundbreaking and beloved shows, from "A Chorus Line" to "Hamilton." Iconic performances by Lin Manuel Miranda, Patti LuPone, Viola Davis, Bernadette Peters, James Earl Jones and Mandy Patinkin lead the way in a hurly burly ride through Times Square, once again the main street of American show business.

Also featured are interviews with some of today's most influential playwrights, directors, choreographers, performers and producers such as Alexandra Billings, David Henry Hwang, Oskar Eustis, Nicholas Hytner, Jack O'Brien, George C. Wolfe, Daniel Sullivan, Trevor Nunn, Julie Taymour, Sonia Friedman, Jeffrey Seller and Tony Kushner.

It also featuring interviews with Helen Mirren, Christine Baranski, August Wilson, Hal Prince, James Corden, Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, Tommy Tune, Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen.

They tell the stories of the remarkable changes they helped initiate or witnessed over the past 50 years, the devastating impact of the AIDS epidemic on the theater community, and track the breakthrough works and artists which made Broadway into a venue where one can find everything-from the experimental and iconoclastic to the mainstream and commercial.

Read more at Broadway World

Final Steel Beam Placed Atop Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center In Financial District, Manhattan / July 14, 2021 by David Hwang

From left to right is Kevin O’Toole, Chairman, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Holly Leicht, Chair of the Board, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; Leslie Koch, President, Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC); Michael R. Bloomberg, Chair of the Board, PAC, and 108th mayor of New York City; Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, dancer and choreographer, PAC Artistic Advisor; Ronald O. Perelman, Chairman and CEO, MacAndrews & Forbes; David Henry Hwang, playwright, PAC Artistic Advisor; Bill Rauch, PAC Artistic Director; and Rick Cotton, Executive Director, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

At a ceremony on June 23, the final steel beam for the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Centerwas signed and lifted into place atop the Financial District structure. Designed by REX with Davis Brody Bond Architects as the executive architect and developed by an independent non-profit company called The Perelman, the cubic performance building stands 138 feet tall at the northern end of the original 16-acre World Trade Center complex, bound by Greenwich Street to the east, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, and Skidmore Owings & Merrill‘s One World Trade Center to the west.

Top Filipino artists sing as one in a video against anti-Asian prejudice / July 12, 2021 by David Hwang

Together with Filipino celebrities such as Black Eyed Peas’s Apple de Up and Tony Award-winning Lea Salonga You are now taught carefully From Broadway musicals South Pacific, With lyrics that are against the prejudice that Asians are experiencing all over the world because of the pandemic.

Anti-Asia Hatred Campaign of the Asian Society Using the Song “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught” by Rogers & Hammerstein Musical South Pacific Inspired by the Asia Society’s Philippine Center, the song was directed by a well-known Filipino artist singing as one of the “Stop All Hate”. Share love. “

With the help of Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang of the Asian Society Hong Kong, we secured permission to fine-tune the lyrics and created a version with a Hong Kong-based artist.

Read more at Illinois News Today

A 90th anniversary benefit for the Library of the Performing Arts’ Billy Rose Theatre Division / July 5, 2021 by David Hwang

Last week, it was announced that multiple Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein, the son of a librarian, donated $2.5 million to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, which will establish a new dedicated educational space in the building, named in his honor. The Harvey Fierstein Theatre Lab, for students and teachers from middle school through graduate school levels, will allow the Library to make new and innovative use of its extensive theater archives and collections by providing scholarly engagement, curricular and extracurricular experiences for students and teachers, and programming for lifelong learners.

The online pay-what-you-can fundraiser, honoring producer/director Harold Prince and playwright/director George C. Wolfe, will offer a rare opportunity to view never-before-seen clips from the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive (TOFT, now celebrating its 50thanniversary), interviews with Broadway legends and emerging creatives, and reconceived performances of classic musical theater show tunes, including Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, In the Heights, The Mountaintop, Ragtime, The Seagull, Spamalot, and Sunset Boulevard. Funds raised by the event will allow the TOFT Archive to capture Broadway and Off-Broadway shows coming out of this historic pandemic shutdown, and to ensure that the Division’s vast collection of historic theatrical negatives are digitized before they erode.

Winners of Columbia@Roundabout's 2021 New Play Reading Series Announced / June 24, 2021 by David Hwang

The playwrights featured are Adam North (Central Air), Kate Pressman (Piano for Four Hands) and Alaudin Ullah (The Halal Brothers).

Roundabout Theatre Company and Columbia University School of the Arts have announced the winners of Columbia@Roundabout's 2021 New Play Reading Series. As part of the collaborative partnership between Roundabout Theatre Company and Columbia University, the reading series awards three playwrights from the current MFA program and recent alumni with a cash prize as well as a reading produced by Roundabout. Five finalists have also received cash prizes in recognition of their exceptional work.

No other collaborative partnership in the New York area brings together an esteemed Ivy League MFA program with a Tony Award-winning, not-for-profit theatre. The reading series is made possible by a grant from The Tow Foundation.

Read more at Broadway World

S.F. Opera to return with a season like no other / June 24, 2021 by David Hwang

The company of 2016 production of Dream of the Red Chamber. Photo by Cory Weaver for the San Francisco Opera.

In a season like no other in the company’s 99-year history, San Francisco Opera plans to return to live performance at the War Memorial Opera House with an abbreviated 2021-22 bill of five fully staged productions and two special concerts.

Called a “transitional year” in its announcement Tuesday, June 22, the season is expected to open with Puccini’s “Tosca” on Aug. 21, and features Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” a double helping of Mozart and a revival of Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang’s “Dream of the Red Chamber.” Three of the five operas are new productions.

Center Theatre Group needs more than a new leader. It needs to blow up the status quo / June 13, 2021 by David Hwang

In yet another sign that our post-pandemic future won’t be a reboot of the pre-pandemic past, Center Theatre Group has announced that Michael Ritchie will be retiring as artistic director at the end of the year.

I come not to criticize Ritchie’s nearly 17 years at the helm of the Ahmanson Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum and the Kirk Douglas Theatre (something I’ve done extensively before), but to reflect on the history. CTG is at a crossroads, and to figure out what it needs going forward, it is necessary to trace where it has been.

Ritchie’s tenure was initially challenged by the difficulty in replacing Gordon Davidson, who, as the founder of the Taper, is sometimes credited with having put L.A. theater on the map. Those were enormous shoes to fill, and Ritchie didn’t have the missionary zeal to compete.

A few years into the job, Ritchie had to contend with the Great Recession. What was dubbed the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression wreaked havoc on budgets and hastened the nationwide trend of nonprofit theater’s commercialization.

The notion that a more devastating crisis would arrive about a decade later would have been hard to imagine at the time. But COVID-19, which closed public venues for more than a year, proved the wisdom of Edgar’s line from “King Lear”: “The worst is not / So long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’”

In short, it’s been a rough couple of decades. All the more reason, then, to make note of the many memorable productions that emerged during Ritchie’s reign — among them, Rajiv Joseph’s “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” David Henry Hwang’s “Yellow Face,” productions of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” and “Jitney” and deliriously daft new musicals such as “The Drowsy Chaperone” and “Curtains.”

Weekend Forecast June 11-12-13, 2021 / June 13, 2021 by David Hwang

A new opera by Philip Glass is always something to applaud, and his new Circus Days And Nights, co-produced by Cirkus Cirkör and Malmö Opera, is a collaboration that presents a unique fusion of circus and opera. Libretto by David Henry Hwang and circus director Tilde Björfors, the opera is based on a collection of poems by American poet Robert Lax. Sets and costumes by Magdalena Åberg, lighting by Ellen Ruge/Robert Hvenström, and sound by Avgoustos Psillas. Streaming online, buy tickets here.

SCERA's TARZAN is All About Family / June 8, 2021 by David Hwang

Disney's TARZAN at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre is all about family, not only because of its message of familial love and acceptance, but because multiple families are participating onstage and behind the scenes together. And it's the perfect show to gather your entire family and see together on the SCERA's grassy hill under the stars.

TARZAN (music and lyrics by Phil Collins, book by David Henry Hwang) tells Edgar Rice Burroughs' well-known story of a boy raised by apes in the jungles of Africa. When a father-daughter team of scientists arrives to study the flora and fauna of the area, Tarzan learns for the first time that there are others like him in the world. He must decide whether he belongs with the family who raised him or with the one he is quickly falling in love with.

Director Chase Ramsey (who recently starred on Broadway in THE BOOK OF MORMON) and his wife, choreographer Janessa Ramsey, have filled the stage with movement that is meaningful and not distracting, creating an appropriately active, pulsating environment for the story to unfold.

Their son, Jude Peter Ramsey, who plays Young Tarzan, is an impressive performer for such a young age. He's joined by his also talented grandfather Mike Ramsey as Professor Porter.

Brian Smith (whose wife performs in the ensemble) is physically impeccable for the role of Tarzan, effortlessly lifting and swinging through the jungle, but he also brings an appealing earnestness that makes the audience want to root for him through his journey.

Read more at Broadway World

Watch an AIDA Reunion on Stars in the House- Live at 8pm! / June 8, 2021 by David Hwang

Stars in the House continues tonight (8pm ET) with an AIDA Reunion with Heather Headley, Sherie Rene Scott, Adam Pascal and more!

Aida is a musical based on the opera of the same name written by Antonio Ghislanzoni with music by Giuseppe Verdi. It has music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang, and was originally produced by Walt Disney Theatrical. Aida premiered on Broadway on March 23, 2000, running for 1,852 performances until September 5, 2004. It was nominated for five Tony Awards and won four, including Best Original Score. It was also named by Time as one of the top ten theatre productions of the year.

Read more at Broadway World

OPC's Robert Egan On Creative CONNECTIONS Post-Vaccinations / June 8, 2021 by David Hwang

Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC) will be presenting their virtual celebration CONNECTIONS benefiting their 2021 season June 12, 2021. CONNECTIONS will feature new or adapted works by playwrights: Luis Alfaro, Jon Robin Baitz, Father Greg Boyle, Bill Cain, Culture Clash, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Danai Gurira, Samuel D. Hunter, David Henry Hwang, Julia Izumi, James Morrison and his son Seamus Morrison, Jeanine Tesori and Charlayne Woodard. Performers include Brian Cox, Eileen Galindo, Francis Jue, Rose Portillo, Samantha Quan, John C. Reilly, Israel López Reyes, Nikkole Salter, Jimmy Smits, Samantha Sloyan, Phillipa Soo and A. Zell Williams; as well as some of the playwrights performing their own pieces.

Read more at Broadway World

La MaMa Coffeehouse Chronicles #160 / June 7, 2021 by David Hwang

Morgan Jenness - Markers of a Yenta Kitchen Dog, a look at the life and career of Morgan Jenness featuring David Henry Hwang, Anne Bogart, Taylor Mac, Talking Band, Nicky Paraiso.

Read more at Broadway World

Ojai Playwrights Conference's CONNECTIONS Benefit / June 7, 2021 by David Hwang

A starry cast, some of whom will perform their own work, has been set for the Ojai Playwrights Conference presentation of "Connections," a virtual celebration to benefit the OPC 2021 season, on Saturday, June 12 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time/ 8 p.m. Eastern Time. A minimum donation of $20 is requested to watch this special 120-minute show.

Brian Cox, Culture Clash, Eileen Galindo, Danai Gurira, Tzi Ma, James and Seamus Morrison, Rose Portillo, Samantha Quan, John C. Reilly, Israel López Reyes, Nikkole Salter, Jimmy Smits, Phillipa Soo and Charlayne Woodard will perform stories exploring the need for more sustainable human 'connections' as we move together toward new horizons.

Produced by OPC Artistic Director/Producer Robert Egan, the previously announced line up of contributing playwrights, many of whose work has been developed at OPC, includes Luis Alfaro, Jon Robin Baitz, Father Greg Boyle, Bill Cain, Culture Clash, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Danai Gurira, Samuel D. Hunter, David Henry Hwang, Julia Izumi, James Morrison and his son Seamus Morrison, Jeanine Tesori and Charlayne Woodard.

Read more at Broadway World

The premiere of "Circus Days and Nights," a new opera by composer Philip Glass, streams online through June 13 / June 7, 2021 by David Hwang

Based on poems by Robert Lax, the opera "will take audiences on a spectacular adventure into the world of the circus and the performers who dedicate their lives to this art, capturing a day in their lives as a spiritual ceremony, one which honors the cycle of life and death." Malmö Opera performs the new work whose libretto is by David Henry Hwang and Tilde Björfors.

circusdaysandnights.com.