Tropical Angels, a new musical

Taipei Cultural Center in New York in collaboration with Musical Theatre Factory presented the Tropical Angels, a new musical reading livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 11 November 2020 at 3:30 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 5:30 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 6:30 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).

Tropical Angels, written by award-winning Taiwanese playwright Lin Meng-Huan (林孟寰) with music composed by New York-based composer Sheng Lei, is a musical developed into Chinese and English versions concurrently with the intention to explore different possibilities to devise translated theatre. Join us for the English premiere of this new work.

Adapted from National Award for Arts recipient Chen Qian-Wu (陳千武)’s autobiographical novel, Coming Back Alive, Tropical Angels is a story of a young Taiwanese man, who lost his soul in tropical Timor in the Pacific War, and his journey to self-discovery and redemption.

The reading will be directed by David Thomas Cronin and music-directed by Sobina Chi Kanter with a stellar cast of US-based actors, including Leo Yu-Ning Chang, Gaby Greenwald, Kadyn Kuioka, Kate Mina Lin, Thao Nguyen, Charles Pang, Matheus Ting, and Xiaoqing Zhang. Reading video is edited by Cédric Jouarie.

Followed by a discussion with Mei Ann Teo (Artistic Director, Musical Theatre Factory) and Tropical Angels creative team members, including Lin Meng-Huan (Playwright and Lyricist), Sheng Lei (Composer and Lyricist), David Thomas Cronin (Director), Sobina Chi Kanter (Music Director), Mu-Hsi Kao (Dramaturg), Emily Chiu (Lyric Translator), and Yang Yen-Su (Script Translator).

Co-curated by Yu Chien Liu and Chi-Ping Yen. Presented by Taipei Cultural Center in New York in collaboration with HowlRound TV and Musical Theatre Factory, with support from the Ministry of Culture, R.O.C. (Taiwan). The Mandarin production of Tropical Angels is a 2019-2020 Artist-in-Residence project of the National Taichung Theater, Taiwan.

Please also join us for a panel discussion on musical theatre development in East Asia on Tuesday 10 November at this page. For more information, please visit our Facebook page.

About HowlRound TV
HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world's performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected], or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.