Golden Lotus (musical)

Golden Lotus is a musical written and composed by George Chiang. The musical is based upon the most infamous Chinese novel of all time, Jin Ping Mei.[1] The musical tells the story of the forsaken beauty, Golden Lotus, whose desire for true love leads her into a blood-soaked web of passion, deception and desperation with the valiant tiger slayer Wu Sung, the rich and powerful Xi Men and the humble peddler Wu Da. Set amidst the dying, war-torn years of Song Dynasty China, "Betwixt a cunning story of political satire, a doomed love story, and an epic tale of heroism", Golden Lotus undergoes a spell-binding journey as the world around them burns into ashes.[2] The musical features a multifarious soundtrack. Composed and arranged by George Chiang and George Gao, the music features a mix of saccharine pop rock songs, mixed with Chinese classical instruments, as well other fusions.[3]

Inception and Development George Chiang began writing the musical in the beginning of March, 2001, in Toronto, Canada, immediately after completing his reading of the novel. He completed the first draft of the libretto by September, 2001 and then began composing the music. In 2002 he teamed up with George Gao to create a four song demo CD which included early versions of Wu Sung Slayed the Tiger, Captain of the Guard and Fresh Buns for Sale. Chiang and Gao wanted to create a fusion of Chiang's contemporary pop melodies with Gao's strong background in pop, classical and Chinese composition. Under Chiang's guidance Gao composed the music arrangements and the vocals were recorded and mixed in Gao's home recording studio in Markham, Canada.

The demo CD was submitted to and selected to participate in the prestigious ASCAP Foundation/Disney Theatrical Musical Theatre Workshop in New York during March and April 2003, artistic directed by Stephen Schwartz. Chiang worked with Gao to compose the music arrangements for the entire first act of the musical in time for the workshop. The workshop included two live performances and a cast of sixteen performers which included Harriet Chung as Golden Lotus, Timothy Huang as Wu Sung, Jovanni Sy as Xi Men, Alan Ariano as Wu Da, Telly Leung as the Fruit Peddler and Scott Watanabe (who also served as the music director) as the District Intendant.

Chiang spent the next year doing rewrites based upon feedback from the workshop in New York and applied for and received a theatre workshop grant from the Ontario Arts Council. The workshop process took place during the winter and spring in 2006. Music arrangements for the second act were completed by Gao and a vocal recording of the entire musical was completed. The recording was shown to a series of focus groups which consisted of people within theatre and people not in the theatre. Based upon the feedback from each focus group session Chiang would make revisions before presenting to the next focus group. This process took place during a period of six months in the winter and spring of 2006. In the fall of 2008, Chiang entered Golden Lotus into a year-long workshop process with Script Lab's Lehman Engels Musical Theatre Workshop in Toronto directed by Jim Betts. Following this process Chiang worked with Betts to further work on the lyrics and the dramaturgy of the musical.

World Premiere in Hong Kong On September 12, 2014, Golden Lotus opened its award winning and critically acclaimed world premiere production in Hong Kong with a cast of twenty-six performers at the Youth Square, Y-Theatre. The production starred Harriet Chung who received a 2015 Hecklers Award nomination for her portrayal of the title character Golden Lotus.[4][5] The show also featured Boon Ho Sung as Wu Sung, Ronan Pak Kin Yan as Xi Men, and Billy Sy as Wu Da. Other members of the principal cast included Samantha Fa as Madam Wang, Scott Watanabe as the District Intendant, Marc Ngan as the Fruit Peddler and Soraya Chau as Ping. The production was directed by Emily Chan with music arrangements by George Gao, choreography by Ivy Chung and set & costume design by Moe Mo.[6]

Awards Golden Lotus received the award for Best Original Work (George Chiang) at the 2015 Hecklers Awards (Hong Kong theatre awards) where it was also nominated for Best Show (Musical) and Best Actress (Harriet Chung).[7][8][9][10][11]

Recordings On May 31, 2015 the CD Golden Lotus - Sounds from the Musical containing fifteen songs from the musical was released.

References

  1. ↑ Rebirth of an Epic Tale of Passion, The Standard, page 4, September 5, 2014
  2. ↑ Review: "Golden Lotus The Musical", MADDBUZZHK, September 13, 2014
  3. ↑ Review: "Golden Lotus The Musical", MADDBUZZHK, September 13, 2014
  4. ↑ Nominees - Best Actress, HKELD, September 2, 2015
  5. ↑ Golden Lotus - The Musical, "Hong Kong's First Musical", MADDBUZZHK, September 11, 2014
  6. ↑ Rebirth of an Epic Tale of Passion, The Standard, page 4, September 5, 2014
  7. ↑ And the winners are... HKELD.com, September 8, 2015
  8. ↑ And the Nominees are HKELD.com, August 3, 2015
  9. ↑ "Nominees- Best Original Material". hkeld.com. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  10. ↑ "Nominees- Best Musical". hkeld.com. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  11. ↑ "Nominees- Best Actress". hkeld.com. Retrieved 2015-09-10.

External links

[1]


  1. ↑ "Golden Lotus - The Musical". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
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