The National Asian-American Theatre Company
presents

June 14 - July 1, 2007
Tuesday - Sundays @ 7:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays @ 3:00 PM

The Dimson Theatre
108 East 15 Street
New York NY

Tickets: $20
Ticket Central
(212) 279-4200

family
(clockwise from left: Christine Toy Johnson, Jason Ma, Francis Jue,
MaryAnn Hu, Ben Wu, Manu Narayan and Ann Sanders)

Falsettoland is about taking care of each other in troubling times, and NAATCO's revival ups the ante by reminding us that "each other" really means everybody: seven actors of Asian descent play seven neurotic urban Jews without comment and it's neither jarring nor politically pointed.
Martin Denton - NYTheatre.com

The cast rises to the occasion, and then some. Like Sarah Lambert's efficient set, which clicks into place with the simplicity and precision of Jason's Rubik's Cube, this group of performers is a colorful, interlocking, and delightful puzzle.
Amy Krivohlavek - OffOffOnline.com

Because the characters are drawn so specifically, NAATCO's cross-racial casting is able to add layers of new connotations to the piece without eroding the integrity of the story. No matter what the actors look like, Falsettoland rings true.
Adam Feldman - TimeOut New York

By refusing to alter the material to justify its casting - say, setting Shakespeare among the samurai, as Akira Kurosawa did with his films Ran and Throne of Blood - NAATCO upholds a beautifully expansive view of the theater, where any play that's good can be considered an Asian play.
Nina Shen Rastogi - Nextbook

While the show takes place in the 80's, the emotional impact of losing a loved one to AIDS is timeless. NAATCO scores a homerun with this winning revival of Falsettoland.
Lia Chang - AsianConnections.com

Falsettoland is a slice of tragic history that continues to pack an enormously effective one-two punch.
Andy Propst - American Theatre Web

Using an Asian American cast in a Jewish-centric, gay-themed musical seems like a risky venture, but NAATCO proves that colorblind casting can be an effective means of execution.
Nicholas Luckenbaugh - Show Business Weekly

AMAZIN' ASIAN STAGIN'
BARBARA HOFFMAN - NY Post


Ben Wu, Francis Jue (photo by Bruce Johnson)


Jason Ma, Manu Narayan (photo by Bruce Johnson)


The company (photo by Bruce Johnson)

Dana DANA CORRAL (ASM, female understudy) Favorite credits NJ: The Miracle Worker (Helen), The Diary of Anne Frank (Anne), Les Miserables (Eponine), Ragtime (Evelyn Nesbit), The Children’s Hour (Helen Bunton) . NY: Metamorphoses (Midas’ Daughter and Others). Film/TV: Connie Chung Stunt Double (NBC), Music and Lyrics By, American Standard, Radio 4 (Music Video).  Dana has also performed at The White House, The UN, and has posed for New York Magazine and Dakota Lane’s graphic novel, Gothic Lolita. She has studied at the AADA and is currently pursuing her BFA at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. www.danamae.com

RON GLOW (Costume Design) has designed the costumes for ReImagined World Entertainment's short film All American Eyes , The Baker's Wife at the Mint Theatre and Yesterday Once More at the Triad. He is a wardrobe supervisor at MAMMA MIA! on Broadway and has been a supervisor on the Broadway productions of Annie Get Your Gun, Paul Simon's The Capeman and Sunset Boulevard

MaryAnn Hu MARYANN HU (Cordelia) TV: Played SooLin on the NBC sitcom WHOOPI; Law & Order . Film: Falling For Grace . Has appeared in both the Broadway Company and the National Tour of Miss Saigon . Off Broadway/Regional credits: The Audience (The Transport Group) , The Beautiful Warrior (The Vineyard Theatre) , Babes in Toyland (Lincoln Center), Tuptim in The King and I , Into The Woods , Song of Singapore , Sweeney Todd and Heading East .  Workshops include: Please Don’t Eat The Daisies, The Wedding Singer , Get Shorty and Desperately Seeking Susan! (featuring the music of Blondie) . Concert appearances include CHESS with Josh Groban; FUNNY GIRL with Whoopi Goldberg and was recently featured as Agnes in On the 20th Century with Marin Mazzie. Vocalist on the Sondheim compilation album East West Overtures and the 2005 grammy nominated recording of HAIR (Sh-k-Boom/Ghostlight Records). Married to NY bassist, Dave Phillips. Dedicates all performances in memory of her dad, who inspires much of who she is today, on stage and off.

BRUCE JOHNSON (Production Stage Manager) has had an extremely diverse career in the entertainment industry. He recently collaborated as a stage manager and lighting designer with director Alan Muraoka on the Opening Doors concerts for Asian Americans on Broadway. He also appeared opposite Elaine Paige on Broadway in Sunset Blvd . In 1999 he founded Bruce Johnson Photography and Graphic Design , specializing in creating unique press materials (both internet and paper) for high-profile (Oscar nominated and Tony and Grammy Award winning) performing artists. With a degree in film production from the University of Iowa, his love of cinematography led him to create award-winning photography and back again to directing the audience award-winning short film All American Eyes written by and starring his wife Christine Toy Johnson. After Falsettoland, he is collaborating with Christine again to make a documentary about the first Asian American professional basketball player, Wat Misaka. More about his work can be found at www.brucealanjohnson.com.

Christine Toy Johnson CHRISTINE TOY JOHNSON (Dr. Charlotte) is thrilled to reprise her role from NAATCO’S critically acclaimed 1998 production of FALSETTOLAND. She has extensive performing credits on Broadway, Off-Broadway, national tour, film and television. Highlights of over twenty years of work include featured roles in the New York revivals of THE MUSIC MAN, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, and PACIFIC OVERTURES, the national tours of CATS, FLOWER DRUM SONG and BOMBAY DREAMS, and leading roles at some of the most well-respected theatres across the country including the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Huntington Theatre and The Denver Center Theatre Company. Film and television credits include “Lisa West” on ONE LIFE TO LIVE , CROSSING JORDAN, BLIND JUSTICE, GROUNDED FOR LIFE, NUNSENSE and NUNSENSE 2 (PBS and A&E), LAW AND ORDERS: SVU and CRIMINAL INTENT, OZ, CONSPIRACY THEORY, JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE, L.I.E and ALL AMERICAN EYES which she also wrote and produced. An award-winning writer, Christine’s play THE NEW DEAL was recently developed at the Roundabout Theatre Company. For more, please visit
www.christinetoyjohnson.com

Francis Jue FRANCIS JUE (Mendel) On Broadway, Francis originated the role of Bun Foo in Thoroughly Modern Millie , and appeared in Steven Sondheim and John Weidman’s Pacific Overtures and David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly .  He has won awards for Red, Into the Woods, Cabaret, Pacific Overtures, and Kiss of the Spiderwoman .  Some of his other favorite theatre credits include The King & I, A Language of Their Own , Amadeus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and No Foreigners Beyond This Point .  Francis has also appeared as Dr. Fong on Law & Order: SVU and Dr. Yamagachi on One Life to Live.

SARAH LAMBERT (Set Designer) Previous designs with NAATCO: the original productions of Falsettoland and The House of Bernarda Alba, as well as Cowboy v Samurai, Ivanov, Tales of Unrest, Air Raid, Fuenteovejuna, Othello, A Phoenix Too Frequent, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Ah Wilderness!, The School for Wives, and The Cherry Orchard. Other designs include: Gross Indecency (NY, London, Toronto, San Francisco and LA), The People’s Temple (The Guthrie, Berkeley Rep and Perseverance), Spectators at an Event (BAM), Savage Acts and Last of the Suns (Ma-Yi), as well as the usual assortment of regional, college and downtown projects. She is an Artistic Associate with Theater of Necessity (Playing Alexina, Mephisto and Stunt Man). As a dramaturg, she has worked most notably on The Laramie Project (NYC, Denver, and HBO). She has a BA from Cornell and a MFA from Yale. Current projects include Fly (Lincoln Center Institute) and Casa Cushman (working title) a new piece in development with Tectonic Theatre Project and About Face.

Jason Ma JASON MA (Marvin) Broadway: Sly Fox w/ Richard Dreyfuss, Miss Saigon , Shogun, Prince of Central Park, Chu Chem .  Off-Broadway: Hamlet (CSC),  Antony & Cleopatra w/ Vanessa Redgrave (NYSF/Public Theater), The Merchant of Venice (Pearl Theatre), Falsettoland ( Natl. Asian Actors’ Theatre Co.), Wilderness (Pan Asian Rep).  Regional: Hamlet w/ Campbell Scott (Huntington),  Twelfth Night (People’s Light Theatre), Pacific Overtures (Alliance, Cincinnati Playhouse), M. Butterfly (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Twelve Angry Men (Tennessee Rep), Bruinhaha (Kennedy Ctr.), Jam & Spice (Westport Playhouse).  International: Peter Sellars’ Peony Pavilion (Barbican Ctr., Vienna Fest., Roma Europa Fest.),  Cambodia Agonistes (Cairo Fest., Johannesburg Market Square Theatre). Television: An American Novel, PBS; Bull , TNN; Labor Pains, Lifetime; Honor and Glory, Showtime; The Promised Land, A&E.  BA: (UCLA), M.F.A (Shakespeare Theatre Academy at George Washington University).

ALAN MURAOKA (Director) is proud to be reviving this production of "Falsettoland," which received critical acclaim and a sold-out run here at the Vineyard Theatre in 1998.  He directed the Tony-nominated actor John Tartaglia("Avenue Q") in his one-man show, "John Tartaglia AD-LIBerty," which ran at Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre, and won numerous cabaret awards. Other New York directing credits include the world premiere of “Karaoke Stories,” (IMUA Theater Company), "The Leading Men" and "The Leading Men 2", (BC/EFA), "Empty Handed"(Musicals Tonight), and cabarets for Tony-nominated actress Stephanie D'Abruzzo and Ann Harada. He has also directed for the Public Theater, the Village Theater in Seattle, and a three city Taiwanese tour of a rock musical called, “Making Tracks” for Second Generation. He has spent the last year introducing Broadway's Asian American talent through his new company, "Asian Americans on Broadway," which is a joint venture with Christine Toy Johnson and Bruce Johnson. They have performed successful concerts in San Francisco and Houston, and will be returning to San Francisco and Los Angeles in September 2007. In August, he will direct Disney's "High School Musical" at the Lyric Theatre in Oklahoma City.  Mr. Muraoka is a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. As an actor, Mr. Muraoka is most recognizable for his role in the Emmy Award winning series, “Sesame Street,” where he plays “Alan,” the proprietor of Hooper’s Store.  He has appeared in six Broadway shows; the recent revival of "Pacific Overtures," “Mail,” “Shogun, the Musical,” “My Favorite Year,” “The King and I”(with Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy), and most notably “Miss Saigon,” where he played the lead role of the Engineer. Mr. Muraoka is a graduate of UCLA, where he received the Carol Burnett Musical Comedy Award for performance. He was also the 2004 recipient of the APEX Inspiration Award and the FCC's 2007 Role Model of the Year Award. Please feel free to visit his web site at: www.alanmuraoka.net and the Asian Americans on Broadway website at: www.AsianAmericansOnBroadway.com

Manu Narayan MANU NARAYAN (Whizzer) Broadway: Bombay Dreams (Drama League nom.).  OFF-BROADWAY:  subUrbia (revival), Second Stage Theater; Getting Home (world premiere), Second Stage Theater; Sidd: the Musical (world premiere), Dodger Stages; Suzan-Lori Parks’ Fucking A (world premiere), NYSF/ Public Theater; Bintou, The Play Company; I am Mou, Circle East; Josephine’s Song, The York Theater.  NATIONAL TOUR: Miss Saigon, 2cnd National Tour, Cameron Mackintosh Inc. REGIONAL THEATER: The People Next Door (Am. Premiere), Yale Rep.; The Boys from Syracuse, Baltimore Center Stage; Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink, Wilma Theater; Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses, St. Louis/Cincinnati; Romeo and Juliet Swine Palace/Shakespeare and Company; Largo at New York Stage and Film;  A Winter’s Tale, Missouri Rep;  A Christmas Carol , Alabama Shakespeare Festival,  Fame, Mame, and Godspell at Pittsburgh CLO, Atlanta’s TUTS,  Houston TUTS, and The St. Louis MUNY.  TELEVISION: Law and Order SVU, The Sopranos, Cashmere Mafia, Lipstick Jungle, M.O.N.Y (pilot), As the World Turns. FILM: Quarterlife Crisis, Hiding Divya, Two Men in Shoulder Stand. RECORDINGS: singles on Vanessa Williams’ upcoming film And Then Came Love and the independent film Hiding Divya; Frank London’s concept album A Night in the Old Marketplace, and Sidd: the musical-LIVE. GRADUATE: Carnegie Mellon University.

Manu is currently the lead singer of D A R U N A M a neo world rock band that he founded with Radovan Jovicevic former leader of the European band ZANA.  Look for their single and debut video “All That’s Beautiful Must Die” coming in Summer 2007.  www.darunam.com

STEPHEN PETRILLI (Lighting Design) designed the 1998 production of Falsettoland, as well as several other shows for NAATCO. He has also designed several shows for The Pearl Theatre Company, Second Generation Productions and the Melting Pot Theatre Company. In the dance world, he has designed for Pilobolus Dance Theatre, Shapiro & Smith Dance and Ailey II. Regional theatre credits include designs for Penguin Rep, The Village Theatre in Seattle, State Theatre Company in Austin and the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Stephen also spent five years touring as the Lighting/Sound Supervisor for Pilobolus. He and his wife Shannon have a four year old boy, Liam.

Ann Sanders ANN SANDERS(Trina) Broadway: Avenue Q (Christmas Eve), Beauty and the Beast (Belle). International/Regional: Miss Saigon (Ellen), Show Boat (Julie), Carousel (Arminy), Man of LaMancha (Antonia), The King and I (Tuptim), Once Upon A Mattress (Lady Larkin), The Boys Next Door (Shelia). Television Appearances: “As the World Turns,” “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” “All My Children.” Concert Appearances: Carnegie Hall, Meyerson Concert Hall.
For Dad - Thank you.

W. BRENT SAWYER (Music Director) A native Texan! Off-Broadway: Anne Of Green Gables, Naked Boys Singing!, Forbidden Broadway, Monica! The Musical . Broadway: AnnIe Get Your Gun . Regional: the premier of Titanic, Blood Brothers, Tick Tick BOOM! , the world premier of Maury Yeston's In The Beginning . Tours: Seussical, Junie B. Jones . Has taught at The Actor's Studio Drama School, Marymount Manhattan College, New York University and AMDA. Member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

Ben Wu BEN WU (Jason) is 13 and making his Off-Broadway debut. He has worked in print, commercials and TV but loves musical theatre. NY Theatre Credits include; Sorrow in Madama Butterfly with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center and the staged reading of Call It Courage . Regional; The Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker , Jerome in South Pacific , and Tommy Djilas in The Music Man . He made his SNL debut in a Digital Short where Peyton Manning hit him in the head with a fooball. Other television include Nickelodeon’s Fairly Odd Parents Promo, Lewis Black HBO Promo and Late Night with Conan O’Brien . Ben also enjoys studying ballet, tap, hip-hop, theater dance, voice and violin.



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