Abridged online version of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder benefits Stop AAPI Hate
Who: Lea Salonga, Ali Ewoldt, Diana Phelan, Thom Sesma, Cindy Cheung, Karl Josef Co
What: All-Asian-American abridged online version of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Where: Broadway on Demand
When: July 15-22, pay-what-you-wish (suggested donation $20.14 – $1,000)
Why: On May 19, the National Asian American Theatre Company held a one-time-only virtual benefit reading of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, featuring an all-Asian-American cast. Now CollaborAzian and Broadway on Demand are teaming up for an online version of Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder that will benefit Stop AAPI Hate, which “tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.” An abridged adaptation of the Broadway musical that was nominated for ten Tonys, winning three (Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Direction of a Musical), the show will be available July 15-22. The story, based on the 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman and the 1949 British film Kind Hearts and Coronets, follows the exploits of a man ninth in the line of succession to his family’s dukedom who decides to get rid of the eight people above him and grab the crown for himself as revenge for how his mother was treated by them. Thom Sesma plays the endangered members of the D’Ysquith clan, with Cindy Cheung as Ms. Shingle and others, Ali Ewoldt as Phoebe D’Ysquith, producer Karl Josef Co as Monty Navarro, and producer Diane Phelan as Sibella Hallward; hosted by Tony winner Lea Salonga, the presentation is directed by Alan Muraoka, who has played Alan, the owner of Hooper’s Store on Sesame Street, for more than two decades, with music direction by Steven Cuevas, costumes by Carla Posada, props by Alesha Borbo Kilayko, and audio engineering by Jonathan Cuevas.
“Historically, Asian American artists have been marginalized in media and on stage, and productions like this help to spotlight the tremendous talent that has been overlooked. We’re here to show the world that we are here, and we are fantastic,” Salonga said in a statement. The event is being held in conjunction with the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, the Broadway Diversity Project, Unapologetically Asian, Leviathan Labs, Chinosity, and Tremendous Communications.