LOS ANGELES -- The cast for Beijing Spring, the Tim Dang and Joel Iwataki musical which is the final production of East West Players's 33rd anniversary season, has been announced.
The actors include (in alphabetical order): Brian Geli, Kimiko Gelman, Ai Goeku, Randy Guiaya, Alvin Ing, Brian Kawasaki, Michael K. Lee and Paul Wong.
Musicians include Tim Chen, David Cheung, David Iwataki and Scott Nagatani.
Directed by Deborah Nishimura and Dang, with musical direction by Scott Nagatani, Beijing Spring opens Thursday, May 6 and runs through June 6.
Set in Beijing in 1989, the musical commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square demonstration and Asian Pacific Heritage Month. The story deals with the pro-democracy movement in China and dramatizes how the demonstration it launched escalated into a battle for freedom that reverberated around the world.
Spring springs up at the David Henry Hwang Theatre at the Union Center for the Arts, 120 N. Judge John Aiso St. Call the East West box office at (213) 625- 7000.
-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent