From left to right: Charlie (Hansel Tan), Frank (Phil Wong), Henry (James Seol), and Fred (Sean Fenton) are stopped by an immigration officer (Kerry Keiko Carnahan) in Min Kahng's The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga (Photo by Kevin Berne)

The World Premiere of The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga is opening at Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto on July 15 as the kicks off of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s 2017 New Works Festival. The musical will run until Aug. 6.

Drawn from one of the first ever graphic novels, set to an infectious ragtime and vaudeville score by local composer/lyricist Min Kahng, the comic musical follows four Japanese immigrants in a world of possibility and prejudice: turn-of-the-twentieth-century San Francisco.

From a tumultuous earthquake to an exhilarating World’s Fair, the quartet pursues the American Dream, despite limited options in the land of opportunity.

In the TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s 2017 New Works Festival, leading playwrights and composers from across the country present developing work to audiences who attend book-in-hand readings and sing-throughs of new plays and musicals.

San Jose Mercury News: Singing songs of the first ‘Four Immigrants’ from Japan

The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga
Book, Music, & Lyrics by Min Kahng
Based on Manga Yonin Shosei by Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama
Translated as The Four Immigrants Manga by Frederik L. Schodt
Directed by Leslie Martinson

Preview: July 12, 2017
Opening: Saturday, July 15, 2017
Closes: Sunday, August 6, 2017

Tuesdays: 7:30pm
Wednesdays: 7:30pm
Thursdays and Fridays: 8:00pm
Saturdays: 2:00pm, 8:00pm
Sundays: 2:00pm, 7:00pm

Lucie Stern Theatre: 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto

Tickets: $40-$100; savings available for educators, seniors, and patrons 35 and under.

For information or to order tickets visit theatreworks.org or call (650) 463-1960