Immersive New Musical MIDNIGHT AT FORBIDDEN CITY Will Receive Staged Reading With All-Asian Team

A staged reading of Midnight at Forbidden City, an immersive new musical inspired by the trailblazing Asian American performers of San Francisco's legendary Forbidden City nightclub, will take place on Saturday, December 13, 2025, at Medusa Art Studios in Astoria, NY.

Midnight at Forbidden City illuminates the stories of Asian American entertainers who pushed artistic boundaries and challenged the racial stereotypes of the 1940s nightclub scene. Through music, movement, and character-driven storytelling, the musical celebrates their artistry, resilience, and the courage it took to claim space both on and off the stage.

The staged reading features an all-Asian cast and creative team, Zonia Tsang writing the book and music; Mandarin Wu directing and choreographing; Minhui Lee as music director; and Juni Li as stage manager. The cast includes Ariel Estrada (A Persistent Memory, Off-Broadway), Stella Kim (Into the Woods at Hollywood Bowl), Noi Maeshige, Anthony Obnial (National Asian Artists Project's Rediscover Series' Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella), and Mandarin Wu.

This event is made possible in part by public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and administered by the New York Foundation for the Arts.

For inquiries, please contact: forbiddencitymusical2025@gmail.com

About the Artists

Zonia Tsang (Book, music, lyrics) is a New York-based playwright and musical theater composer from Hong Kong. She is a LabWorks artist at the Tony Award-winning New Victory Theater. She and her collaborator, Erin J. Reifler were chosen as Merit Award winners for New Musical Inc., in collaboration with Disney Imagineering's New Voices Project, and they are finalists for the 2024 Dramatists Guild Fellowship. Other theater works include AFO Solo Shorts - Up Here to Breathe (Drama League 2021 Nominee), Eye of the Beholder (Semi-finalist of the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference), The Pearl of the East (NAAP's Discover New Musicals, and Shadow on the Wall (American Opera Project). NYU Tisch: Graduate Musical Theatre Writing. www.zoniawrites.com

Mandarin Wu (Director, Choreographer) is a multifaceted artist whose work spans new musicals, movement-driven theatre, and interdisciplinary performance. Selective credits for theatre directing/choreography: 'Til Death Do Us Part (Theatre Now Soundbites 12), SKIN (Rattlestick Theater), Romance of the Western Chamber (off-Broadway), Legally Blonde (National Chia-Yi University, Taiwan); staged readings of Tropical Angels (National Taichung Theater, Taiwan), Helen (Pan Asian NuWorks), and Eastbound (NY Theatre Barn). As a performer, she has appeared in Orfeo ed Euridice (The Metropolitan Opera), A Dream of Red Pavilions (Pan Asian Rep), Opening Number to A Chorus Line (Public Theater Gala), and regional productions including The King and I (Maltz Jupiter) and Mulan (Tuacahn). Her solo pieces, "Pleased" and PERIOD., were selected for Pan Asian Rep's NuWorks. Mandarin is currently Musical Theatre faculty at Marymount Manhattan College, and also taught at Taipei Performing Arts Center and National Taichung Theater's Musical Theatre workshops. Mandarin holds a Dance BA from UC Irvine and a Dance MFA from NYU Tisch.

Minhui Lee (Music Director) is a NYC-based composer, music director, and pianist, and her work has been presented by Joe's Pub, Feinstein's/54 Below, National Asian Artists Project, Prospect Theatre Company, Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Auditorium, and more. Minhui's musicals are 5th Grade Prison Ship (with Marella Martin Koch; Prospect Theatre Company), When You've Got A Gift (with Kathleen Wrinn; National Asian Artists Project), Love in Stop Motion (with Clara Luthas; NYU Tisch, Group Theatre Too), and Adam & Eve (with Marella Martin Koch). MFA: NYU Tisch, Member of the Dramatist Guild of America; ASCAP. www.minhuilee.com