Listen: FUSONG Concept Album Featuring Jasmine Forsberg, Nathan Salstone and More Out Now

FUSONG, a new musical with book and lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson and music by Cecilia Lin, based on Geling Yan's searing novel, "The Lost Daughter of Happiness", has just released a concept album, available to stream on all major platforms. The project was conceived and directed by Gabriel Barre, produced by Lawrence A. Walker and general managed by Visceral Entertainment.

The album of 8 songs features Jasmine Forsberg (SIX, HERE LIES LOVE) as "Fusong", Nathan Salstone (SWEENEY TODD), Tony nominee Stephen Bogardus (FALSETTOS), Michael K. Lee (PACIFIC OVERTURES), Paolo Montalban (CINDERELLA), Emy Coligado (MISS SAIGON), Amy Keum (K-POP), Bruce Johnson (SUNSET BLVD.), and Christine Toy Johnson (COME FROM AWAY). Music direction is by Joshua Zecher-Ross (OPERATION MINCEMEAT). Orchestrations are by composer Cecilia Lin. The album was recorded at PowerStation at BerkleeNYC and sound engineered and mixed by Michael Croiter. Album artwork by Bruce Johnson. Casting by Michael Cassara.

FUSONG, a present-day historical musical drama, tells the story of two Chinese women in two different centuries linked by their complicated destiny. As Fusong is kidnapped from her small village in China and thrown into the dark world of San Francisco's Chinatown in 1866, Isabel, a novelist, grapples with her books being banned and how the truth of Fusong's story impacts her own place in the divided America of 2025. Inspired by the journeys of the 3000 women kidnapped from their homes in China who then survived the brutalities of 19th century America, this is a tale about honor, sacrifice, love, and the kind of endurance that transcends time.

Librettist/lyricist Christine Toy Johnson says, "It has been so meaningful to be part of an all-female Asian/Asian American writing team to create a piece for the theatre that not only centers an AAPI cast but addresses many aspects of our history in the United States, from a woman's perspective, that are not substantively explored on stage.

I've been challenged to face my own generational trauma from the treatment of Asian Americans in this country (from the Chinese Exclusion Laws to the anti-Asian hate that has reared its ugly head in present-day America), but also to embrace my own generational fortitude and resilience against it. As I wrote the lyrics to the show's finale, "This is our fate: we are stronger than hate. And we can rise above the tide our ancestors provided", I found the clarity to heal one of own my essential wounds, for which I am most thankful."