Brian Stokes Mitchell, Megan Hilty, and More Go To Utah For Golden Spike 150th Anniversary Celebrations

 

Utah's Governor Gary R. Herbert held a press conference last week to announce not-to-miss musical headliners, performances that will be a part of the Spike 150 celebration of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, including events starring Brian Stokes Mitchell, Megan Hilty and Ali Ewoldt.

Brian Stokes Mitchell and Megan Hilty will headline with the Utah Symphony and The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for the O.C. Tanner Gift of Music Concert on Friday, May 10 at 8 pm at the Conference Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Ali Ewoldt will star in the concert presentations of Jason Ma's musical, Gold Mountain, with a cast that includes Jonny Lee Jr., Alan Ariano (LCT's The King and I), Raymond J. Lee (Groundhog Day), Daniel J. Edwards (Anything Goes, 2011 revival), Lawrence-Michael Arias, Steven Eng (CSC's Pacific Overtures), Eric Bondoc (Pacific Overtures, 2004 revival), Daniel May (Soft Power), Alex Hsu, Eric Elizaga and Viet Vo. Direction will be provided by Alan Muraoka, choreography by Billy Bustamante, and music direction by Kristen Lee Rosenfeld. Performances in Salt Lake City are currently set for the Regent Street Black Box at The Eccles Theater on Wednesday, May 8 and Thursday, May 9, both at 8:00 p.m. Performances in Ogden will take place in partnership with Ogden Musical Theatre at Peery’s Egyptian Theater. at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 10 and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 11.

Spike 150 is expecting around 600,000 people will attend the celebration events planned and that the activities planned will reach approximately 2.5 million people.

About Gold Mountain:
Gold Mountain, a new original musical, is a love story set against the backdrop of a pivotal event in America's history: the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. It is a heartfelt, universal tale that celebrates the striving immigrant spirit, the redemptive power of love and the ultimate nobility of self-sacrifice among a team of Chinese railroad workers.

Gold Mountain was most recently presented at TheTimesCenter in New York City by the National Asian Artists Project in partnership with Prospect Theater Company as a part of their 2017 IGNITE series. It was also selected for presentation at the 2016 ASCAP/DreamWorks Musical Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles, for development by Apples & Oranges Studios in their 2017 THEatre ACCELERATOR, for a staged reading at San Francisco LaborFest 2016 in The Aurora Theatre, and for a 2017 eStudio grant for a developmental workshop at The Masie Center.

About the Writer and Director: Jason Ma (Writer) is a son of an immigrant family, and a grateful descendant of a long line of those who were able to persist, overcome and succeed on their way to becoming Americans. He wrote book, music and lyrics for Gold Mountain and is the 2017 recipient of the ASCAP Foundation's Cole Porter Award, given to an emerging composer/lyricist "whose work shows promise." Along with writing, he is an actor who has been seen on Broadway and Off-Broadway stages, in regional theaters and many international venues. Please visit: www.goldmountainthemusical.com

Alan Muraoka (Director) NY directing credits: Avenue Q (Off-Broadway Resident Director), Telly Leung: Telly on a Sunday (Birdland-November 2018), The Report (NY Fringe), Kung Fu (Signature Theatre-AD), Ann Harada: American Songbook (Lincoln Center), Awesomer& Awesomer!!!(Triad Theatre), The King and I (Harbor Lights Theatre), Telly Leung: Playlist and What Makes a Man? (54 Below), Ali Ewoldt: From Phantom to Phantom (54 Below) Grand Hotel (NYU/Cap 21),Falsettoland(NAATCO), John Tartaglia AD-LIBerty(Joe's Pub) & Christmas Eve With Christmas Eve (BC/EFA Benefits). Regionally: South Pacific &Once On This Island (Olney Theatre),The King and I, Xanadu, Disney's High School Musicaland Disney's High School Musical 2 (all at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma), Disney's High School Musical(MUNY, Casa Manana), Urinetown(Trinity University), and Up In The Air(Kennedy Center-AD). Television:Sesame Street,Macy'sThanksgiving Day Parade. As an actor, Alan is most recognizable for his role in the Emmy Award winning series, "Sesame Street," where he plays "Alan," the proprietor of Hooper's Store. He has appeared in 7 Broadway shows; "Aladdin", "Pacific Overtures," "Mail," "Shogun, the Musical," "My Favorite Year," "The King and I"(with Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy), and most notably "Miss Saigon," where he played the lead role of the Engineer. Member SSDC & DGA. Website: www.alanmuraoka.net Follow on Instagram: #alanathoopers