THE MIKADO PROJECT World Premiere Announced

Velvet Candy Entertainment's co-production of THE MIKADO PROJECT, a feature film directed by Chil Kong (SCREENING PARTY) will be premiering at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival on May 1st at 9pm at the Directors Guild of America. This marks the world premiere of the film and cast and crew will be in attendance, and will be followed by a Q&A session.

The film  is a musical comedy (based on the stage performance written by Ken Narasaki and Doris Baizley and adapted for film by Chil Kong) of a struggling Asian American theater company that, in a desperate publicity stunt to save their company, decides to produce a modern reconstruction of Gilbert and Sullivan’s, The Mikado, to stir controversy and jolt ticket sales.

The Mikado, one of the most beloved comedy operas by legendary collaborators, Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert, first opened on stage in 1885 in London . The story was set in Japan (considered an exotic land to the British during that era) which allowed Gilbert & Sullivan to satirize British politics. However, by doing so, Asians around the world and Asian Americans today have found this opera hard to embrace—making the notion of Asian American actors performing The Mikado controversial and palatable only through a comedic reconstruction.

With new hip-hopera versions of the Gilbert & Sullivan’s original compositions and dance numbers choreographed by members of the dance troupes, Kaba Modern and Jabbawockeez, from MTV's AMERICA'S BEST DANCE CREW, this is not your grandma's Mikado.

The talented cast includes Raymond J. Lee (from Broadway's Mamma Mia), Allen Liu (Broadway's Flower Drum Song), Rizwan Manji (Charlie Wilson's War), David Lee McInnis (Never Forever), Gerald McCullouch (CSI, Law and Order, NCIS), Erin Quill (Screening Party, Broadway's Avenue Q), Freda Foh Shen (Primal Doubt, Red Doors), Yui Tag (America’s Best Dance Crew), Tamlyn Tomita (Tekken, The Eye) and Ryun Yu (Kissing Cousins).

For more information on THE MIKADO PROJECT and how to purchase tickets, visit www.themikadoproject.com