On This Side of the World

David Henry Hwang Theater
120 Judge John Aiso St. Los Angeles

A woman flies from the Philippines to America with a one-way ticket and a suitcase full of stories collected from immigrants who came before her-tales of overseas workers, young lovers, and gossipy church ladies; snapshots of undocumented immigrants, millennial princesses and first-generation Americans. Suspended above the ocean, she replays these stories in her mind as she searches for the courage to embrace her future. This soaring world premiere musical gives voices to Filipino immigrants navigating old lives and new beginnings, eight-thousand miles from home.

Presented by East West Players

Thru - Jun 10, 2023

On This Side of the World Reviews

Average Rating based on 2 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Stage Scene LA - Somewhat Recommended

"...The performances are sparkling, the melodies are tuneful, and the show's heart is in the right place, but without a plot, dialog, or interconnected characters to keep an audience spellbound, a nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time is much too long for a song cycle like Paulo K Tiról and Noam Shapiro's On This Side Of The World."

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- Steven Stanley

Stage Raw - Recommended

"...Among the performers, perhaps the most virtuosic range is shown by Agdeppa, who owns the stage in full-on drag in the rousing number "Rice Queens" - parading in designer Jaymee Ngernwichit's dazzling strip-away costume. In a role so downplayed he is almost unrecognizable, Agdeppa later plays a grief-stricken son who, in the somber "Sunday Afternoon," recalls leaving his mother in the Philippines before death parted them forever."

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- F. Kathleen Foley

On This Side of the World at David Henry Hwang Theater