George Chiang

George Chiang is a Taiwanese-Canadian actor, writer, lyricist and composer. Chiang wrote and composed the award-winning musical, Golden Lotus. He also authored the award-winning book, The Railroad Adventures of Chen Sing.

George Chiang
Born
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Alma materUniversity of Guelph
Nipissing University
OccupationActor, writer, lyricist, composer
Years active1993–present

Acting

Chiang began his acting career appearing in many plays in Toronto. He received critical praise for his performances in David Henry Hwang's, The Dance and the Railroad, Serpent Kills, and Urban Donnelleys, which he co-created.[1][2][3][4][5][6] He also spent a season, as a member of the acting company, at Canada’s flagship theatre, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where he performed in Othello and Twelfth Night. Since then Chiang has appeared in other theatre productions such as The King and I and many film and television productions which include, Disney's Eloise at the Plaza, American Girl's McKenna Shoots for the Stars, Mary Kills People, Dark Matter (TV Series) among many others.[7]

Musicals

Chiang wrote and composed the musical Golden Lotus, which is an adaptation of the classic Chinese novel Jin Ping Mei. The story follows the plight of young woman who journeys into a bloody path of forbidden love and passion as the world around her burns into ashes.[8] Golden Lotus is a sung through musical with a score that is a blend of pop rock songs mixed with Chinese instrumentation.[9] Golden Lotus was the first Canadian musical ever presented at the ASCAP Foundation/Disney Theatrical Productions Musical Theatre Workshop in New York, artistic directed by Stephen Schwartz. The musical received its world premiere on September 12, 2014 at the Y-Theatre in Hong Kong.[7] The score and its signature pop love song, "A World Away", were unanimously praised by critics.[10][11][12][13] The production garnered three Hong Kong English Drama Award nominations for "Best Show", "Best Actress" and won for "Best Original Work" at the 2015 Hecklers Awards.[14][15][16]

Albums

Golden Lotus: Sounds From The Musical was released on May 31, 2015. It is an album consisting of fifteen songs from the Hong Kong production of Golden Lotus, written and composed by Chiang, as they appeared in the Hong Kong world premiere. Recorded in Toronto with Harriet Chung as Golden Lotus, Charles Azulay as Wu Sung, Thom Allison as Xi Men, George Chiang as Wu Da, Stacey-Lea Marhue as Madam Wang, Scott Watanabe as the District Intendant, Pierre Bayuga as the Fruit Peddler and Josette Jorge as Ping. Music directed by Tim Stiff. Music arrangements by George Gao.[17]

Books

The Railroad Adventures of Chen Sing concerns a teenage boy who ventures to North America to build the transcontinental railway through the Rocky Mountains. There are disasters, encounters with wild animals, friendships and unforeseen events that mark Sing's journey. The book was inspired by stories told to Chiang by Ike Sing whose father is the title character of the book. The chapter book for young readers, published in March, 2017 contains full colour illustrations by Jessica Warner and is available in hardcover, paperback and ebook formats.[18][19] The book has won numerous awards such as the Pacific Book Award, two Global Ebook Awards, the Reader Views Reviewers Choice and the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award.[20][18][21][22][23]

Awards

For The Railroad Adventures of Chen Sing:

  • 2018 Pinnacle Book Achievement Award – Best in Children's Fiction [23]
  • 2017/2018 Reader Views Reviewers Choice Award – Winner Canada West [22]
  • 2017 Global Ebook Award – Gold – Children's/Juvenile Literature Fiction [20][18][24]
  • 2017 Pacific Book Award – Best Children's Book [21]

For Golden Lotus:

References
  1. Railroad Direct, NOW Magazine, January 14, 1993
  2. Theatre Review Serpent Kills, The Globe and Mail, March 26, 1993
  3. A theatrical bat out of hell | Toronto Star, October 14, 1993
  4. Donnelleys Dynamite, NOW Magazine, October 21, 1993
  5. This Serpent lacking evil, Toronto Sun, March 25, 1993
  6. Urban Donnellys looks at feuds from the view of street-level people, NOW Magazine, October 7, 1993
  7. "Preview-Golden Lotus, the Musical". hkeld.com. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  8. Golden Lotus – The Musical, "Hong Kong's First Musical", MADDBUZZHK, September 11, 2014
  9. 白健恩及鍾浩賢分別飾演西門慶、潘金蓮 Ronan Pak Kin Yan and Harriet Chung played Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian respectively, wenweipo.com, September 09, 2014
  10. A Modern Interpretation of a Chinese Classic Tale, The Standard HK, p. 22 September 26, 2014
  11. Review: Golden Lotus The Musical, MADDBUZZHK, September 13, 2014
  12. 白健恩激情戲成重點 Ronan Pak Kin Yan's Passion Play, SING PAO, September 25, 2014
  13. Review- Golden Lotus, the Musical", hkeld.com, September 13, 2014
  14. 白健恩主演音樂劇《金瓶梅》 獲《最佳原創作品獎》Ronan Pak Kin Yan starred in Golden Lotus which won the "Best Original Work" Award, Stars HK, September 8, 2015
  15. "白健恩主演音樂劇《金瓶梅》獲《最佳原創作品獎》Ronan Pak Kin Yan starred in Golden Lotus Which Won the "Best Original Work" Award". a1c1.com.hk. Retrieved 2015-09-08.
  16. And the winners are... HKELD.com, September 8, 2015
  17. "Snapd Stouffville Uxbridge "Golden Lotus"". stouffvilleuxbridge.snapd.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
  18. Railroad Tale Features Merrit | Merritt Herald p. 17, 2017-09-07
  19. Chinese railway worker history comes to life in a new Canadian children's book, Rabble.ca, 2017-03-22
  20. Award Winning Book Inspired By Cawton Man's Stories| Keremeos Review, October 3, 2017
  21. Pacific Book Awards 2017 www.pacificbookreview.com, May 10, 2017
  22. Reader Views Literary Award Winners 2017/2018 readerviews.com, March 11, 2018
  23. www.bookmarketingprofits.com, May 3, 2018
  24. 2017 Global Ebook Award Winners globalebookawards.com, August 13, 2017
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