NAMT Report: Kelvin Moon Loh and Raymond J. Lee As Immigrant Chinese Cab Drivers Who Learn The COSTS OF LIVING

BroadwayWorld's Michael Dale reports on seven musicals being presented in 45 minute readings at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Annual Festival of New Musicals. These musicals are being presented before an audience of over 600 industry professionals and are in different stages of development, not to be reviewed. For more information on all of the musicals, visit namt.org.

COSTS OF LIVING

Book, Music and Lyrics by Timothy Huang

Based on a true story involving two Chinese immigrant New York cab drivers, COSTS OF LIVING is written so that when Chinese characters talk to native-English speakers, their words are in broken English. When they talk with each other in what would be Chinese, the audience hears perfect English.

Eng (Kelvin Moon Loh) and Chin (Raymond J. Lee) are cabbies who share the same car, but when COSTS OF LIVING Begins we see one violently attack the other with a meat cleaver. In flashbacks, the NAMT presentation shows us scenes of their business relationship. Eng, who is trying to get his wife legal status to come to America, gets frustrated by the competition driving the day shift. Chin, who handles the night shift, has figured out ways to earn substantially more money.

They have encounters with a drunk couple who try to skip a fare, a suicidal rider who gets out of the cab to jump off a bridge and a restaurant owner who hides her knowledge of Chinese and understands everything her employees think they're hiding from her.

In between we see scenes of an investigation of the incident.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre, founded in 1985, is a national service organization dedicated exclusively to musical theatre. Their mission is to advance musical theatre by nurturing the creation, development, production and presentation of new musicals, and to provide a forum for musical theatre professionals to share resources and exchange information. Our 200 members, located throughout 34 states and abroad, are some of the leading producers of musical theatre in the world and include theatres, presenting organizations, higher education programs and individual producers. Among the 228 musicals launched by NAMT's annual Festival of New Musicals are Thoroughly Modern Millie, Children of Eden, Honk!, The Drowsy Chaperone, It Shoulda Been You, Songs for a New World, I Love You Because, Striking 12, Vanities, Ordinary Days and many others, representing 420 writers.

NAMT's FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is the cornerstone of NAMT's mission to nurture the creation, development and production of new musicals. The Festival highlights eight musicals in 45-minute presentations before an audience of over 600 industry professionals. In the short run, the Festival's goal is to connect producers with writers, so that their shows can continue their development trajectory. The long-term goal is to expand the musical theatre repertoire, bringing new musical theatre to thousands of audience members around the world.

The 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is overseen by NAMT New Works Director and Festival Producing Director Branden Huldeen and Festival General Manager Lisa Dozier King.