New Richard Maltby Jr. & David Shire Musical WATERFALL to Premiere on West Coast Prior to 2016 Broadway Bow

A distinguished international creative team is coming together to create WATERFALL, an epic new Broadway musical love story, which will have its US premiere at The Pasadena Playhouse, where preview performances begin June 2, 2015 with the official press opening on June 7, 2015. It will then play Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in Fall 2015, prior to reaching Broadway in 2016.

WATERFALL marks a groundbreaking collaboration between American and Asian theatrical artists. The musical, based on a contemporary classic Thai novel, Behind the Painting by Sriburapha, features book and lyrics by Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby Jr. (Ain't Misbehavin', Miss Saigon) and music by Oscar-winner and two-time Tony Award nominee, David Shire (Baby, Big, written in collaboration with Richard Maltby, Jr.) The production will be choreographed by Tony Award-nominee Dan Knechtges (Xanadu) and directed by Broadway and Thai theatrical impresario Tak Viravan.

Viravan is the leading figure of Thailand's burgeoning theatre scene, where he has directed 14 musicals and plays and has presented many international touring productions. WATERFALL is adapted from an earlier musical, Behind the Painting, which Viravan directed in Thailand. He has also been a producer for several Broadway musicals, including the Tony-nominated revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (2011) and Nice Work If You Can Get It. Viravan is one of the most prominent and influential figures of Thailand's entertainment industry, where he is also known as a television producer/director and for music and artist management.

Thai superstar Bie Sukrit Wisetkaew will make his American stage debut in WATERFALL. From his discovery in 2006 on the Thai television talent contest, "The Star," Bie has become one of Thailand's most famous and recognizable young talents, starring on stage, screen and television. As a recording artist, his credits include several top-selling albums and sold out concert tours. Bie created the role of Noppon in the musical Behind the Painting, the earlier version of WATERFALL. His co-stars and additional casting and creative team will be announced in coming weeks.

WATERFALL is an epic love story, set in Bangkok and Tokyo between the turbulent years of 1933 and 1939, as a monarchy falls in Thailand and Japan is on the brink of war. A young Thai student falls in love with the American wife of a Thai diplomat, and the story of their forbidden love parallels history as the new democracy of Siam moves into the vortex of the increasingly anti-American Japan. With a gloriously romantic score, WATERFALL is a modern love story of timeless scale.

WATERFALL will be produced on Broadway by Scenario Company Ltd. and Jack M. Dalgleish. Foresight Theatrical serves as general managers. Production dates will be announced soon.