Photos: Ralph Macchio Attends Reading of THE KARATE KID Musical

The producers of The Karate Kid - The Musical hosted a reading of the upcoming musical yesterday to a packed studio of Broadway industry heavyweights.

The crowd also included Ralph Macchio who surprised the cast to attend the reading and cheer them on and Josh Heald producer and creator of “Cobra Kai” series on Netflix.

Cast Kate Baldwin, Alan H. Green, Jake Bentley Young, Jetta Juriansz,  Abby Matsusaka and Sydney Jones who appeared in the STAGES St Louis production were joined by Jon Jon Briones as Mr. Miyagi, Daniel Marconi as Daniel and Mateus Leite Cardoso as Freddie.

Before the reading, producer Kumiko Yoshii introduced Amon Miyamoto (director), Drew Gasparini (music and lyrics), Derek McLane who presented his designs and book writer, Robert Mark Kamen who discussed the enduring popularity and success of The Karate Kid franchise which has continued to reach new heights and audiences through 5 movies, the current hit “Cobra Kai” series on Netflix (5 seasons) with a 6th season upcoming and a new movie being developed as well for 2024 to mark the 40th anniversary. 

Producer Kumiko Yoshii said, “I knew the decisions the creative team made to make the show stronger were the right choices to an already solid show, but I never imagined the changes would’ve turned out as well as they did in such a short period of time - a credit to the entire team.”