Alan Muraoka (born August 10, 1962 in Mission Hills, California) is an actor and theatre director who plays Alan, the current owner of Hooper's Store on the television show Sesame Street. Events 612 BC - Killing of Sinsharishkun, King of Assyrian Empire Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Mr Hooper's Store is an integral business and meeting-place on the television show Sesame Street. Sesame Street is an American educational Children's television series and a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard combining
Contents |
Early career
His first experience as a performer came at the age of ten, where he appeared as "The Candy Man". He continued to perform in throughout high school. It was high school that provided Muraoka with his first experience as a director - a highly praised production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13,
In 1980 he was accepted into the Theater Department of UCLA, where he studied musical theatre. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) The University of California Los Angeles (generally known as UCLA) is a public research university located in Westwood Los Angeles, California, United During this time UCLA presented Muraoka with the Carol Burnett Musical Theatre Award for performance. While at college, he also gained experience as a performer in various Walt Disney World productions, during sabbaticals and summer breaks. Walt Disney World Resort is the most visited and largest recreational resort in the world containing four Theme parks two Water parks twenty-three themed hotels
After receiving his B.A. in Theatre Arts from UCLA in 1985, Muraoka worked with East West Players in Los Angeles, and spent time as a performer on Princess Cruises. East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles founded in 1965. Princess Cruises is an American Cruise line, based in the Valencia section of the city of Santa Clarita, California, that He worked for the company for a year and a half before receiving his first Broadway credit, performing six roles in the short-lived production of Mail. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located After Mail opened (and closed, after one month) in 1988, Muraoka remained in New York.
For the next ten years, Muraoka continued to act in theatrical productions, both on Broadway and in regional and touring productions. Most notably, he was a member of the original cast of Shogun: The Musical on Broadway and had a long run in the lead role of "The Engineer" in Miss Saigon. Shōgun The Musical is a musical with a book and lyrics by John Driver and music by Paul Chihara. Miss Saigon is a West End musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil
1997-present
After auditioning several times through 1997, Muraoka joined the cast of Sesame Street in 1998. Sesame Street is an American educational Children's television series and a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard combining He plays Alan, the new owner of Hooper's Store. He has continued to appear as Alan through the 2006 season. While appearing in Sesame Street, Muraoka has continued to perform in theater, most recently earning good reviews in the 2004 Broadway revival of Pacific Overtures. Pacific Overtures is a 1976 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a libretto by John Weidman, and additional material by He also appeared in the PBS Emmy nominated special, Day of Independence from Cedar Grove Productions in 2003. The Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) is a Non-profit Public broadcasting Television service with 354 member TV stations in the Day of Independence (2003 is a Short film, broadcast as a half-hour PBS Television special. Cedar Grove Productions is an independent production company based in Los Angeles CA
As a director, Muraoka was highly praised for his direction of a seemingly-incongruous, non-traditional (all-Asian) version of William Finn and James Lapine's largely-Jewish musical Falsettoland for the National Asian American Theater Company in New York in 1998. Colour-blind casting, non-traditional casting or integrated casting is the practice in the casting a role without considering the actor's Ethnicity William Alan Finn (b February 28 1952, Boston Massachusetts) is an award-winning American Composer and Lyricist, especially James Lapine (born January 10 1949, Mansfield Ohio) is an American theatrical director and librettist. Falsettoland is a musical with a book by James Lapine and music and lyrics by William Finn. Peter Marks of the New York Times wrote about the production "Does the gambit work? Let's put it this way: You should be so talented. Peter V Marks (b 1949 Bradford) is the Chief Executive of the British member-owned retailer The Co-operative Group. "[1]
In 2004 he directed veteran Sesame Street and Avenue Q puppeteers John Tartaglia, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, and Jennifer Barnhart in Empty Handed and John Tartaglia AD-LIBerty. John Nicholas Tartaglia (born February 16 1978) is an American Singer, Actor, Dancer, and Puppeteer. Stephanie D'Abruzzo (born 7 December, 1971) is an American Actress and puppeteer. Jennifer Barnhart (born in Hamden Connecticut) is a Puppeteer, American Actress and He also directed Ann Harada, of Avenue Q and also his 1998 Falsettoland, in her 2004 one-woman show. Ann Harada (born February 3, 1964 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is a New York -based actress who is best-known for the musical Avenue In 2007, Muraoka joined the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC is an independent national labor union established in 1959 representing theatrical directors and
In 2007 Alan Muraoka had a small part on Showtime's series Brotherhood as Li Fang, the owner of a Rhode Island brothel. Showtime is a subscription television Brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United Brotherhood is an American Television drama series created by Blake Masters.
Charity work
Alan Muraoka is active with many Asian American organizations. Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian In 2004 he was honored with the Inspiration Award from APEX, a mentoring organization in New York City. The Asian Professional Exchange APEX is a Not-for-profit, nonpartisan community-based organization with multi-faceted goals and purposes that are charitable cultural and educational
References
- ^ Marks, Peter. THEATER REVIEW; It's Family That Matters, No Matter What Family, The New York Times, July 17, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
External links
- Alanmuraoka.net
- The Muppet Newsflash's Interview with Alan Muraoka
- AArisings A-Profiler Interview Published October 29, 2006
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic