Fil-Am cast and crew, original songs for ‘Larry The Musical’ unveiled in promo event

With an all-Filipino American cast and crew, “Larry The Musical” will open in March 2024 at the Brava Theater in San Francisco | Photo from Larry The Musical website

A promotional event for “Larry The Musical,” a production based on the life of Filipino-American farmworker union leader Larry Itliong, showcased original songs and several cast members at the Arthaus Studios in Oakland, California on Sept. 10.

The event was hosted by Filipino-American community leader and Positively Filipino publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco, Filipino-American former broadcast journalist Lloyd LaCuesta, and San Francisco State University ethnic studies professor Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales. Consuls Jed Llona and Vanessa Bago-Llona represented the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco.

With an all-Filipino American cast and crew, “Larry The Musical” will open in March 2024 at the Brava Theater in San Francisco.

“Larry The Musical” boosters (from left): Allyson Tintiangco Cubales, Lloyd LaCuesta, Pat Gacoscos, Mona Lisa Yuchengco, and Manny Tessie Zurbano at promotional event in Arthaus Studios in Oakland

The production is based on “Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong,” a book by the late Filipino-American historian Dr. Dawn Mabalon and Gayle Romasanta, who is the musical’s writer and executive producer. Composer Bryan Pangilinan wrote the music.

Itliong, a key figure in the establishment of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union and the 1965-1970 Delano grape strike, was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2021 as “one of the most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century and a father of the West Coast labor movement.” His Oct. 25 birth anniversary is celebrated statewide in California as “Larry Itliong Day.”

Details on the musical are available on the official website and Instagram