The Magic Bus to Asian Folktales

by Jaz Canlas, Rick Shiomi, and Cha Yang
With music by Gary Rue

When the kids get on the old school bus to go home, the mysterious new bus driver treats them to a whole series of Asian folktales. With each story he tells, the bus transforms into a gateway through time and culture, transporting the children into the heart of vibrant Asian folktales. From a Chinese boy whose honesty leads to triumph, to a Hmong tale of two brothers and a magical tree, to a fearless Filipina who takes on bandits to honor her father, each tale is brought to life with music, movement, and heart. This lively musical celebrates the power of storytelling and the richness of Asian heritage.

Regular price $12.00

Quick Details

  • Type: Musical
  • Estimated Run Time: 60 minutes
  • Availability: Available for productions worldwide
  • Cast Size: 32 roles + ensemble | Doubling possible
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Full Details

Roles:

  • Bus Driver
  • Cha Thao, Hmong boy
  • William Chang, Chinese Boy
  • Marlina Augustin, Filipino Girl
  • Little Lo
  • Mother of Little Lo
  • Chinese official
  • Emperor Wu
  • Courtier
  • Brother Pao, uncle of Lo
  • Cousin Lo
  • Crow
  • Little Lee
  • Father Lee
  • Little Siu
  • Little Wang
  • Little Chang
  • Ger
  • Hlee, Ger's wife
  • Kee, Ger's brother
  • Tree
  • Pig
  • Daughter of Dragon King
  • Dragon King
  • Kansilay
  • Washer Woman
  • Kids 1 & 2
  • Village Chief
  • Lunok-bandit Warrior
  • Lawa-on, Village warrior
  • Diwata, Fairy Princess

Ensemble of reptiles, insects, animals, and villagers

The following resources are included in each performance license:
  • Permission to photocopy the PDF script/score for your production so there is no additional cost for these assets.
  • Vocal demo tracks for rehearsal

The following resources may be added to you license for an additional fee:
  • Professionally recorded performance tracks for backtracking, underscoring, and sound effects.
  • Logo/Media package

Rick Shiomi

Rick Shiomi has been a playwright for over forty years. His groundbreaking first playYellow Fever, premiered at the Asian American Theater Company in 1982, winning awards and leading to Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s New York production that same year, which garnered rave reviews in theNew York TimesandNew Yorker.Yellow Feveris now considered a mainstay of the Asian American playwriting canon. Rick Shiomi is the author of over twenty plays and remains very active as a playwright.  His most recent plays areFire in the New Worldwhich was produced by Full Circle Theater in 2022 andSecret Warriorsproduced by the History Theatre in March 2025.   Fire In the New Worldis the third in his trilogy of plays (includingYellow FeverandRosie’s Cafe) featuring the Japanese Canadian detective Sam Shikaze grappling with post-World War II racism in the Powell Street area of Vancouver, British Columbia.  Shiomi's completion of this trilogy is part of his larger plan for a multi-play cycle, “A Hundred Years of the Japanese Canadians, 1890 to 1990,” based on his family’s stories and exploring the Japanese Canadian/American experience from immigration in the 1890s when Shiomi’s grandfather arrived in Vancouver through to the 1980s when the Japanese Canadians received Redress and Reparations from the Canadian government for the great injustices of the internment camps. His most recent playSecret Warriorsis about the Japanese Americans who learned Japanese at the Military Intelligence Services Language School in Minnesota during World War Two and then served as translators, interpreters and interrogators in the Pacific Theater of the war.  

Gary Rue

A performer and composer, Gary Rue has been playing music for audiences throughout the western hemisphere since the mid-’60s, beginning with various town halls in the upper Midwest and graduating to East Coast “tent” tours that included the Big Apple (Carnegie Hall as music director and duet partner for Gene Pitney) and on to far-flung points in Canada and the Caribbean. Early along the way, Rue began writing music of his own and was rewarded with some of his songs being recorded by (among others) Nick Lowe and Helen Reddy, as well as many prominent regional artists. He is the author of nearly 80 scores for music theatre, including The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fair(l)y (Stoopid) Tales, which toured the U.S. and China with Dallas Children’s Theater. Rue is also a 2010 Minnesota Music Hall of Fame inductee and an active touring musician and educator.


Originally produced by Steppingstone Theatre