The old adage “truth is stranger than fiction” applies completely to James Chiao. At one point during the Cultural Revolution in China he was sent for six years into the countryside to farm and fish. Though he grew up in a family of musicians, he never sang until he was 50 years old. He had a very successful mannequin business from which he retired. At the age of 65 he went to school and earned an MFA in Music from Cal Arts. All of this and more is part of the story he tells in his musical Tenor By Night, currently playing at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood through Wednesday.
Tenor By Night began its life as a concert. Chiao was inspired to combine multiple aspects of his life into a full-blown musical as he describes in my interview with him.
You have to know how unlikely this story seems to anyone who didn’t live this story. But I’m wondering how unlikely it seems to you?
I guess about 50 years ago I was sent to work in the countryside. I experienced a lot of hardship. Since then, nothing is difficult anymore. That’s why I kept working hard in my life and kept making things, experiencing new things and never getting discouraged. That’s why I keep making things happen?
When did you first have this dream of singing?
Actually I didn’t sing until I was 50-year-sold. I’ve been playing accordion and accompaniment for people who sing, but I never started singing until 1998 when I was traveling in Northern California in the Redwood Forest. I just opened my mouth and sang “O Solo Mío.” And my father came along and said, “Son, you are also a tenor.” My brother was a famous tenor in China at that time. My father was also a tenor and became a composer. I would join them as the Three Chiao Tenors and we performed in the United States and China.
When did you decide to study music?
I started to feel I could have a career here. In 2013, I held my own solo concert in Los Angeles called Tenor by Night Concert at The Luckman at Cal State LA. After the concerts people said, “James, your story is good. You are quite good.” Then I thought, I need to go to school to train myself like a professional. Then after that I decided to turn my Tenor By Night Concert into a musical.
How did working with mannequins become part of your life?
Actually it was coincidence. I was working as a computer programmer in the 1990s and every day I would exit the freeway and they would have a mannequin store near the exit. I would see the story and facing so many naked mannequins. Later after I decided to start my own business I thought about mannequins. When I was raised up around my parent’s song and dance troupe in China, I got to know a lot of dancers. I’m very visually oriented. So mannequins are just like dancers – not in my imagination, they would come alive.
How did the concert morph into the musical you are performing now?
The biggest difference for the musical is we need to have more stories, conflict, drama. Even though my life had been very lucky – a happy life. All of a sudden I thought maybe I can use the elements of mannequins in my story. The drama is my wife gets annoyed with my signing, she kicks me out of the house and I move to the mannequin house. My voice would wake up all the mannequins and they would come alive. Then the story would keep going with a lot of surprises. Now we have a whole cast of trendy singers and dancers. We got a very good cast in and musical and a live orchestra of 14 people.
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said there were no second acts in American life. Do you agree with him?
I would say life is short and we can do a lot of things in your life. You don’t have to do just one thing. You can do many things. I’m so lucky and so blessed to have the genes from my family to do music. I’m so lucky to have the resources and the time to start a second life.
What does your wife think of all these new chapters in your life?
She says to me, “James, you have too many dreams. It’s hard for me to deal with.” I dream to be become a singer and now I dream to become a composer, a book writer and a director. It’s all in the art which is amazing.
For someone who dreams so big, what’s next that you’d like to do?
Making a movie. I’d like to make a musical movie like The Sound of Music and South Pacific. I would like to let many people see this story and this movie because I have a very strong message. There is a song called “Why Keep Your Day Job” in the musical. That’s a message for people who never stop chasing their dreams. Why do you keep your day job? That’s why we call the show Tenor by Night.
Production Photos by Ed Krieger