LEON KO & ROBERT LEE

• What is the "Doodle Edition"?

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  The "Doodle Edition" is a version of our musical CHINESE HELL, told through its score and some crude but enthusiastic and well-meaning doodles.
  
  Each installment centers around a song from the musical.

  

• Why make it?

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  A painting is a painting even if it never sells. A novel is a novel regardless of its position on the New York Times best seller list. But until it's staged and in front of an audience, a musical "on paper" is only a blueprint waiting to be realized.
  
  CHINESE HELL—DOODLE EDITION is an experiment in creating a self-contained version of our show that communicates its story, songs, characters and sensibility without our ever having to say, "Now you have to picture this in your mind…"
  
  The "Doodle Edition" is not meant to replace the stage version of our show, and we would be more than thrilled if it convinces someone to mount it. But in the meantime each episode will stand on its own as a "complete work"—not in the sense that it won't be subject to revisions over time (as the cliché goes, musicals aren't "written" as much as "rewritten"), but "complete" in the sense that it may be enjoyed without additional knowledge about the stage version.

  

• Did I create all of these drawings?

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  Seriously, do they look like the work of a professional? Of course I did!

  

• So where did the recordings come from?

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  The recordings are "author demos" recorded by us as a part of the show's normal developmental process, as a way to try out ideas as well as communicate them to others. Given the logistics and expense of making full studio recordings, these recordings often serve for the long term as the only audio documentation of our work.
  
  Though author demos often represent the definitive interpretation of a song, they also require that listeners accept the convention of (in our case) two singers performing for an entire cast of characters. The hope is that this form will manage to convey the spirit of these demo recordings while clearing up any potential narrative confusion.

  

• Who on earth do I think I am?

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  Not a graphic artist, that's for sure. Not an animator or filmmaker, either; I have no training in either discipline and nothing but admiration and awe for those who do. And not a professional actor or singer, in spite of my youthful pretensions. I know what I do well and what I don't!
  
  What I am is a musical theatre writer always on the lookout for ways to share the work I do with my collaborators using whatever means at my disposal.

  

• Questions? Want to help?

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  Reach out! Share the project with your friends. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. Ask to be on our mailing list. And be sure to check back to see what's new; as a stage writer, I'm in uncharted territory and eager to process and share the experience.