Alan Muraoka – “Alan”
Alan Muraoka joined the Sesame Street ensemble 22 years ago.
Alan Muraoka joined the Sesame Street ensemble 25 years ago.
Alan Muraoka joined the Sesame Street ensemble 25 years ago. His stage credits include the Broadway productions of Disney’s Aladdin, Pacific Overtures, The King and I, My Favorite Year, Shogun, Mail, and Miss Saigon, where he played the lead role of the Engineer, as well as the national tours of Miss Saigon, M. Butterfly, and Anything Goes. Muraoka’s numerous network television and film credits include: It Could Happen to You, City On The Hill, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, Brotherhood, The Tonight Show, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, and Day of Independence. He has performed with the Boston Pops, Pink Martini at the Hollywood Bowl, and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. As a director, his 1998 production of Falsettoland for the National Asian American Theatre Company received high praise from The New York Times. He has directed episodes and segments for Sesame Street including co-directing See Us Coming Together, Sesame Street’s first Asian American special; The Power Of We (2021 Daytime Emmy Winner: Outstanding Preschool, Children’s or Family Viewing Program; 2021 NAACP Image Award Nominee: Best Director with Chuck Vinson); and co-directing Family Day (2022 GLAAD Media Award- Outstanding Preschool Program). Other directing credits include Clue (Dallas Theatre Center), Awesomer & Awesomer (Legacy Theatre), Gold Mountain (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Elf (Pioneer Theatre Company), Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (2022 Telly Award), the virtual holiday musical The Nice List, Elizabeth Ward Land: Still Within The Sound of My Voice (2019 Bistro Award- Best Tribute Show), South Pacific & Once on This Island (Olney Theatre), The Report (NYC Fringe), American Songbook-Ann Harada (Lincoln Center), Kung Fu (Assistant Director-Signature Theatre), Urinetown (Trinity College), The King and I (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma & Harbor Lights Theatre), Xanadu (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma – Oklahoma City), Disney’s High School Musical (Casa Mañana – Ft. Worth, MUNY – St. Louis, and the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma), Disney’s High School Musical 2 (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma), Up In The Air (Associate Director, The Kennedy Center), and John Tartaglia’s Ad-Liberty (Joe’s Pub). He is a member of the Director’s Guild of America, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. A UCLA graduate, Muraoka received a musical theater performance scholarship underwritten by Carol Burnett. He is an active member of Asian American organizations and was honored with the Inspiration Award from APEX, a mentoring organization in New York City, and the Role Model of the Year award from the FCC (Families with Children from China). His character on Sesame Street is the proprietor of Hooper’s Store. Muraoka, a fourth-generation Japanese American, is not only an important part of Sesame Street’s representation of diversity, but his warm and open character has helped make Hooper’s Store the heart of the Sesame Street community. Visit his website at: www.alanmuraoka.tv and you can follow him on Instagram (@alanathoopers).
