What to know
- The Karate Kid – The Musical is making its Canadian premiere at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre through Nov. 1.
- The stage adaptation features a book by Robert Mark Kamen, who wrote the original 1984 film, with music and lyrics by Drew Gasparini.
- Singaporean actor Adrian Pang stars as Mr. Miyagi, with Gibraltar-born newcomer Gino Ochello making his professional stage debut as Daniel LaRusso.
- The musical sticks closely to the movie’s familiar story, but its strongest moments come from Daniel and Miyagi’s relationship rather than the score.
- Performances run about two hours and 30 minutes including intermission.
Turning the ’80s teen classic The Karate Kid into a stage musical sounds like one of those ideas that should’ve been fleeting, but the film’s original screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen had a vision for the book and enlisted composer Drew Gasparini to help make it a reality.
The Karate Kid: The Musical debuted in 2022 at Stages St. Louis and was reportedly a consistent sellout. The Canadian premiere at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre runs until Nov. 1. with 60-year-old Singaporean actor Adrian Pang starring as Okinawan janitor/sensei Mr. Miyagi, the role made famous by Pat Morita in the 1984 blockbuster, and Gibraltar-born Gino Ochello, 19, as Daniel LaRusso, the role played by Ralph Macchio.
Mr. Miyagi calls him “Daniel-san” and becomes a mentor to the young man, who lost his own father to illness at just eight years old.
It goes without saying that the line “wax on, wax off” is part of our lexicon, now synonymous with how mundane, repetitive tasks lead to mastery. It is also a testament to how deeply The Karate Kid affected popular culture, becoming a global franchise that has included three movie sequels, a 2010 remake starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, and the smash Netflix series Cobra Kai, which ran from 2018 to 2025. Last year, Karate Kid: Legends, starring Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio, also came out in cinemas.
The plot is essentially the same: a widowed mother moves with her son from New Jersey to Los Angeles, where he becomes the target of bullies after connecting with Ali, the ex-girlfriend of their leader, Johnny Lawrence. He turns to Mr. Miyagi to learn martial arts to defend himself and eventually faces Lawrence in a karate tournament.
Abigail Amin plays Ali, not “just another rich girl,” LaRusso’s immediate love interest. The two are attracted to each other, but Johnny, played by Joe Simmons, is jealous and quick to bully and beat up LaRusso. Jodie Jacobs plays Daniel’s loving mother, Lucille LaRusso, always supportive of her son, and Ambra Caserotti as LaRusso’s first LA friend, Freddie Fernandez.
The musical will not be for all theatre-goers. The storyline is juvenile and predictable, however popular the movie and all its incarnations may be, and the songs simply are not that good. They serve mainly to advance the plot, but none will endure the way songs from Rent or The Phantom of the Opera have.
Sensei John Kreese is a major asshole — a grown man with a vendetta against teenagers who tells his students to “humiliate” LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi, declaring “this is war.” His Cobra Kai motto, “Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy,” is another famous line in the pop-culture lexicon, as is his warning that “Real men aren’t afraid to shed a little blood.”
The stakes are absurdly inflated, which is part of the story’s charm — and also part of what makes it so ridiculous. But Kreese’s menacing rock songs are far and away the best in the show.
But beneath all the adolescent fighting, bullying, love triangles and karate competitions, the relationship between Daniel and Mr. Miyagi is at the core of the story. A young man without a father figure bonds with a sage who teaches him discipline and balance.
Really, if we just listen to Mr. Miyagi’s wisdom, we will walk out of the theatre looking at life a little differently: appreciating the lessons in everyday tasks and perhaps adopting a gentler, more patient demeanour. “Don’t be afraid to trust yourself.” “Breathe in; breathe out; wax on, wax off.”
