The musical premiered as a Stage Reading Production on July 2, 2019 at the Lonny Chapman Theater in North Hollywood, Los Angeles California.
It sold-out its weekend run, with the hopes of show revisions and further advancement to the level of a Workshop Production.
The production was directed by Hisato Masuyama and featured orchestrations by its composer Phil Luna.
It featured Kevin Hoffman Jr. as Momotarō, Danielle Miyazaki as Hōseki, Keiko Clark as Haha, Paul Cady as Kyūjo-sha, Jennifer Strattan as Rin-Jin, Lloyd Pedersen as The Evil Ogre, Andrew Grigorian as Inu Suppotto the dog, Noi Maeshige as Hangu the monkey, Beccy Quinn as Kiji the pheasant, and Doug Haverty as Host/Stage Directions.
Years prior their town was ransacked by The Ogre King and his evil Oni tribe, stealing all their possessions.
One day while Haha was down at the stream washing her clothes she saw a huge peach floating down the river.
Hōseki, while in the Aikō-ka temple for her Genpuku, prays to her father who was killed at sea in a fishing accident.
She plays a tune and sings from her ocarina necklace, the only thing found of her father’s when he was lost at sea ("Cherry Blossom (Hōseki’s Lullaby)").
Rin-Jin tells Momotarō that she is there looking for Hōseki because she never returned home the night prior, and fears she was kidnapped.
As Hōseki plays the ocarina and sings, her song renders the ogre helpless, putting him to sleep.
When the apology is made the ogre transforms into a human being, and the families realize he is Rin-Jin’s long lost husband, Hōseki’s father.