Shangri-La-La (comedy musical)
“Shangri-La-La” is a glitter-dusted comedy musical inspired by the real-life attorney who once went toe-to-toe with Las Vegas legends Siegfried & Roy. Tigers, sequins, courtroom chaos, and showbiz illusion collide as Joshua, a young dreamer from Germany, moves to Las Vegas and lands the impossible job: personal assistant to the world-famous magicians. But behind the white tigers and gold lamé, he discovers that in this desert paradise, nothing is what it seems.
Music from the show:
https://themikemeier.com/shangri-la-la-la-download
-
Mike MeierWriterJoinWith.Me, The Love Hex or Nicest Flings in Mexico
-
Peter GiambalvoWriter
-
Project Type:Stage Play
-
Genres:comedy, musical
-
Number of Pages:106
-
Language:English
-
First-time Screenwriter:No
-
Student Project:No
-
Digital Cinema Package:Unavailable
-
Oniros Film Awards New York (February 2025)New York
February 1, 2025
"Best musical script" (under prior name, All that Glitters) -
Official Selection – Back Door to Broadway Festival, New York CityNew York City
April 19, 2026
Show date April 19, 2026 -
Official Section - Midtown International Theater FestivalNew York City
July 25, 2026
Show dates July 25 & 26, 2026 -
Official Selection - Harrisburg Fringe FestivalHarrisburg, PA
July 19, 2026
Show date July, 2026 -
Official Selection - Philadelphia Fringe FestivalPhiladelphia, PA
September 27, 2026
Show date September 27, 2026
Mike Meier’s life reads like a sitcom with frequent costume changes. He grew up in a blue-collar housing project in Germany, the grandson of Wladi-Kami, a 1920s traveling magician and fortune-teller who could saw a lady in half and still make it home for dinner. Kicked into the real world in his teens, Mike roamed across Argentina, Japan, and several other countries, collecting odd jobs like Pokémon—dishwasher, bicycle repairman, house painter—before eventually deciding that if he couldn’t be a rock star, he could at least write like one. When not hunched over a keyboard, he’s probably playing guitar somewhere (sometimes in tune). For those keeping score, yes, he’s academically overqualified: a Master’s in Political Science from the University of Berlin, plus a J.D. and LL.M. from Georgetown, because apparently washing dishes doesn’t require enough paperwork.
Shangri-La-La began with an experience I never expected to turn into a musical: representing clients in litigation involving Siegfried & Roy and witnessing, from uncomfortably close range, the strange machinery of Las Vegas celebrity.
The world surrounding the case contained everything a dramatist could want—glamour, ambition, intimidation, theatrical personalities, courtroom absurdity, and layers of illusion extending far beyond the stage. For years, I carried those memories with me. Eventually, frustration became black comedy, humiliation became satire, and disaster found a melody.
The result is a truth-infused comedy musical about reinvention, fame, power, and the price of stepping too close to the machinery of celebrity. It is not a documentary or a courtroom reenactment. It is a theatrical fantasy rooted in real experience, exploring the collision between spectacle and silence, beauty and fear, and the dazzling image presented to the public and the more complicated reality concealed behind it.
At its heart, Shangri-La-La is also an immigrant story. It follows two extraordinary outsiders who reinvent themselves, transform Las Vegas, and build a rhinestone empire of magic, ambition, sequins, and white tigers. Their success raises larger questions about identity, mythmaking, and what must be sacrificed to sustain an illusion.
The musical received three preview performances at the Arlington Drafthouse Theater in July 2025. An abbreviated festival version was staged at New York City’s American Theatre of Actors during the Back Door to Broadway Festival on April 19, 2026. The show returns to New York for the Midtown International Theatre Festival on July 25 and 26, 2026, following its appearance at the Harrisburg Fringe Festival on July 19, and will play the Philadelphia Fringe Festival on September 27, 2026.
Ultimately, Shangri-La-La asks what remains when the music stops, the lights come up, and an illusion has become too powerful to disappear.
