Cambodian Rock Band

B+

Lauren Yee’s (The Great Leap) residency at Signature Theatre is off to an auspicious start with the New York premiere of this ambitious play with music. The play moves back and forth between 2008 and the 1970s. Neary (Courtney Reed; Aladdin), the American-born daughter of Cambodian refugees, has been in Phnom Penh working alongside her Canadian boyfriend Ted (Moses Villarama; Fast Company) for the tribunal trying to bring long overdue justice to Duch (Francis Jue; Soft Power, Wild Goose Dreams), head of the notorious S21 Prison where thousands were tortured and killed, who had been arrested after 30 years of hiding in plain sight. Neary’s father Chum (Joe Ngo), who had previously shown little interest in her work, suddenly shows up at her hotel unannounced. Before long we learn the reason for his visit and the connection between him and Duch. Back in 1975, Chum and his friends Sothea (Reed) and Leng (Villarama) were members of a rock band, Cyclo, who were recording their first album. Chum put his entire family at risk by postponing their flight from Cambodia a week to finish the album. All the members of the talented cast double as the musicians. The play is interspersed with Cambodian rock numbers from the seventies as well as contemporary numbers by Dengue Fever. It was frustrating that the lyrics were not translated. A Dylan song also plays an important role in the story. The first act, which describes the father-daughter meeting in 2008 and the events of 1975, contains the bulk of the music. The grimmer second act is mostly set in an S21 Prison cell in 1975. During intermission the playwright greeted a large contingent from a Bronx organization for Cambodian refugees and begged the audience to be understanding if the play triggered unexpected behavior from them. The brutality we witness is brief but chilling. The return to the father-daughter story in 2008 seems a bit anticlimactic. While the drama and the music do not always cohere as well as one might like, the concept of combining them mostly works. The production is greatly enhanced by an excellent cast which also includes Abraham Kim and Jane Lui. The inimitable Francis Jue is alway a treat to watch. Takeshi Kata's (Gloria, Office Hour) set efficiently captures both the bustle of Phnom Penh and the bleakness of a prison cell. Linda Cho’s (Grand Horizons) costumes and wigs for Cyclo band members vividly recall the 70s. Chay Yew’s (Mojada, My Mañana Comes) direction is assured. While there are a few rough spots, I admired the overall effort. Running time: two hours 45 minutes including intermission. NOTE; There is a very helpful timeline hidden deep within the Playbill after the cast biographies. I suggest reading it before the play.

Soft Power

C

I had high hopes for this collaboration by two Tony winners – playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, Chinglish) and composer/lyricist Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Caroline or Change, Violet) – now at the Public Theater. Alas, working together does not seem to have brought out their best efforts. The concept of a musical within a play that deals with US-China relations, the state of the union, the status of Asian-Americans in our society, the colonialist subtext of The King and I, the 2016 election as seen by the loser, cultural misunderstanding and the conflict between saving face and following one’s heart is certainly ambitious. We meet Xue Xing (the impressive Conrad Ricamora; The King and I, Here Lies Love), a married Chinese film producer sent to the US to recruit DHH (Francis Jue; Wild Goose Dreams, Yellow Face), the leading Chinese-American playwright, to adapt a popular Chinese film as a musical. Alyse Alan Louis (Amelie, Disaster!) plays Xue Xing’s American girlfriend Zoe. DHH is stabbed on the street in a possible hate crime. In his fever dream after the stabbing, we meet Hillary Clinton, as played by the impressive Ms. Louis. There is an over-the-top musical number at a Hillary rally set in a luxurious McDonald’s. In another number, Hillary scarfs down pizza and ice cream while singing about her loss. Xing and Hillary discover a mutual attraction. Until intermission, things were relatively coherent. Alas, in the second act, things go off the rails. A panel of experts 50 years in the future is discussing the film that we have allegedly been watching. Our president threatens war with China and Xing attempts to avert it. The satire becomes even more heavy handed and the play loses energy. The production team is first-rate: the gold and red set by Clint Ramos (Wild Goose Dreams, Barbecue) is beautiful, the elaborate costumes by Anita Yavich (Chilglish, The Legend of Georgia McBride) are gorgeous, the wigs by Tom Watson (Wicked, My Fair Lady) are excellent. The lively choreography by Sam Pinkleton (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812) pays tribute to several genres of dance and is superbly performed by the talented ensemble of ten. The music, performed by an orchestra of over 20, is more than serviceable but less than memorable. Although there are many moments along the way to enjoy, particularly in the first act, they are eventually done in by an incoherent book. Even a fever dream needs some logic. Director Leigh Silverman (The Lifespan of a Fact, Chinglish), has not figured out how to pull it all together. It was a fascinating disappointment. Running time: two hours 20 minutes including intermission.

WIld Goose Dreams

B-
While the new play by Hansol Jung now at the Public Theater is a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse, the two theaters have apparently taken quite different approaches to the work. While the La Jolla production had a very simple set, the Public has totally reconfigured its Martinson Theater to suggest Seoul, with a technicolor extravaganza of neon signs, backlit posters and photographs, a hot pink catwalk and audience crossover and a two-tiered stage with numerous popups and hidden doors. We also have a mod Greek chorus (Dan Domingues, Lulu Fall, Kendyl Ito, Jaygee Macapugay, Joel Perez, Jamar Williams and Katrina Yaukey) singing binary code, internet messages and emoticons. All of this is allegedly in service of the tender love story of two lonely people who meet online, Guk Minsung (Peter Kim; Yellow Face, Kung Fu), a “goose father” who stayed behind in Seoul to fund a better life for the wife and daughter he sent to America, and Yoo Nanhee (Michelle Krusiec; Chinglish), a young woman who fled North Korea four years before, who is troubled by dreams and visions of the father (Francis Jue; Yellow Face, Kung Fu) she left behind. The problem for me was that all the lavish ancillary bells and whistles practically smothered the main event. While I was often entertained by the latest surprise in Clint Ramos’s (Eclipsed, Barbecue) set, Linda Cho's (The Lifespan of a Fact, Anastasia) clever costumes and the inventive direction of Leigh Silverman (The Lifespan of a Fact, Chinglish), I felt that they somehow diminished the central story. There were occasions when it was confusing to know what was transpiring. My favorite moments were the quieter ones when there was less attempt to grab attention. Francis Jue steals every scene he is in. Ms. Krusiec seemed a bit subdued. Mr. Kim was fine, but a bit too young and too handsome for his role. The chorus members were an entertaining lot. While I did not enjoy some of what was presented, I was certainly never bored. Running time: one hour 50 minutes, no intermission.

The World of Extreme Happiness ***

The title of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s new play at Manhattan Theatre Club is ironic to put it mildly. Her unflattering portrait of life in contemporary China is more characterized by ambition than polish. She attempts to tell many stories: the effects of the one-child policy, the great divide between rural and urban China, the horrendous working conditions in factories, the prejudice rural migrants suffer in the cities, the uneasy relationship between communism and capitalism, the limited opportunity for women, the rise of American-style pop psychology as a substitute for religion, and the harsh repression of dissent. It’s a lot for one play to contain. A strong cast of six portrays 13 characters. The wonderful Jennifer Lim (last seen here in “Chinglish”) plays the protagonist Sunny. The other five actors (Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jo Mei, James Saito and Sue Jin Song) handle two or three roles each, convincingly differentiating their multiple characters. The deliberately bleak set by the talented Mimi Lien (“The Oldest Boy”) is flexible and effective. The costumes by Jenny Mannis are apt. Eric Ting’s direction is fluid. The playwright is not given to subtlety: her favored tool seems to be the sledgehammer. Nevertheless, she is to be commended for taking on such timely, substantive topics and presenting them dramatically. Although the play is flawed, I found it worthwhile. Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission.