| saw the first preview May 3 | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 02:02 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Has anyone seen SOFT POWER in Los Angeles yet? Thoughts? - Jnf663 11:09 am EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| I've been sick (and family, too, ,including toddler granddaughter diagnosed with very aggressive form of juvenile arthritis), so i've seen about three plays in the last six months, but this was one. The first part of my comments include material from the Playbill interview with Hwang, so I don't think they count as spoilers. They are billing it as "a play with a musical," and that's what you get. It's unlike any show I've ever seen or researched, and that's a lot. You get a 20 minute contemporary comedy about a famous Chinese-American playwright named David Henry Hwang, who is talking with a Chinese TV producer in 2016. I won't say anything further except that the Clinton campaign and THE KING AND i are imvolved. The events of that set-up become mythologized 50 years later into a beloved Chinese musical-- and we are watching the 50th anniversary production of it--100 years after the actual events. My take was if you threw ARCADIA, OF THEE I SING, and THE KING AND I in a blender, you might get SOFT POWER. ("Soft power" means extending intellectual and cultural influence, which China is seeking to do.) This is NOT a Chinese take on THE KING AND I, though DHW has stated the show--and his conflicted views about it (hated the inaccuracies, the original yellowface casting, the "civilized West teaches barbaric East" while loving it a a moving piece of theatre)--were the impetus for SP. The satire is sharp, the cast is terrific, especially leads Conrad Ricamora as Xue Xing (the TV producer and main character of the "musical) and Alyse Alan Louis as girlfriend Zoe and Hilary. Man, she has comic chops to spare. And yes, she taps. Also sings while eating ice cream and pizza. Francis Jue (a noted Hwang veteran) as the DHH character is also solid, especially in the set-up material, which is largely modeled on Hwang's own difficulty trying to work with Chinese tv. For me, the star was Tesori's score. Talk about an impossible task: a score that simulates Chinese appropriation of the American musical form (with nods to other styles of American musical forms, including country, rap, and rock), all while maintaining the integrity of the future plotline (after all, the future Chinese playwights don't know what they're getting wrong) and keeping it funny. And she knows her musical history--the obvious key influence is THE KING AND I--but it truly sounds like a slightly skewed version of a Golden Age musical. Center Theatre Group gave SP a twenty-two piece orchestra that sounds sublime. And I also love that every Tesori score is unlike any other. This is a work in progress, so there was no song list. Highlights were Hilary's huge entrance and "Democracy Can Break Your Heart." A good number of the jokes go on too long, especially the references to all the guns in the US (there's even a gun number). And some were very local: I don't think a NY audience would laugh as hard as we did at the "Hollywood International Airport" references. It needs tightening. And I kept hearing George S. Kaufman in my head, muttering "Satire is what closes on Saturday night." But we did laugh in the right places, were touched at the end in the exact way Hwang wanted (musicals are great "delivery systems"), and we marveled at the ambition, originality, and guts involved. This was a joint venture with CTG, LA's East West Player, San Francisco's Curran, and the Public. I have no idea if this will ever get to Broadway--it's definitely a weird show. But if you like audacity, go see it. Laura |
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