By: Darryl Reilly
“This is our Rosa Parks moment!” So, declares an Asian American activist in this slick revival of playwright David Henry Hwang’s exasperating, Yellow Face. It is a tiresome and disjoined dramatization of his anti-Miss Saigon militancy and his relationship with his wheeler dealer Chinese immigrant father. The strident tone, vapid observations and clunky structure, render this play as unfunny and not very interesting.
Mr. Hwang’s M. Butterfly was a smash hit; he received the 1988 Tony Award for Best Play for it, and he became a theater world celebrity. The impending 1991 Broadway transfer of the London hit musical Miss Saigon; incited controversy due to the lead casting of Caucasian Jonathan Pryce as a Eurasian. To many, this “yellow face” selection of a white actor donning makeup to play an Asian character, instead of casting an Asian actor was offensive.
Hwang spearheaded a campaign to force Actors Equity to prevent Pryce from repeating his role; they initially ruled against it, then retracted; Pryce performed the role on Broadway to great acclaim. Hwang lamely expands his documentary-style scenario by having the casting of his new play complicated by a white actor claiming to be of mixed race. Sometime thereafter, Hwang became a board member of the California bank his father founded, chiefly to get the handsome fee paid to attend monthly meetings. The bank was later investigated by the U.S. government for aiding Chinese money laundering and espionage. Hwang and his father faced legal repercussions.
Yellow Face is a feeble conjoining of these two plot threads. It may be possible to dramatize the polemics of “yellow face” casting, but this strained show business satire doesn’t succeed at that. Likewise, an immigrant father clashing with his American-born son has dramatic possibilities, but Hwang hasn’t fused these narratives into a play that satisfyingly coheres. Jokiness abounds with the tiresome and off-putting meta device of the central character being a stand-in for Hwang smugly narrating and commenting.
The charismatic Daniel Dae Kim who dazzled in the 2015 Broadway revival of The King and I, here plays Hwang’s glib alter ego. Mr. Kim does his forceful best with his glittering stage presence while uttering yards of inane dialogue; he carries the show. As always, the tremendous Francis Jue elevates the production with humor and poignancy as the father. The energetic ensemble of Kevin Del Aguila, Ryan Eggold, Marinda Anderson, Greg Keller and Shannon Tyo, all perform their variety of stock stick-figure roles with flair.
Director Leigh Silverman’s physical staging achieves visual appeal and momentum. Arnulfo Maldonado’s neat cube-centric scenic design allows for numerous swift scene transitions. Lighting designer Lap Chi Chu’s vibrant hues and bracing dimness contribute to the high-level theatricality on display. As does Caroline Eng and Kate Marvin’s zesty sound design and their modern original music. Anita Yavich’s costume design ranges from lustrously everyday to flamboyant.
Apart from upholding the current trend of a preoccupation with cultural concerns in the arts, there really wasn’t much reason for the Roundabout Theater Company to revive Yellow Face. Face Value was Hwang’s 1993 effort to put the Miss Saigon casting imbroglio on the stage: it disastrously never opened on Broadway, having closed after eight previews. Hwang recycled this material in his semi-autobiographical Yellow Face, which premiered in Los Angeles in 2007, and later that year ran for four weeks at Off-Broadway’s The Public Theater. This production reveals it be a faulty curio rather than a lost masterpiece.
Yellow Face (through November 24, 2024)
Roundabout Theater Company
Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit www.roundabouttheatre.org
Running time: one hour and 40 minutes with no intermission