Yellow Face (Broadway)

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Asian-American playwright David Henry Hwang (Daniel Dae Kim) causes a ruckus when he openly criticizes the casting of Jonathan Pryce, a white actor of Welsh descent, for the role of the Engineer in Miss Saigon which is set to transfer to New York after a successful run at London’s West End. The media attention opens up an avenue for discussion regarding the place of Asian-Americans on Broadway. As the controversy dies down, DHH prepares to cast an actor for his theater comeback, years after winning the Tony for his magnum opus M. Butterfly. He eventually selects Marcus (Ryan Eggold) after a successful audition. There is one problem, though: Marcus is not really Asian. He only claimed to be part Asian and banked on his ambiguous looks to be cast in the role. As DHH deals with the backlash and accusations of hypocrisy, his Father (Francis Jue) becomes the target of an ongoing espionage investigation, accused of furthering mainland Chinese interests in the US political landscape through his bank.

I’m happy that there always seems to be an Asian production on Broadway as of late. We have Yellow Face this year. Last year I saw Poor Yella Rednecks; Vietgone and Miss Saigon, a few years back. I’m not talking about Asian actors here. We can even argue that there is no shortage of roles for Asian actors on Broadway. What I’m talking about is Asian narratives. Asian storylines for Asians, not roles that used to be of this or that ethnicity portrayed by an Asian, which is actually quite common in theater anyway. It’s a laudable effort from the community to produce, be visible, and share their own unique stories through theater.

The production often pokes fun at itself which you will find humorous in terms of actors involved playing multiple roles of different ethnicities and genders. You have an African American Jane Krakowski; an Asian woman with a British accent who is supposed to be Miss Saigon’s producer Cameron Mackintosh, etc. As far as bending gender and racial profiles are concerned, Yellow Face makes sure to go the extra mile, itself serving both as critic and critique. It’s just meta like that. Most of the humor is derived from this, which a lot of the audience members seemed to enjoy.

As for acting, most members of the cast, with the clear exception of Kim and Eggold, portray a variety of roles. If you are a theater actor and you want to polish your versatility via changing roles in rapid succession, this is probably one of the plays you should aim to participate in. Shannon Tyo and Marinda Anderson both do well in this regard. Even though it can be fun for the actors involved, it might be confusing for the audience given how most of the character changes are just announced out loud and incorporated in the dialogue, which is understandable considering how tedious it would be if they opted for costume changes and make-up too.

The set reminds me of that used for The Lifespan of a Fact. Since both plays are rather text-heavy, the bright blue panels serve as a convenient platform on which texts can be projected. In the case of Yellow Face, most of these texts are faux newspaper clippings, articles of the press release sort that serve as a background for the controversies unfolding in the play. The text fonts are big enough for you to actually read from your seats, sometimes highlighting certain words and phrases that emphasize the gravity of the situation.

Serving comedy and some history lessons regarding the evolution of Asian roles in American theater, Yellow Face can be funny at times, especially when making fun of the industry it belongs in. There is also some light drama which comes up every time the play focuses on the Asian-American journey and all the complications it has in tow. A lot of concepts such as the duality of the immigrant experience as well as the dilemma of not being considered to fully belong in society despite being born and raised there come up often. This time around, though, it’s not just sharing a story, but analyzing it too. One step at a time!