He had such an auspicious beginning. In his early days as a playwright, David Henry Hwang quickly gained notoriety for his Tony award winning play, M. Butterfly. After that, he went on to scribe Face Value, a satirical glimpse regarding Asian casting. The show, widely considered a failure, never saw its opening night, closing in previews. That was 1993.
But like fine wines, Hwang seems to have improved with age and has re-worked similar material into 2007’s Yellow Face. The play is currently enjoying a Broadway revival starring television star Daniel Dae Kim. It is part of Roundabout Theatre Company's season.
In this semi-autobiographical piece, Kim plays the playwright himself, known here as “DHH”. Yellow Face opens with a talented cast portraying real life industry heads who are attempting to bring the London hit Miss Saigon to Broadway. However, the casting of Jonathan Pryce as the leading man, a Eurasian engineer, is met with outrage and protest, much of it led by DHH.
Eventually, concessions were made and the show landed in New York, where it ran for nine years. During that time, DHH is challenged by another casting debacle: mistakenly giving the stamp of approval on another white actor playing an Asian role in one of his own works.
Hwang’s writing is sharp and delivered with impeccable timing by Kim and this incredibly nimble cast. Francis Jue is a particularly notable as DHH’s father, HYH, (Henry Yuan Hwang), a financier who founded the first Chinese American bank and was unjustly scrutinized much more throughout his career than his Caucasian counterparts.
One memorable scene about his father’s financial dealings surfaces between DHH and an unscrupulous and racist reporter (Greg Keller), who suggests that being both Chinese and American is problematic. It may well be on the finest moments in the show, highlighting the blatant disdain and ignorance too many have towards our Asian American brothers and sisters.
Kim proves himself to be equally as comfortable on stage as he is in front of a camera and gives a marvelous performance here.
Leigh Silverman keeps the action moving at a brisk pace with her finely tuned ensemble. In short, this is satire at its finest.
Yellow Face is now playing on Broadway at the Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 West 42nd street between 7th and 8th Street through November 24th. For tickets and information, click here: roundabouttheatre.org, yellow face.
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