More than just a Broadway show

In the 1970s and ’80s, the US Embassy in Thailand was active in promoting its theatre, meaning that Thais got to watch a wealth of translations and adaptations of American plays. Today, we are lucky to catch one contemporary dance performance by an American company a year during Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music plus, once in a while, an international touring production of a Broadway musical.
Thanks to artistic vision of this year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival, which ended last week, audiences were reminded that American theatre is much more than Broadway musicals.
In David Henry Hwang’s latest play “Chinglish”, Daniel Cavanaugh, a Cleveland businessman, is trying to resurrect his ailing family business of making signboards by striking a major deal in a rural Chinese city, first with the assistance of Peter, an English teacher, then later from Xi Yan, a deputy minister whose husband is also a judge. As Daniel realises that the differences between the US, the megapower of the last century, and China, today’s megapower, go far beyond language, the audience is taken on a unique theatrical ride filled with twists and turns and a great deal of laughter and thought.
“Chinglish” is more than a “lost in translation” tale. Thanks to the Chinese American playwright’s long research in China, it’s a reminder that in this age of information technology and social media, there’s a lot we still do not know or understand about each other and that we need to be there to experience it first-hand.
In this production by two highly renowned American regional theatres, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and South Coast Repertory, which enjoyed a short run on Broadway, the cast members, a mix of Americans, Asian Americans and Asians, performed as a strong ensemble. Another delight was the scene design, which was not only swift and smooth in terms of transition, but required more brainpower in design than manpower in manipulation.
Staging the play in Hong Kong, the most westernised Chinese city, was a great idea due to the demographics of the audience – some of whom didn’t laugh at the same jokes as others.
Also staged was a gutsy small-scale musical from the Big Apple, the TEAM’s (Theatre of the Emerging American Moment) “Mission Drift”. A captivating commentary on the history of American capitalism through a collage of stories, two of the most intriguing characters were a Dutch couple from the 17th century as they moved westward from New Amsterdam, or New York, and explored the American dream. Also unforgettable was Miss Atomic, the stage name of a former Las Vegas beauty pageant contestant acting also as the narrator performed by the charismatic Heather Christian, who played the piano at stage right and also composed the music for the show.
In direct contrast to what we in this region have come to known as the American musical, “Mission Drift” never spoonfed the audience with light-hearted entertainment and the songs, which served their purpose for the show and nothing more, didn’t haunt us for days afterwards.
The TEAM reminded me of another New York-based company, the Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, whose “Life and Times” I enjoyed in Avignon. Like the TEAM, they have been performing more at overseas festivals and theatres than in the US where capitalism indeed reigns supreme.

NEXT YEAR
The 42nd Hong Kong Arts Festival will be held February 20 to March 23, 2014. Bookings can be made as early as October at www.HK.ArtsFestival.org.