David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face debuted Off Broadway 17 years ago, spinning a farcical tale about a real-life Broadway controversy that had taken place some 17 years before that. How it manages to be relevant, insightful and very funny as it makes its Broadway debut tonight, all these years later, is anyone’s guess, but it does. We can start by thanking Hwang’s terrific play – cut by a half-hour since its overlong Off Broadway version – and crackerjack direction by Leigh Silverman.
Perhaps most of all, the production’s appeal rests with a cast led by an excellent Daniel Dae Kim , the Lost and Avatar: The Last Airbender star making a seamless transition to the Broadway stage. The plot is, on its surface – but only on its surface – one big inside joke for Broadway aficionados. Inspired by real events – with liberty taken – Yellow Face recounts an event that found Hwang embroiled in one of the rare Broadway scandals catchy enough to break through to the outside world.
Still riding high on the acclaim and popularity of his masterwork M. Butterfly , Hwang, in 1990, became linked to another Broadway production, but only through his opposition: Miss Saigon , the Cameron Mackintosh-produced musical that had been a hit on London’s West End with the Welsh (and white) actor Jonathan Pryce in a lead role as a Eurasian pimp, was about to transfer to Broadway with Pryce in tow. The casting of a white man in an Asian role – “yellow face” – drew ire from New Yor.
