Review: Daniel Dae Kim Plays David Henry Hwang in Yellow Face

Perhaps it’s inevitable that even a playwright as successful as David Henry Hwang would eventually come up with a work in which he interrogates himself in meta-theatrical fashion. That’s what he did with his 2007 play Yellow Face, which is only now making its Broadway premiere in a new production directed by Leigh Silverman, who helmed the original off-Broadway production at the Public Theater.

Such navel-gazing could potentially be more interesting than most coming from Hwang, one of the most visible Asian American artists out there, and one who has been outspoken about Asian American representation in media over the years. His desire to raise pointed questions in Yellow Face, though, appears to have gotten in the way of crafting a coherent piece of theater — though some may find that more a blessing than a curse.

There’s no doubt about the personal passion behind the project. Hwang has made himself into the main character, played here by Daniel Dae Kim, and the story revolves around the failure of his follow-up to M. Butterfly, a farce named Face Value that closed after only eight preview performances in 1993. Face Value was written in response to the casting of a non-Asian actor, Jonathan Pryce, in an Asian role in Miss Saigon, and the controversy around it threatened its transfer from the West End to Broadway until Actors’ Equity reversed its initial decision to ban Pryce from reprising the role. But as Yellow Face tells it, Hwang finds himself unexpectedly embroiled in a similar mix-up when he discovers his lead actor, Marcus G. Dahlman (Ryan Eggold), was not part-Asian as he initially thought, but all-white.

The ways Hwang tries to maneuver around this setback to avoid being labeled a hypocrite is the source of much of the comedy in Yellow Face. But Hwang has more on his mind than just this one anecdote. Also figuring prominently in the play is his father, Henry Y. Hwang (Francis Jue, who also played the character in the 2007 run). The founder of Far East National Bank, at which Hwang was temporarily forced to work after Face Value flopped, Hwang Sr. finds himself under investigation when Senator Fred Thompson accuses him and others affiliated with the bank — including, most infamously, Taiwanese-American nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee — of using Chinese money to influence American elections. Though he’d eventually be cleared of wrongdoing, according to Yellow Face, it was enough to break his theretofore strongly held faith in the American dream.

Yellow Face has the diffuse feel of an artist who has a lot he wants to get off his chest: not only issues of Asian representation and authenticity in media, but also the ways in which anti-Asian prejudice still exists in American society at large. Instead of dramatizing his concerns, however, Hwang has structured this as a staged op-ed, one that isn’t above building in its own responses to arguments you may have with Hwang’s points while watching it. And [spoiler alert] Hwang’s final revelation that Marcus G. Dahlman is in fact his own fictional construct is too clever by half, adding a gratuitous layer of muddle to an already messy stew.

Still, some may find its scattershot quality, as well as Hwang’s willingness to occasionally paint himself in a negative light, bracing. Silverman helps make the insularity go down easy, directing her cast to approach the material with snappy screwball-comedy zest. Jue, Kevin Del Aguila, Marinda Anderson, Greg Keller, and Shannon Tyo bring energetic variety to the multiple roles they play. As Hwang, Kim binds the ensemble together with effortless charisma, though even more impressive in some ways is Eggold, refusing easy caricature in his portrayal of the delusional yet well-meaning Dahlman.

They all perform on scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado’s relatively bare two-paneled set, its minimalism allowing us to focus on Hwang’s arguments and anguished self-examination. Lap Chi Chu does at least give the stage a sleek sheen in his lighting design, as do Caroline Eng and Kate Marvin in their sound design and original music. Yee Eun Nam’s projections add to the play’s essayistic, documentary-like feel.

Yellow Face is perhaps less a great work of theater than a great conversation starter. Nevertheless, it’s good to have it back on a New York stage. At the very least, Hwang’s play reminds us how much has changed but also how much remains the same, for all the strides that have been made in Asian representation in the theater world and elsewhere since 2007.