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★★★★☆ Lauren Yee’s meta-theatrical comedy offers a family view of Chinese American culture
Any attempt to explain in too much detail the hazy, crazy storyline of King of the Yees
likely will result in confusion. Suffice to report Lauren Yee’s “only kind of true”
autobiographical comedy studies Chinese American identity in San Francisco’s
Chinatown district today and Asian American identity in the United States generally. It’s
an entertaining, shape-shifting romp among cultural themes from the author of
Cambodian Rock Band and Mother Russia. This time, Yee digs into her own history and
comes up with rich cultural insights.
Essentially the narrative spins around the author’s mostly fond bonds with her father
Larry Yee, an ebullient Chinatown businessman. For decades, Larry proudly maintained
an old school fraternal organization forged from Yee familial relationships that Lauren
now dismisses as obsolescent. Then on the eve of his 60th birthday, Larry goes missing
and – wait, we said no more storyline.
Take note, however, the two-act work quickly rolls along as a meta-theatrical omnibus
from its start and culminates in a wild dance party. So expect an increasingly surreal
excursion through the Yee family’s cultural thickets in a smartly acted production that
opened Monday at the Pershing Square Signature Center. Commissioned and
produced by the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 2017, King of the Yees is once again
directed by Joshua Kahan Brody, who confidently steers the imaginative play through its
multiple shifts in time, place, format, and people.
[Read Melissa Rose Bernardo’s ★★★☆☆ review here.]
A terrific five-actor ensemble is led by the inimitable Francis Jue as Larry Yee, a sunny
soul whose Chinatown boosterism and political activities are doubtfully recounted by his
daughter Lauren, an East Coast playwright. Dressed down as Lauren in an army jacket
and boots, Kelly Marie Tran brightens the rather dour character – who is vague on
cultural matters – into an agreeable person. Among their many roles, David Shih and
Maureen Sebastian also depict this father and daughter; in an extremely droll scene
when they don’t, the “actors” swap showbiz tips and coach each other on their Chinese
accents. Joined by Jon Norman Schneider, another versatile artist, they morph into
numerous figures such as a comically fearsome gangster named Shrimp Boy, disgraced
state Senator Leland Yee, a slew of Chinatown citizens, a Sichuan face changer – oh, yes, King of the Yees proves quite educational – and several mythological beings. There’s even a classic Lion Dance that explodes into a glitzy runway show.
It is remarkable how the playwright is able to pack so many aspects of her cultural
heritage so easily within a surprisingly traditional father-and-daughter story. The usually
quick, terse dialogue delivers information and observations in a sprightly conversational
manner, the tone is upbeat, and Yee’s affectionate portrait of her dad is disarming.
Staged at the center’s cozy 199-seat Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre, it is evident
Signature Theatre has expended considerable care and funds on the first-rate
production. A series of insightful, even beautiful, modern, casual, and historical
costumes designed by Michelle J. Li, and the wigs, hair, and makeup designs by Tommy
Kurzman help to enable the ensemble in creating their many characters. The fluent
scenic design by Krit Robinson, Jiyoun Chang’s often glowing lighting design, and Fan
Zhang’s sound design of tasty music and effects are skillfully deployed by Brody in
staging the relatively complicated show swiftly and surely.
King of the Yees opened October 19, 2026, at Signature Center and runs through November 15. Tickets and information: signaturetheatre.org