"Usual Girls" - 12.22.18

December 30, 2018

Show/Venue: Usual Girls at the Harold & Miriam Steinberg Center // Black Box Theatre

Date: Saturday, December 22nd, 2018 @ 1:30pm

Starring: Midori Francis, Abby Corrigan, Jennifer Lee, Ryann Redmond, Nicole Rodenburg

Website: https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/Shows-Events/Usual-Girls.aspx

One of the best parts of about living in NYC for me, is the accessibility to important works of theatre. Usual Girls at the Roundabout Underground became one of those pieces that the theatre community was quickly buzzing about. Ming Peiffer wrote a stunning and thought-provoking piece about a Korean-American girl growing up in the Midwest (Ohio) and dealing with adolescence & racism in the 80’s and 90’s. Based on this description alone, I knew I would relate to this show.

I had the opportunity to see Midori Francis (Kyeoung) in The Wolves at Lincoln Center last year, so I was anxious to see her in this work. The play opens up with the girls in early elementary school, where they’re playing a game of “hot lava,” jumping from block to block while not touching the ground. Soon the conversation shifts to the adult magazines that Kyeoung found in her father’s room. The other girls can’t believe that her father knowingly shares these “dirty magazines” wit her and doesn’t have a problem. Another girl, Lindsay (Nicole Rodenburg), mentioned that she saw her brother & his girlfriend having sex and got cussed out by him. Then a young classmate, a boy named Rory (Raviv Ullman), appears and threatens to tell their teacher that they were swearing and talking about sex about unless Lindsay kisses him. When Lindsay refuses, Kyeoung offers to, but Rory calls her names and says he doesn’t want her because of the way she looks. The taunting goes back and forth and Lindsay starts to kiss Rory before Kyeong runs across the playground and pushes him, giving him a bloody nose.

The theatre goes dark and 90’s girl pop music plays and when the lights come back up Anna (Abby Corrigan) and Kyeoung are in a basement making out with their stuffed toys and wondering what a real kiss feels like. The play turns sexual as the girls hump their toys, but they don’t really understand what they are doing; they are only mimicking what they have seen their older siblings and parents do. Anna wonders why they only play “boyfriends” with their toys, but not “girlfriends.” Kyeoung decides that they can play “girlfriends” and Kyeoung’s Dad (Karl Kenzler) comes into the basement to find Anna on top of Kyeoung, grinding her hips and saying “I love you, I love you, I love you…” And then more blackness.

Now the girls are pre-teens/teenagers and at a slumber party. They can’t believe that Sasha (Sofia Black-D’Elia) has already grown public hair and want to see. Sasha reluctantly shows them and reveals that she also bought her first bra and has her period. The other girls are full of questions, wanting to know what everything is like and how her mom actually lets her shave her legs! (They all gather round Sasha to feel her smooth shins.) Suddenly, a group of teenage boys come up to the basement window and start knocking and pounding on the glass. Some taunting starts and the boys moon the girls; who then take turns mooning them back. The boys start to encourage the girls to let them into the slumber party and with some hesitation, they finally let the boys in. In a matter of moments, the boys are all over the girls and in the dimly lit set, you can assume that some of these boys are going past first or second base. As the lights come up, the girls are in various states of disarray before all the lights go out and the set changes again.

We next see Kyeoung dressed in her volleyball uniform, as she waits for her Dad to pick her up. Rory approaches and comments on how short and tight her shorts are. Kyeoung is confused as to why he keeps talking to her; he’s never been nice to her and has always caused her grief. Rory feins that he’s doing her a favor as Lindsay (now becoming the IT girl at school), is spreading rumors about Keyoung giving a schoolmate a blow job. We’re not really sure of what’s actually true, but we know that Lindsay isn’t innocent in the situation. A few older girls approach Kyeoung after Rory has left and interrogate her about this rumor. Of course, Kyeoung defends herself and as her father finally appears, although visibly drunk. He quickly sees these other girls as his daughter’s friends, not realizing that his presence is making things worse for Kyeoung. As Kyeoung stuggles to get her intoxicated father to the car, he stumbles while trying to make friends with this group of girls. While struggling to walk, he reveals some dark things about Kyeoung’s life at home (how her mother left and remarried, his relationship with his daughter & how she was a mistake) and one of the girls starts to sympathize with her.

The story shifts slightly into a memory play, as an older version of Kyeoung (Jennifer Lim, Chinglish), recalls some of the incidents of her adolscence. She comes out onto a playground and remembers some of her struggles growing up. She then sees her younger self in the bathroom, wanting to shave off her pubic hair; a way to make her more desirable to boys. Older Kyeoung interacts with her younger self to really try and question why she wants to do this.

Moving foward to the college years, Kyeoung and her sorority sisters travel to the city. In a nightclub’s restroom, the girls refresh and snort some coke. Kyeoung then runs into her childhood friend, Anna, and they catch up on their lives. Anna laments about the sorry state of dating that girls have to struggle with. Yet Kyeoung can’t help but ask Anna over and over again about why they didn’t stay friends all those years ago. Anna, not thinking clearly, brushes off her questions and snorts more cocaine before they go back to the dance floor.

In another scene, Older Kyeoung remembers a late night where she was assaulted. Her younger self comes home and just wants to take a shower. Older Kyeoung tries to enocourage her to go to the police and not take a shower, but her protest doesn’t work. After a powerful struggle between the two, younger Kyeoung gets into the bathtub as her older self remembers what happens that night; how she was drunk, how the boy got on top of her, how she didn’t scream “no” and how he walked her home and got her a cup of coffee afterwards.

Older Kyeoung comes forward, addressing that night and some of the other experiences she has had with men; mostly dark and upsetting. She closed with the statement: “It just keeps happening.”

In the lobby of the Black Box Theatre // Roundabout Undergroud there’s a display of power women. Naturally, I was drawn to the poster about Margaret Cho and all she did for the Asian-American experience in popular culture.

After the show came down, I wanted to sit in the theatre to think about the work I had just seen. Roundabout Underground gave each audience member a program that talks about Ming Peiffer’s work, the ideas addressed in the play and some interviews with the actors. I was fascinated to read that the play started as a commentary on slimy CEO of American Apparel, Dov Charney, and how he used overtly sexualized photos of young girls to market his clothing brand to consumers.

Obviously, I identified with many themes in this play, but the tone and even the shock of some of the racist comments thrown at Kyeoung, were easily identifiable for me. (You could hear the audience’s intake of breath when Rory asked a young Kyeoung if her vagina was sideways, like he heard all Asian women’s were.)

While not a play that could show on a larger stage, the intimate setting and story were a perfect fit for Roundabout Underground.

"Allegiance" - 10.17.15

December 1, 2015

Show/Venue: Allegiance at the Longacre Theatre

Date: Saturday, October 17th, 2015 @ 2pm

Starring: George Takei, Lea Salonga, Telly Leung, Katie Rose Clarke, Michael K. Lee

Website: http://allegiancemusical.com/

After months of waiting, I was finally able to see one of my Broadway crushes, Telly Leung, in Allegiance. I had been following the show’s journey from the Old World Stages to Broadway and was hoping that he would stay attached to the show when it transferred to the Great White Way. And I lucked out! I was able to get a ticket to see the show in Previews (thanks, TodayTix) and got a front-row balcony seat for the Saturday matinee.

The show tells the story of the Kimura family, who are sent to an Internment Camp during World War II in the United States, as all Japanese-Americans were required to after the Japanese Government bombed Pearl Harbor. I found this story especially poignant, since in the American educational system, we were rarely taught about the “darker” side of the American Government during the war. I only found out about the Internment Camps, as I became fascinated by the story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes in Elementary School. I started reading everything I could find about this subject, which was hard for my small library in Lincoln, Nebraska. This was when I first learned about the stables and barracks that Japanese-Americans were kept in during World War II.

The show opens in the early 00’s, as Sam Kimura (George Takei), is remembering his life, after his sister has passed away. Through a flasthback, we see him as a young man, played by Telly Leung (Rent, Godspell), his sister, Kei, played by the brilliant Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon, the singing voice of Jasmine in Aladdin and Mulan in Mulan) and their father, Tatsuo Kimora, played by Christopheren Nomura; enjoying the summer sunshine with their friendsfamilies.

Not too long after, their whole lives change as the Japanese Government bombs Pearl Harbor and the United States Governments sends all citizens of Japanese ancestry to various camps across the Nation. The Kimura’s are then forced to sell their farmland to a white neighbor for only $2,000 and take only what they can carry to the camp. Sammy immediately wants to enlist in the military with his friends, but they are informed that they cannot, due to their Nationality. As they arrive at the camp, they realize that they will be forced to live in old horse shelters, barns and barracks; giving up their freedom to comply with the “threat” of their allegiance to Japan vs. America.

Then the Kimura family finds themselves, including their elderly grandfather, Ojii-Chan, also played by Takei, in the Wyoming countryside, feeling imprisoned in their own Country for “their own good.” Once in the camp, everyone struggles to live their day to day lives with so many restrictions. Ojii-Chan reminds them of an old Japanese phrase, “Gaman,” meaning to have “endurance with dignity;” the Japanese will not be remembered for defiance, but for their ability to cooperate and show their loyalty to America. This song becomes the saying that will help everyone get through their tough times in the camp.

As the families settle into their barracks, there’s a cute moment where Ojii-Chan wants to hang up his wind chimes. An American soldier then warns him about putting up “Jap” things in his barrack and he takes them down. Sammy hangs up an American flag to show their loyalty to America, but when the soldier leaves, Ojii-Chan hangs up the wind chimes underneath the flag, in a small act of defiance.

Feeling much like criminals, the Japanese families are provided with little food and supplies. When Ojii-Chan gets a cough, Sammy & Kei go to the camp’s nurse to try and get some medicine. They notice that the soldiers are able to get relief, but not the prisoners. As Sammy chats with the Nurse, Hannah, played by Katie Rose Clarke (Wicked), he finds an ally and she sneaks him some cough syrup for his ailing grandfather.

In the number for “Get in the Game,” (barring any High School Musical references) the families play a game of baseball to compare their experience to what happens in a good game of America’s favorite past-time. As time passes in the camp, Kei begins to reexamine her life and how she has helped to raise her brother, Sammy, and he has so much ambition, but she has no direction in her life. She meets a young man, Frankie Suzuki (Michael K. Lee), who becomes of interest to her and becomes her confidant in the camp. It’s here that Lea Salonga gets to shine in the number, “Higher,” and I could feel the goosebumps as she hit the chords that reminded me of her voice while listening to Aladdin and Mulan throughout my childhood.

Shortly thereafter, the head of the Japanese Americans Citizens League (JACL), Mike Masaoka, played by Greg Watanabe, announces that there will be a “loyalty questionnaire” given to all individuals in the camps. Most of the questions are harmless, almost like census data, but one asks each person to show their allegiance to America or Japan. Those who mark their allegiance with America are kept in the camp or released, but those who mark their allegiance to Japan are sent to a much harsher camp; which is what happens to Kei & Sammy’s father, Tatsuo. In a tender moment, Kei struggles with what to mark on her questionnaire and Ojii-Chan folds his questionnaire into a paper flower for Kei to wear.

Masaoka continues to fight for the Japanese-Americans’ right to join the military to help show their allegiance and to fight the enemy in the war. The American Government agrees that they can serve in an “Asian Only” battalion and Sammy finally gets his wish to join. Sammy sees this as an opportunity to prove that he is an American, but the JACL has other plans. While they want to show their loyalty, their men are mostly sent into a suicide mission overseas. Back in Wyoming, Frankie opposes the draft for the Japanese-Americans and suffers for his opinions.

While Sammy is overseas, Hannah follows his journey through the news and keeps an eye out for Kei and Sammy’s family, as she promised him. She wants desperately to show Mr. Kimura that his son is doing their country proud, by fighting and leading troops into battle. While Frankie is locked up in a higher security cell for expression his dissention to the war, Kei learns that she is pregnant.

The remainder of the show goes between the camp in Wyoming, Tatsuo’s prison and Sammy overseas. As the war ends with the Americans bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki with Atomic bombs, Sammy returns home. It’s here that he finds out about Frankie and Kei’s relationship and their baby. Infuriated that Kei did not tell him about anything while he was away, they argue and he leaves, separating himself from his family, until we see him again at the end of the show.

As not to spoil some of the twists in Act Two, I won’t reveal what really led me to cry, but something about the whole Asian-American experience really pulled at my heartstrings. Growing up in the Midwest, where I was the only Asian kid in school until Middle School, really made me a bit defensive to other kids’ comments and how they would ask me things like “why are your eyes so small?” Then the fact that this part of American History was not taught to me in school, only signaled to me that my culture’s experiences in History were not important. I could empathize easily with the plight of the characters in Allegiance.

The show concludes with Sammy as an old man, played again by Takei, as he returns home to find out that his father has saved the LIFE Magazine with his portrait on the cover. It’s here that Sammy realizes his father was proud of him, after all. Even if they did not get the chance to ever express it in person.

At the end of the show, I left with another Broadway crush, Michael K. Lee, whose performance as Frankie really drew me in. Between Telly Leung’s performance, I wanted to side with him and fight for the Japanese-American’s right to fight in the war, but I also agreed with Frankie, how could someone want to support a country that imprisoned them? I also enjoyed seeing Katie Rose Clarke, who I had seen in Wicked a few years ago, and her performance role as Nurse Hannah, really showed how some people had to walk the fine line between treating the Japanese-Americans as prisoners and being regular Americans. She brought subtle emotions through in a way, so different that Glinda; where I mostly felt annoyed by her character in that show.

And of course, as a “Fansie” (fan of Newsies), I was excited to see Aaron J. Albano in the ensemble, after seeing him in Newsies, Here Lives Love and The King & I. Since he plays various roles in the ensemble, he did not have many featured roles, but got a chance to act along with Telly in several scenes.

Watching Christopheren Nomura and George Takei, was at some times like watching my Dad tell a story. As he immigrated to the United States when he was only 18-years-old, to Midwest, it was interesting to see how some of his own experiences mirrored what the Japanese-Americans had to go through; prejudice, racism, discrimination, even though he came to the U.S. almost 20 years after World War II.

Normally, I’m not one to “Stage Door” and wait for autographs, but I wanted to see Telly and of course, Lea Salonga! I was able to get signatures from both of them, Katie Rose Clarke and Christopheren Nomura, but I couldn’t catch Michael K. Lee over all the Filipino ladies shoving their way in front of me. The ladies went nuts when Lea came out, since she has been such an inspirational figure for them and recently appeared on the Philippines version of The Voice. I was able to speak to Telly for a bit, and mention that I had met him before at the Godspell Cast Album signing at Barnes & Noble a few years ago. (He thanked me for my support!)