Review: KIM'S CONVENIENCE at Mānoa Valley Theatre

"What is the story of Mr. Kim?"

This is the question at the heart of Kim’s Convenience. It is a refrain that crops up throughout the show and acts as a springboard for flashbacks and insights into the man at the center of the action: a patriarch, businessman, father, husband, and proud Korean immigrant. It is also a question with multiple answers and multiple perspectives, as we see the heartwarming and humorous landscape of a first-gen Korean immigrant family unfold in a Toronto convenience store whose very existence has become decidedly inconvenient for a local business developer.

Brandon Hagio as the titular Mr. Kim delivers a performance that is charming in its gruffness, without falling too far into two-dimensional stereotypes. The central conflict of Mr. Kim butting heads with his equally headstrong Canadian-born daughter (Miki Yamamoto), his son meant to carry on the family business (David Tang), and his wife (Sun Min Chun-Dayondon) attempting to hold the family together is an immigrant tale as old as time, though one that never seems to lose its relevance or necessity. The play premiered in 2011, so some of the dialogue and secondary characters feel dated and are a challenging watch (Jonathan Beck as a shifty Jamaican customer in particular comes to mind), but the play doesn’t pull any punches with its still-relevant portrayal of racial tensions, cultural erasure, and all the triumphs and heartbreaks of trying to give your children a better life in a land far removed from everything you knew.

Though Reiko Ho’s direction tends to paint in broad comedy strokes (admittedly appropriate for a show that spawned its own sitcom in 2016), there are multiple quiet moments of tenderness and even K-drama-style romantic melodrama that keep the heart of the show beating. These moments are often heralded by rosy-hued light changes (design by Janine Myers) that help bring the sometimes absurd action into the realistic world of the play—the “courtship” scene between Janet and Alex (Jonathan Beck) was rendered particularly effective and laughably ridiculous with Mr. Kim imposing himself as both chaperone and matchmaker with this effect.