Review Roundup: THE GREAT LEAP at Pasadena Playhouse - Read the Reviews!
Pasadena Playhouse presents a co-production with East West Players, the Los Angeles premiere of Lauren Yee's The Great Leap, directed by Tony Award winner BD Wong. From the author of Cambodian Rock Band and King of the Yees, comes the story of an American basketball team in Beijing where the coaches find themselves in a conflict that runs deeper than the strain between the countries, and where a young player's actions become the accidental focus of attention. The Great Leap stars Justin Chien as "Manford;" Christine Lin as "Connie;" Grant Chang as "Wen Chang;" and James Eckhouse as "Saul." The production will play from Tuesday, November 6 through Sunday December 1.
Let's see what the critics are saying...
Margaret Gray, LA Times: At other points, director BD Wong, with the help of Leon Rothenberg's sound design and Hana S. Kim's beautiful projections, incorporates basketball seamlessly into the action. More important, Wong, who played Wen Chang in two previous productions of this play, expertly steers the characters' emotional journeys: The four performances are among the most moving I've encountered. The commanding but nuanced stage work of Eckhouse, whom I had known only as the affable dad from "Beverly Hills, 90210," came as a wonderful surprise. And Chang broke my heart.
Erin Conley, On Stage and Screen: It is possible that this ambitious story Yee is trying to tell, one that spans generations and continents and decades, is simply too complicated for such a small cast. Her writing shines brightest in simple two-hander scenes, such as the first meeting between Saul and Wen Chang, during which Wen Chang hilariously attempts to translate Saul's copious foul-mouthed expressions. In the final scene, she makes a bold, for lack of a better word, leap in trying to historically contextualize the story we have just watched unfold, and it is such a big swing that it detracts from the more intimate aspects of the piece that work better. Ultimately, the script and the production seem at odds, with neither able to properly service the other, resulting in a well-intentioned attempt that cannot quite score.
Steven Stanley, Stage Scene LA: I'd already fallen madly in love with Lauren Yee's The Great Leap when the lights came up for intermission. Still, it's what happens when its three male protagonists find their fates irrevocably intertwined in Beijing that makes this Pasadena Playhouse/East West Players collaboration one of the year's most memorable.
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