David Henry Hwang's drama, Golden Child, will come to Broadway's Longacre Theatre, with previews beginning March 23 (moved up a day from the previously announced March 24) for an April 2 opening. Tickets are not on sale via TeleCharge, (212) 239-6200, and at the box office.
As he did when the show played, Nov. 1996, at Off-Broadway's Joseph Papp Public Theatre, James Lapine will direct. (It's been a busy year for him; his revival of The Diary Of Anne Frank recently opened to raves at the Music Box.)
Hwang's drama of East-West culture clashes had its West Coast premiere Jan. 3 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, CA. The show began rehearsals in early December and then had a try-out in Singapore (Jan. 13-25), and now is being followed by a pre-Broadway run at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre (Feb. 18-March 15).
According to production spokesperson Rick Miramontez (of the Richard Kornberg office) (Feb. 9), "The sold-out Singapore run was the biggest hit in the history of Singapore Rep," both audience-wise and money-wise. Miramontez also confirmed the NY Times report that the primary revision Hwang made to the play in Singapore was having the lead character now played by an older man (Kim), "which colors the whole production."
Hwang has been revising the play, about a young Chinese-American who is inspired to remember the funny, poignant and touching tales his grandmother told him about growing up with her father. She was labeled a "golden child" who was touched by fortune, until she got caught in the middle of a chaotic collision between Eastern and Western ways, when her father brought a British Christian missionary home to her and his wives. Starring in the Broadway mounting will be Tsai Chin, who won a Village Voice Obie for playing Eng Siu-Yong in Golden Child Off-Broadway. Randall Duk Kim, recently in the King And I revival, plays Eng Tieng Bin. Also in the cast are Ming-Na Wen, John Horton, Kim Miyori (TV's "St. Elsewhere") and Julyana Soelistyo.
As they did in Costa Mesa, Tony Straiges will design the sets, Martin Pakledinaz the costumes, David J. Lander the lighting. Sound design will be by Dan Moses Schreier.
The partnership between the Public Theatre and South Coast Rep occurred because Hwang, whose M. Butterfly won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1988 , has an alliance with both theatres, and really wanted Lapine to direct. The only way Lapine could schedule directing to meet SCR's schedule was if he was in New York.
David Emmes, SCR producing Artistic Director, said "We feel honored to be collaborating with [the Public] on this important theatre milestone. "
Tickets for Golden Child, produced by Benjamin Mordecai, Dori Bernstein, John Kao and the Kennedy Center, are not yet on sale. The last show at the Longacre (220 West 48th St.) was Horton Foote's The Young Man From Atlanta.
