The Immigrant Song

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to see “Heading East” put on its not-in-Broadway-but-hoping-to-get-there production at the Asian Society. What I saw was a highly stripped down version; a cast of less than a dozen, a mere quartet rather than an orchestra, and collection of props that included nothing more than a cowboy hat and a stack of wooden boxes. When the name of the play is prefaced with “A Charity Event for the Asian Society” most would expect a stuffy professorial production with actors standing around discussing the Asian-American experience in halting voices. Thankfully, “Heading East” is rousing musical with humorous energetic songs that, if I were more comfortable in with my heterosexuality, I would describe as toe-tapping.

B.D. Wong, known to most as that Chinese guy from “Law and Order” though others may recall his work as that Chinese guy in “Jurassic Park”, stars as a turn of the century immigrant from rural China who follows the rumors of riches across the pacific to San Francisco. Like everyone else, however, he arrives to discover that the city is not the golden paradise it was said to be (although I believe now The Golden Paradise is the name of a club on Castro street) so like all good Americans he immediately re-writes his dreams and convinces himself that what he really wants is to open a shop in Chinatown. The musical spans ten decades and three generations. By the end Wong’s character is in his late nineties, finally an official citizen, and jaded with the American experience. But even after nearly a century of poverty, racism, war, and regret he’s still tap dancing like an amphetamine-fueled Gene Kelly. That, I believe, is going to be the secret to show’s success. While it easily could have been a ponderous guilt trip the play and its entire cast were enthusiastic and joyous.

History plays a big part in “Heading East” as well. We get to see the Chinese community’s reaction and involvement in the gold rush, the railroads, the great earthquake which destroyed the hall of records (this also happens to be the base for the best song in the show), World War Two, The Korean War, Vietnam, and others. We also get some interesting insight about the tensions these events created between the various Asian communities that I, as one of the white-skinned blue-eyed devils, was not even aware of.

It’s ironic that the thing that makes this musical unique, its look into history and American cultural microcosms, will probably be its most difficult selling point for Broadway. Going on merit alone the charm of “Heading East” is enough to give it a shot at the big stage but are people going to see a play with an all Chinese cast that puts a mirror up against the idea of American success? Perhaps a handful of enlightened New Yorkers will but this is the kind of material that scares tourists. They flew all the way in from Topeka and they want to see a blond girl in a big dress singing about love and dancing around in glitter. This play deserves a chance and it’s good enough to get there. I just hope that in the process of getting there it doesn’t get dumbed down in order to appeal to ma and pa mid-west whose idea of culture is ordering the Mandarin Chicken Salad at McDonalds.


© 2010 Dan Howard.
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