Keywords: KingOfTheYees KingOfYees KingOfYeesPlay KingOfYeesSF SFKingOfYees SFYees LarryYee LaurenYee LelandYee ShrimpBoy RaymondWong KingOfWongs WongFamily YeeFamily SFPlayhouse SanFranciscoPlayhouse @sfplayhouse
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Spoilers ahead
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A "coming-of -age" play about an ABC or American Born Chinese lady named Lauren...coming to terms about the importance of her heritage and her family as she realizes the frailty of life as her father turns 60.
In the midst of all these are the Chinatown gangs that resulted with the disappearance of Lauren's father Larry Yee.
Lauren had to find her father and there ensues the adventure thru the streets of SF to solve a riddle and fulfill the challenge/prophecy of the oracle to prove herself worthy to her ancestors and her father before she leaves SFChinatown for good to pursue her theatre career in NYC and eventually to Berlin with Mr. Cylinder.
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The play started slow but the momentum grows as it shows the different layers of Yee's storytelling technique that employs uses of theatre magic with face changers (that really looks creepy and mysterious), Dancing Dragon, 2 handed play technique and using multiple actors playing different characters at the same time
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and the use of contemporary music and a tributes to Broadway Musicals like MissSaigon, ACL, and WSS.
Everybody is very strong with their artistic delivery but the main star of the night is bay native Francis Jue who recently starred at Curran's Softpower.
My Favorite character is Actor 1 who did a magnificent, fierce, and fabulous job as Model Ancestor. Think of the scene from Mulan when all the an estors show up but with a rpdr twist.
The Dancing Dragon is a treat and a hoot and kudos to the main tearjerker and dramatic climax of the play when Father And Daughter have a heart to heart talk in the end.
There is also a live musical segment of the play and the actress did a great job belting it out.
Bravo
The "King of Yees" is a very timely masterpiece to show that family should come first as the younger ABC's or any young person of any descent leaves their abode to find their place in this world.
King of Yees closes soon and another of Lauren's play is gonna be at the ACT.
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