ROBIN'S SHOW REVIEW: CHINGLISH

An American businessman arrives in a bustling Chinese province looking to score a lucrative contact for his family’s failing sign-making firm. He soon discovers that the complexities of such a venture far outstrip the expected differences in language, customs and manners—and call into question even the most basic assumptions of human conduct.

CHINGLISH, the new comedy by Tony Award-winning and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), officially opened on Thursday, October 27th and is playing at the Longacre Theatre, (220 West 48th Street).  It is on Broadway following its acclaimed world premiere production at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago this past summer.

The show stars Jennifer Lim, Gary Wilmes, Angela Lin, Christine Lin, Stephen Pucci, Johnny Wu and Larry Lei Zhang. Leigh Silverman, who directed Lisa Kron's Well on Broadway and won a 2011 OBIE for directing both Go Back To Where You Are and In The Wake, directed the Broadway production.

CHINGLISH is the story of an American businessman desperate to launch a new enterprise in China. There are only three things standing in his way: He can't speak the language. He can't learn the customs. And he's falling in love with the one woman he absolutely can't have.

Much Mandarin is spoken, with English translations featured, many of which are delightfully hysterical.....particularly in a sexy sequence in Act 2. The dialogue is smart, the story engaging and perceptive with intriguing twists, and the set is understated sleek with rotating walls, etc. that readily transform into lobbies, cafes, hotel rooms, offices, etc.  It's a thought-provoking take on miscommunication, deceit, power, and the desire for the American dream....even if it takes going to China to achieve it.

The design team includes: Set Designer David Korins (Lombardi, Passing Strange), Costume Designer Anita Yavich (Anna in the Tropics) and Lighting Designer Brian MacDevitt (The Book of Mormon, Fences, Goodman: Long Day’s Journey into Night), Sound Designer Darron L. West (Time Stands Still), and Jeff Sugg (33 Variations) and Shawn Duan (Impressionism) as Co-Projection Designers.

CHINGLISH is produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jay and Cindy Gutterman/Cathy Chernoff, Heni Koenigsberg/Lily Fan, Joe and Matt Deitch, Dasha Epstein, Ronald and Marc Frankel, Barry and Carole Kaye, Mary Lu Roffe, The Broadway Consortium, Ken Davenport, Filerman Bensinger, Herbert Goldsmith, Jam Theatricals, Olympus Theatricals, Playful Productions, David and Barbara Stoller, Roy Gottlieb, Mary Casey, Hunter Arnold in association with the Goodman Theatre.

Visit ChinglishBroadway.com.

Discount Offer

Visit http://www.broadwayoffers.com/go.aspx?MD=2001&MC=CGTIX825 to get tickets.

Call 212.947.8844, and mention code CGTIX825.

Bring a printout of this offer to the Longacre Theatre Box Office, 220 West 48th Street, NYC.

*Offer is subject to availability and prior sale and valid on select locations. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer and may be revoked at any time. Blackout dates may apply. Not valid on prior purchases. Limit 10 tickets per order. No refunds or exchanges. Telephone and internet orders are subject to standard service fees. All prices include a $1.50 facilities fee. Offer expires 12/23/11. See Rules and Regulations.