The Great Leap
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Cititour.com Review
Football is much better known than basketball for its so-called trick plays, from the “Statue of Liberty” to “the Flea Flicker,” so perhaps we need to invent a new term to describe what Lauren Yee has accomplished in her excellent, decidedly deceptive play “The Great Leap,” now receiving its New York premiere in a superbly directed production by Taibi Magar at Atlantic Stage 2.
A voice that now demands our future attention, Yee – who reportedly drew her inspiration from some real-life events experienced by her father -- has created a two-act work that manages to enlighten us about history without being pedantic and move us as people without being overly sentimental. If basketball (the ostensible subject of the play) had a four-point shot, this play might be its theatrical equivalent.
Much of the action occurs in San Francisco in 1989, where Manford, (the dynamic Tony Aidan Yo), a height-challenged, Chinese-American high school student, will go to just about any length to convince local college coach Saul (the hilarious Ned Eisenberg) to add him to the team he is about to take to Beijing for a supposedly friendly rematch of a 1971 game in which the U.S. trounced China.
However, for much of the first act, the middle-aged Saul -- whose first language is profanity and who, for all his bluster, is painfully aware that his coaching days are likely at an end -- does his best to resist Manford’s entreaties before giving in. During their primarily comic interactions, we also learn a bit more about both Manford, whose mother has just died and relies on slightly older family friend Connie (an excellent Ali Ahn) for guidance, and Saul, a divorcee with a strained relationship with his unseen daughter. In doing so, Yee wisely gives each of their characters some necessary added dimension.
During the first act, we are also frequently transported back to Beijing in 1971, where an even more exuberant (and somewhat obnoxious) Saul is coaching a group of Chinese players with the help of his translator, Wen Chang (Tony winner B.D. Wong), who has managed to escape the harshest punishments of the so-called Cultural Revolution thanks to his facility with English.
But not even that rare skill can prevent Wen Chang from learning (and absorbing) the most important lesson of all: fidelity to the Communist Party at the expense of any individuality. It’s one that he will adhere to faithfully for the next 18 years, during which he is the Chinese team’s coach (having been hand-picked for that job by Saul), and one that will put him in at least one major moral quandary when Manford and the American team return for a “friendship match” in 1989.
That year, as most audiences will realize (sooner or later), is strikingly significant – since it is when the deadly protests by young Chinese people in Tiananmen Square occurred, and there can be little doubt that historic day will figure into the work’s denouement. As for the play’s other major “twist,” you might see it coming long before Yee shows her hand, but it doesn’t fully lessen its impact. (Conversely, Lee does leave one rather important question unanswered, which may bother some viewers.)
Indeed, much of the credit for the effectiveness of this production rests squarely on the shoulders of Wong, who hands in an extremely impressive performance. Rarely raising (or even modulating) his voice for much of the play, Wong nonetheless conveys the many, often conflicting emotions pulsing through Wen Chang’s heart and mind as he grapples with difficult decision after difficult decision. He is a man guided by equal parts fear, regret, and practicality, and Wong’s stunningly understated work allows the audience to fully sympathize with his plight without judging him.
Like so many other first-rate plays these days, “The Great Leap” may not get the chance to extend its reach beyond this very limited Off-Broadway run. So, if you have the chance to see it, you might as well jump!
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
https://atlantictheater.org/playevents/the-great-leap
Cast
Ali Ahn, Ned Eisenberg, Tony Aidan Vo, B.D. Wong
Open/Close Dates
Opening 5/23/2018
Closing 6/24/2018
Box Office
866-811-4111
Theatre Info
Atlantic Theater Co. Stage 2
330 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Map
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