April 13, 2012
Theatreworld Internet Magazine
It seems hard to believe The Silk Road Rising could top their epic production, The DNA Trail: A Geneaology of Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity and Utter Confusion, where playwrights David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), Phillip Kan Gotanda, Velina Hasu Houston, Lina Patel, Elizabeth Wong and Silk Road’s Founding Artistic Director, Jamil Khoury were asked to take a DNA test and then write a play utilizing their findings. It resulted in a feast of 15-minute, witty, thought-provoking and inspired one-acts mingling art with science, kicking Chicago theatre up a notch. Fear not, that was just the beginning. There is still plenty to see on the Silk Road.
For starters, get tickets as fast as possible for Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret. After the successful 2009 production, Broadway Sings the Silk Road, with veteran actors singing favorite show tunes and telling heartwarming stories about their struggles to become successful actors and what their work means to their families, Jamil Khoury has devised another clever and completely different production. The only thing these two shows have in common is the cabaret format. This time he utilizes the talents of eight young performers bound for great things. The cast includes four beautiful and talented women: Jaii Beckley, Christine Bunuan, Dipika Cherala and Amira Sabbagh and four high energy guys, Danny Bernardo, Joel Kim Booster, Joyce Lin and Evan Tyrone Martin. Through over 40 songs and literary readings largely describing experiences by occidentals in the exotic Middle East and Asia, the ensemble interprets the Middle Eastern and Asian point of view, offering words of wisdom and some daily angst.
“I dare anyone to stay dry-eyed listening to their solos joining together in chorale song.”
The sketches are often profound, sometimes wickedly funny, and I dare anyone to stay dry-eyed listening to their solos joining together in chorale song. It’s a mindblower!
Khoury says “Re-Spiced is a journey down musical memory lane.” He says “While navigating a labryrinth of Asian and Middle Eastern images in American and British verse, we happened upon a lyrical and literary obstacle, one that we call artistic intent. If self-representation is at the core of Silk Road Rising’s mission, then Re-Spiced represents a game changer. We have flipped our mission on its head.”
The sounds and readings are as diverse as the Silk Road ensemble. Popular songs like “Travelin’ Man”, “Walk Like An Egyptian” “Turning Japanese” are combined with excerpts from great and controversial literature like Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and W. Somerset Maugham The Painted Veil. Of course there’s no shortage of show tunes from Miss Saigon, Chess, Milk and Honey, Kismet, South Pacific. In addition, they manage to poke fun at everyone imaginable, either Asian, Middle Eastern or just people that get in their faces.
Khoury thanks the marvelous cast and crew for the success of Re-Spiced. He says “I was aided and abetted by dramaturg extraordinaire Neal Ryan Shaw, I was bestowed with music and literature samples that gaze east while facing west. Occidentals imaging Orientals. Call it white musicians’ burden!” He says “Content begets shape and form, and therein lays the talents of director Steve Scott, musical director Ryan Bewster and choreographer Brenda Didier, plus our stellar design and production of artists who transformed my eclectic choices into electrifying stories.”
Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret devised by the innovative and bold Jamil Khoury is fun, uplifting and ripe with the hope, promise and energy delivered by a boundless youthful cast. Re-Spiced is a great show for the whole family.