In an era of uncertainty and anxiety, New York theatre is shunning its obsession with private lives to throw a powerful spotlight on politics.
It used to be argued that British drama is driven by a fascination with public affairs and its American counterpart by a preoccupation with private lives. On the evidence of a week’s intensive theatregoing in New York, I would suggest that hoary generalisation has been blown to smithereens. At a time of potential impeachment, political polarisation and profound uncertainty, American theatre seems to be heavily engaged with the wider world.
Soft Power at the Public Theater addresses the nation’s ills with the breezy bounce you expect in a musical. It has a strong pedigree in that the play and lyrics are by David Henry Hwang (M Butterfly) and the score by Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change). The framework is complicated and derives from a street stabbing in which Hwang was the victim. But what we see is a fantasy musical that he imagines in his fevered post-op dreams and that offers a parodic inversion of The King and I. Instead of a British governess lecturing a Siamese monarch we see a Chinese film producer, Xue Xing, arriving in America and offering a lesson in civics and good governance to Hillary Clinton.