BD Wong and John Lithgow
During an video interview with Asian press members yesterday to promote his latest show, ‘3rd Rock from the Sun’ actor John Lithgow was asked if there was a part he played that deeply affected him on a personal level.
The Harvard alum cited the groundbreaking 1988 play M. Butterfly by Asian-American playwright David Henry Hwang that’s loosely based on a true story and inspired by the Italian opera Madama Butterfly.
John Lithgow (Gallimard) and BD Wong (Song Liling) in M. Butterfly on Broadway
In the play, Lithgow plays a French diplomat who falls in love with the star of the Peking Opera (played by actor BD Wong) whom he discovers is a spy for the Chinese government and a man.
“It was the first major, straight play big hit on Broadway, written by an Asian-American about very essential issues between the East and the West — a wonderful bold play and won the Tony Award that year,” Lithgow said.
“It’s become a major part of the American cannon ever since and the role was terrific.”
He added that the character who cross dressed was able to deceive a Western diplomat.
“An extraordinary preposterous story but David Henry Hwang took that and turned it into an extraordinary metaphor for the differences between the East and the West, in particular about Western men and Eastern women — I found that a real life-changing experience.”