In 1993, David Henry Hwang's comedy Face Value came to Broadway. It then abruptly left after just five performances, with critics panning it as "M. Turkey" (a reference to Hwang's previous hit M. Butterfly). In the years since, Hwang has referred to the play as a "flop." So it wasn't lost on Hwang October 1, at the opening of his play Yellow Face at the Todd Haimes Theatre, how far he'd come—especially when critics met Yellow Face with almost unanimous raves.
"In some ways, this is the end of a journey that began in 1993 when the predecessor to this play, Face Value, closed in previews on Broadway," the Tony Award-winning playwright told Playbill on the red carpet of Yellow Face. "So now, many decades later, to be able to open Yellow Face on Broadway just feels like the most amazing journey a show could have."