After multiple productions around the country, Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band opened Off-Broadway February 24 at the Pershing Square SIgnature Center. The new play with music, directed by Chay Yew, features songs by the band Dengue Fever and finds a Khmer Rouge survivor (Joe Ngo) returning to Cambodia for the first time in 30 years, as his daughter (Courtney Reed) prepares to prosecute one of Cambodia's most infamous war criminals.
Read what critics had to say about the Off-Broadway premiere below.
The Hollywood Reporter (David Rooney)
New York Stage Review (Melissa Rose Bernardo) (Michael Sommers)
New York Magazine / Vulture (Helen Shaw)
The New York Times (Ben Brantley)
Rounding out the cast are Francis Jue as Duch, Abraham Kim as Rom, Jane Lui as Pou, and Moses Villarama as Ted/Leng.
The creative team for the Signature production includes scenic designer Takeshi Kata, costume designer Linda Cho, lighting designer David Weiner, sound designer Mikhail Fiksel, projection designer Luke Norby, and music supervisor Matt MacNelly. Fight direction is by Unkle Dave’s Fight-House with casting by Caparelliotis Casting. Charles M. Turner III is the show's production stage manager.
Cambodian Rock Band has had productions at La Jolla, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Victory Gardens in Chicago, and South Coast Rep. The play began previews Off-Broadway February 4 and continues its extended run through March 14.
The Signature production launches Steinberg Award–winning playwright Yee’s Residency 5 at the Off-Broadway theatre.
Francis Jue and Courtney Reed in Cambodian Rock Band
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