Check out photos from the Soft Power Musical at Signature

Production photos

Check out photos of Gentle power Musical at Signature

Ethan Heard directs the musical fantasy of Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang at the Virginia venue.

Signature Theatres production of the DC premiere of Gentle power, the musical fantasy of Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori (Kimberly Akimbo, fun at home) and David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Yellow Face), currently runs until September 15th.

The newly reworked production, directed by Signature Associate Artistic Director Ethan Heard, features Steven Eng as DHH, Daniel May (Flower Drum Song) as Xue Xing and Grace Yoo (Hadestown) as Hillary Clinton with Eymard Cabling (Miss Saigon national tour) as Randy Ray and others, Andrew Cristi (A Christmas story) as Chief Justice and others, Jonny Lee Jr. as Bobby Bob and others, Quynh-My Luu as Waiter and others, Christopher Mueller as Vice President and others, Ashley D. Nguyen as Jīng and others, Chani Wereley as Betsy Ross and others, Nicholas Yenson as Holden Caulfield and others, and Sumié Yotsukura as Flight Attendant and others. Olivia Clavel-Davis, Brian Dauglash, Emily Song Tyler and Joey Urgino are swings.

Check out newly released photos from the production, which began performances August 6, in the gallery below. Click here to watch video highlights.

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Photos: The Soft Power of the Signature Theatre

With music by Tesori and book and lyrics by Hwang, the musical is set after the 2016 election, when a Chinese-American playwright, attacked by an unknown assailant, hallucinates a Golden Age musical comedy in which a Chinese theater producer and Hillary Clinton fall in love. The political satire asks: Does American democracy still work? And is it worth believing in?

The signature production also features choreography by Billy Bustamante, music direction by Chris Fenwick, musical direction by Angie Benson, set design by Chika Shimizu, costumes by Helen Q. Huang, lighting design by Oliver Wason, sound design by Eric Norris, and wig design by Anne Nesmith.

Danny Troob is the orchestrator, Russ Anixter is the copyist, Alexander Greenberg is the music assistant and keyboard programmer, Ka-Ling Cheung is the dialect coach and Casey Kaleba is the fight choreographer. Casting is by Jorge Acevedo, New York casting is by Geoff Josselson.

“The King and I is a musical I have always loved,” Hwang said in a recent statement. “But when I saw the recent Broadway revival in 2015, I was disturbed by the premise: a white woman helps the King of Siam civilize his country and accept it into the community of nations. But because this musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein is so beautifully written, I still had tears in my eyes at the end. I wanted to try to simulate this complexity by creating a ‘reverse The King and I where a Chinese man comes to save America. Originally I thought this “yellow savior” would help presidentHillary Clinton solves the problem of gun violence. We had a reading of this version in 2016 – on election day. The next morning I called director Leigh Silverman and said, “I think this is going to be bad for the country… but it might be good for our musical.” I also wrote about another true incident: A few years earlier, I had been stabbed in the neck by an unknown assailant. So Gentle power is a show shaped by real events. I am grateful to Signature Theatre for giving Jeanine Tesori and me the opportunity to continue working on our musical, now shaped by the realities we face in 2024.”

“I think there are many of us right now – on both sides of the aisle – struggling to figure out who we are as the United States,” Tesori added.Gentle power was influenced by events in our country and an attack on David himself. Many of us felt attacked and ill-prepared for the 2016 election. We thought we were safe and then in an act of violence – it felt violent – ​​everything collapsed. And David’s questioning of a beautiful, well-intentioned work like The King and I was incredibly interesting to me because it got me thinking about the method of performing a musical: looking beyond the way it reaches our ears to how it affects our hearts and minds. Musicals have a great gentle power. They can change our beliefs.”

Kerry Epstein is the production stage manager and Joey Blakely and Taryn Friend are the assistant stage managers.

Tickets start at $40 at SigTheatre.org.