Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Sometimes less is more: Theatrically embellishing personal and political histories in MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT and KING OF THE YEES

• By drediman
• November 11, 2026
• No Comments

Also recently, I had the chance to take in a pair of new Off-Broadway plays — coincidently, both were originally performed in pre-pandemic Chicago — that resort to theatrical embellishment and pageantry to excavate history, both personal and political/societal. Although they are served well by polished, at times highly entertaining productions, both ultimately fall into the camp of sometimes less is more. Although I would still recommend both to a certain extent, such excessive theatrics only go so far in getting points meaningfully across. Read on for my further thoughts.

MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT
Vineyard Theatre
Through November 29

First up is Vineyard Theatre’s anticipated production of Tarell Alvin McCraney (of Moonlight fame) and renowned theater-maker Tina Lanau’s Ms. Blakk for President (RECOMMENDED), which chronicles the unlikely true story of the political aspirations of a drag queen, Joan Jett Blakk, during the early 1990s. As with Hassan Nazareth’s searing Bowl EP, the Vineyard’s typically proscenium auditorium has been totally gutted and reconfigured to realize McCraney and Landau’s unique vision of creating an atmospheric, queer-friendly nightclub-like setting for which the play to unfold in (there’s even a pre-show drag show that comes with the price of admission). Although the piece has been allegedly reworked since its Chicago premiere at the Steppenwolf Theater in 2019, it still thrives on spectacle, namely via the heavy incorporation of song-and-dance production numbers, which are performed live — complete with a great live band — and dispersed generously throughout. Although very entertaining and helpful in immersing audiences into the pop culture of the time, they sacrifice in-depth character development for flash as the show breathlessly races, by the books, through the plot machinations of both Blakk’s Chicago mayoral bid and, more significantly, their bold campaign for the 1992 U.S. Presidency. Throughout, the sensory overload of it all threatens to trump our emotional and intellectual response to the drama. The performances, however, work hard to overcome this challenge. Stepping in for an ailing Wayne Brady as Blakk is Ato Blankson-Wood, who gives the drag queen a vibrant and disarmingly sensitive inner life. It’s a well judged performance that celebrates both fabulousness and the yearning pulse that distinguishes our humanity. It’s no wonder that constituents were genuinely smitten by Blakk’s smile and glow. Also rather good is Gideon Glick, who is all but unrecognizable as Blakk’s campaign manager. It’s an impassioned performance that conveys the aching strain of having to manage the interconnectivity between having to be objective about the campaign’s political strategizing and the urgency of having to personally live with AIDS without an accessible cure in sight. Rounding out the cast are Nic Ashe, Kelvin Moon Loh, Sawyer Smith, and Adina Verson, who collectively portray a slew of disparate roles. Somehow, they manage to make the cast seem much larger than it actually is.

KING OF THE YEES
Signature Theatre Company
Through November 22

Then there’s the wall full of spaghetti that is Lauren Yee’s semi-autobiographical play King of the Yees (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED) that’s currently running Off-Broadway courtesy of Signature Theatre Company (the play was first seen at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 2017). Much like playwright Charles Mee, Yee has thrown everything but the kitchen sink in her efforts to articulate her strained relationship with her father Larry and come to terms with her own Chinese-American identity. Driving the dramatic narrative is the generational friction between Larry’s lifelong goal of establishing a traditional family legacy in this country and the playwright’s desire to throw off all such cultural/familial expectations. Using meta-theatricality, farce, and a wide array of cultural references, Yee takes a roundabout route to get to her punchline, which in the end renders her play more uncertain than it does playful. In terms of references, the most obvious are those from musical theater, namely, Chicago, A Chorus Line, Miss Saigon, and Into the Woods. Aesthetically, the play aspires for the farcical impact of George C. Wolfe’s seminal The Colored Museum — although what it accomplishes isn’t quite as pointed. Structurally, it’s also indebted to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, especially in the second act, when Lauren must venture into the realm of her ancestors to reclaim her father from disappearing into his own growing despair and disillusionment. The current Signature staging — which has been directed by Joshua Kahan Brody — lets it all play out fast and loose, and the production actually does eventually click midway through the second act, but it’s a case of too little, too late. The performances are committed to Yee’s unhinged vision, featuring earnest, well-matched turns by Kelly Marie Tran as Lauren and Tiny-winner Francis Jue as Larry. Perhaps even better is the colorful shape-shifting work of the hardworking supporting players — Maureen Sebastian, David Shih, and Jon Norman Schneider — who deal with the cumbersome play-within-a-play format valiantly. Overall, it’s clear that King of the Yees is the work of a young playwright, and it’s great to see how she’s honed her vibrant imagination since then, notably in such accomplished works as Cambodian Rock Band and, most recently, Mother Russia — both finer displays of her aptitude for keen cultural observation and dissection.