King of the Yees
Award-winning playwright and Signature Theater Resident Artist Lauren Yee’s 2017 semi-autobiographical King of the Yees is now in a limited Off-Broadway engagement in the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater. Yee’s play uses her signature style to blend wild comedy, fantasy, and incisive observations on Chinese culture and heritage. The metatheatrical King of the Yees examines her own father-daughter relationship and what it means to be a Yee.
Set in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Yee’s self-described “kind of true” story centers on her father, Larry Yee (the always outstanding Francis Jue), longtime leader of the fraternal Yee Fung Toy Family Association, where the titular play-within-the-play is being staged. He arrives uninvited at a rehearsal, gregariously interrupts it, and, in direct address to the audience, invites everyone to his 60th birthday dinner, scheduled there for later that night.
His ebullient personality and personal background stories cause friction with Lauren (well portrayed by Kelly Marie Tran with funny, readily legible emotions in her body language, face, and voice) but win over the house and the actors in his daughter’s two-hander. David Shih as Actor #1 and Maureen Sebastian as Actor #2 perform the roles of Larry, Lauren, and many other hilarious figures throughout the show, as does the excellent Jon Norman Schneider as Actor #3.
Larry’s big birthday is the reason Lauren has flown in to visit him in California. The 30-year-old NYC-based playwright – who doesn’t speak Chinese, is married to a Jewish lawyer, changed her name to his, might not want to have children, and has plans to move to Berlin for her husband’s job (though she hasn’t told her father) – tersely conveys that she isn’t pleased with him taking over the stage. Nor does she like his ethnically based all-male organization, which she considers obsolescent (insightfully noting, from the perspective of her younger generation, that the only reason Chinatown exists is because 150 years ago Asians weren’t welcome to live anywhere else).
When, after learning that Leland Yee (Shih) – the real-life unrelated political candidate Larry supports and whose campaign posters he’s been hanging all over the city – has been charged with corruption, Larry goes missing from the club and doesn’t show up at his own party. It’s especially alarming because another actual figure, gangster Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow (also Shih), who controls Chinatown, is on the loose.
A concerned Lauren attempts to find her father. Her second-act quest takes her on a magical, surreal journey through embodiments and stereotypes of Chinese-American identity, the history and myths of her own lineage, and intergenerational connections.
Directed by Joshua Kahan Brody, the uproarious, imaginative, and ultimately heartwarming show and highly entertaining cast move quickly, on and off the stage and around the aisles and seats, with continuous breaks through the fourth wall and multiple interactions with, and participation of, members of “the audience.” Among the sidesplitting scenes are Actor #2, who is Korean and adopted, being coached by Actor #1 on how to pronounce “Chinese” with an appropriate accent (Ka-Ling Cheung serves as dialect coach/Cantonese language consultant), and their discussion of her backstory, as it’s been told to her (which, we quickly realize, is the plot of Miss Saigon).
There are also Lauren’s visionary visits with her father’s bearded chiropractor, acupuncturist, herbalist; a Lum family of ancestral immigrants, who give her three tasks to complete before sunset to find Larry; and the appearance of the traditional erhu player, a Lion Dance (performed with gusto to pop hits and show tunes from her own era), the Model Ancestor (a painting on the back wall that comes to life), and the Sichuan Face Changer.
Steve Cuiffo provides the astonishing illusions; spectacular costumes come from Michelle J. Li, and Tommy Kurzman does wigs, hair, and make-up design. The set by Krit Robinson features Chinese banners and a central double door in red and gold that only Yees can open and which Lauren fails to get through in her many initial attempts, until she at last comes to embrace her heritage and to understand her father’s experience. Lighting by Jiyoun Chang and sound by Fan Zhang accentuate her enlightening voyage, interpreted through the magic of theater.
A stellar conclusion to Lauren Yee’s multi-year residency at Pershing Square Signature Center, King of the Yees is a prime example of her talent, imagination, and insight, as well as her growth in understanding her father, their heritage, and community, with a terrific cast that delivers both the riotous humor and the serious message.
King of the Yees
At Pershing Square Signature Center, Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater
480 West 42nd St.
Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes, one intermission
Through November 22, 2026
