Review Roundup: POOR YELLA REDNECKS at Manhattan Theatre Club

Manhattan Theatre Club is presenting the New York premiere of Poor Yella Rednecks, written by Qui Nguyen (Vietgone, Raya and The Last Dragon) and directed by May Adrales (Vietgone, Golden Shield), read reviews for the production!
 
The cast of Poor Yella Rednecks features Jon Hoche (Vietgone, Life of Pi), Ben Levin (Vietgone, “Kung Fu”), Samantha Quan (Vietgone), Jon Norman Schneider (The Coast Starlight), Maureen Sebastian (The Best We Could: A Family Tragedy), and Paco Tolson (Vietgone). 
 
The creative team for Poor Yella Rednecks includes Tim Mackabee (Scenic Design), Valérie Thérèse Bart (Costume Design), Lap Chi Chu (Lighting Design), Shane Rettig (Original Music & Sound Design), Jared Mezzocchi (Projection Design), David Valentine (Puppet Design), Kenny Seymour (Arrangements), William Carlos Angulo (Choreography), Cynthia Meng (Music Direction), Kelly Gillespie (Casting), and Alyssa K. Howard (Production Stage Manager). 
 
Qui Nguyen, the wildly inventive playwright (and screenwriter for Marvel and Disney) known for his use of pop culture, pop music and puppetry, reunites with his frequent director, May Adrales, for this funny, sexy and brash new play. A young Vietnamese family attempts to put down roots in Arkansas, a place as different from home as it gets. A mom and dad balance big hopes and low-wage jobs, as old flings threaten to pull them apart. It all makes for a bumpy road to the American dream. From the world of Nguyen’s Vietgone, with its comic book and action movie influences, comes a play that melds a deeply personal story with the playwright’s trademark, killer humor. The New York Times hails the writer’s work as “culturally savvy comedy,” and this production shows you why.
 
Poor Yella Rednecks was co-commissioned by South Coast Repertory and Manhattan Theatre Club and developed by South Coast Repertory as a part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival. This play is a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award. Support for MTC’s production of Poor Yella Rednecks is provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation and Laurents/Hatcher Foundation. Developed in part in Center Theatre Group’s Writer’s Workshop.

Naveen Kumar, The New York Times: Nguyen’s answer is an expletive-filled fusion of hip-hop and martial arts with the soapy twists and turns of addictive serial television. Under the wry and nimble direction of May Adrales, “Poor Yella Rednecks” is a crowd-tickling comedy that squashes preconceptions in order to place hearts in a vise grip.

Sara Holdren, Vulture: Whatever its shortcomings, Poor Yella Rednecks effervesces goodwill. Its combination of unfeigned earnestness and irreverent, early-Marvel-era wit can’t help but bring to mind that moment—that other world—when Obama was still president and Hamilton was taking its shot on Broadway.

Raven Snook, Time Out New York: Qui Nguyen’s latest play reheats his stylistic melting pot to tell the story of his Vietnamese parents' post-war immigration to the United States. A sequel to his irreverent and well-received Vietgone, which also ran at Manhattan Theatre Club—with much of the same cast and creative team—Poor Yella Rednecks is a similarly merry mashup of hip-hop, pop culture, cursing and kung fu, buoyed by winning performances and plenty of heart.

Roma Torre, New York Stage Review: The entire company is outstanding. Maureen Sebastian and Ben Levin as Tong and Quang have great chemistry. They manage the romance, the comedy, and the rap with tremendous versatility which is no mean feat in this challenging production. On the night I attended, the audience was so invested in those two, you could hear people reacting audibly as tensions heated up.

Robert Hofler, The Wrap:  There’s no dramatic reason that there are so many fight scenes in “Rednecks” or that they go on so long – except they are brilliantly choreographed by William Carlos Angulo. In the end, they achieve a comic effect that is much more devastating than the long dialogue-filled book scenes (“Rednecks” really is a musical) that dominate the second act of this two-hour 20-minute show. Kitchen-sink issues quickly devolve into soap-opera suds, and Nguyen finds himself more preacher than playwright.

Amelia Merrill, New York Theatre Guide: While Sebastian and Levin give their hearts to their characters, each song chips away at this work. A few years ago, these Hamilton-inspired ditties may have landed better, but in 2023, quoting “Immigrants: We get the job done!” only speaks to the disconnect between the show’s textual and musical realities. Not even kung fu-fighting puppets can make up for that.

Marc Miller, Talkin' Broadway: Stock situations populate the stage–deceit, adultery, poverty–but they're rendered sincerely and touchingly. And Nguyen's overriding goal, as he relates in a finale rap"I wrote this so my kids could witness/ A tale where the yella kids get to be the protagonists"is ably met, however wince-worthy that and every other false rhyme is. When it's speaking, Poor Yella Rednecks is mostly a well-told tale. Now if Nguyen would just lose the boom box.