Review: AN AMERICAN SOLDIER Is a Horror Story of Brutality and Abuse

“Why did I enlist? Why did I go to war?” are but two of the questions that Private Danny Chen asks himself in the powerful docu-opera, AN AMERICAN SOLDIER, by Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang. It was directed thoughtfully and surely by Chay Yew in its New York debut Sunday afternoon at the new Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC-NYC) at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.

Carolyn Kuan led the 30+ members of the American Composers Orchestra in an impactful, nuanced performance. I understand that the premiere in St. Louis had a separate chorus, while here a half-dozen players did all the roles and served as the chorus. Bravo!

The work is based in fact: It’s the story of a Chinese American soldier who wanted to serve his country and be acknowledged as an American (which he was). Instead, he was subjected to racial harassment and physical abuse by his own men in Afghanistan, until he felt he had no way out but to commit suicide. It also speaks profoundly about his mother’s quest for justice, to prove he was driven to his death.

The opera was first heard in a one-act form at Kennedy Center back in June 2014. It emerged as a two-act work at the Opera Theatre of Saint-Louis in 2018, with the current production a version of that.

Performing on the simple set by designer Daniel Ostling with Nicholas Hussong’s projections,  Jeanette Yew’s lighting and David Bullard’s sound design, the opera uses the framework of a trial with flashbacks of key moments that resulted in Chen’s eventual death. The result is a powerful piece of music theatre, with a score by Ruo that gives ample opportunity for the singers to show off their vocal and dramatic skills.

Hwang’s libretto is one of the strongest that I’ve heard in quite a while; in fact, it often threatens to turn this into a play with music, turning to a sprechstimme style to bring out the nuances of the story. His dramatic skills prove how important the libretto is in contemporary work, especially those in the realm of docu-opera.

The women—the bright soprano of Hannah Cho as Danny’s friend Josephine and, quite notably, the earthy mezzo of Nina Yoshida Nelsen as Mother Chen—are especially well handled and performed, in their costumes by Linda Cho, with their music perhaps the most beautifully written and touching in the score.

That’s not to say that tenor Brian Vu as Danny and baritone Alex DeSocio as the revolting Sgt Marcum, who leads the mental and physical abuse on Danny, have been shortchanged--just served differently. Vu’s music reflects his anger, confusion and frustration, while DeSocio’s is as nasty and ugly as his character.

As alluded to earlier, the supporting cast, often doubling or tripling roles, was outstanding.

The new venue used for the performance is a welcome one in the city for its size and scope, even if its location seems a little daunting. (In fact, it is easy to reach from a variety of locations.)

The 2024 version of AN AMERICAN SOLDIER was co-commissioned by PAC-NYC and Boston Lyric Opera and co-produced by Boston Lyric Opera and American Composers Orchestra.

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