The Joy Luck Club, the story of four older Chinese-American women and their complex relationships with their American-born daughters, is in its last three weeks of performance at the Sierra Madre Playhouse. Adapted to the stage by Susan Kim, derived from the book by Amy Tan, this play moves from China in the early 20th century and San Francisco from the 1950s to the 1980s, as the eight women struggle across a deep chasm of culture, generation, and expectations.
The cast includes (in alphabetical order) Christopher Chen, Lee Chen, Victor Chi, Debbie Fan, April Lam, Katharine Chen Lerner, Christine Liao, Sharline Liu, Peggy Lu, Nancy Ma, Robert O’Hare, Grace Shen and Gloria Tsai. Tim Dang directs.
If you’ve read the book, you’ll love to see the story unfold before your eyes. If you haven’t, it’ll send you home wanting to read it. The experiences of mother-daughter teams made up of immigrant mothers and English-only speaking daughters are of course not exclusive to Chinese-American women. It’s a story that easily translates for similar mother-daughter teams of any other ethnicity.
At the Playhouse, the performance is enhanced by original music by Nathan Wang, projection designs by Yee Eun Nam, and by colorful and moving dance scenes that close each of its two acts.
Tickets are $45 general / $40 seniors 65+ / $25 youth up to 21. They are available by calling (626) 355-4318 or visiting sierramadreplayhouse.org. There are only three weeks left in the run; about 160 tickets; so move swiftly.
Sierra Madre Playhouse is located at 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024. There is parking on the street and in free lots behind the Playhouse.
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