Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"..."Chinglish," surely Hwang's best work since "M. Butterfly," gets most of its many laughs from the mis-translations that invariably accompany any attempts made by Americans and Chinese to speak with each other. These sequences, based on Hwang's own experiences, are exceedingly funny: we watch "my hands are tied" become "he is in bondage" or "travel home safely" get mangled as an instruction to "leave in haste." The Cleveland businessman (played by James Waterston with a deft mix of the bland and the earnest) is actually in the business of making signs for public buildings, which adds another level of absurdity to the amusement."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Hwang, whose best-known play is the award-winning “M. Butterfly,” does have a sharp eye for presenting Chinese culture in all its complexity. With “Chinglish,” he steps directly into his ancestral homeland and uncovers a bit of the soul of modern China."
Examiner - Highly Recommended
"...It’s been over a decade since Hwang premiered a straight play. Chinglish will make you applaud his return. Pair it with Yellow Face and you’ve got one of the most satisfying blocks of theater you’re apt to encounter this summer. Heck, of this year."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Playgoers anticipating the brain-aerobics of Hwang's currently-running Yellow Face will find Chinglish a far easier assignment. David Korins' revolving-door scenic design relocates us from boardroom to bedroom and points between with dazzling alacrity, and the agile and mostly bilingual cast assembled by director Leigh Silverman keeps the repartee animated and rapier-swift. Special commendations are due Jennifer Lim in the role of the Assistant Minister whose broken English is punctuated with the hesitations reflecting the multiple dimensions mandated by second-language diction, as well as Stephen Pucci, whose delivery encompasses not only fluent oratory in English and Chinese, but a heavy Australian accent imposed upon both."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...Silverman's direction earns all of Hwang's laughs through honest and believable characterizations. Waterston leads the cast as the naïve and overeager but likable Midwestern businessman, while Lim skillfully and gradually reveals the layers of Madame Xu beneath her party bureaucrat persona. Larry Zhang is charming as the sweet but ineffectual Minister Cai, while Stephen Pucci brings a Crocodile Dundee sensibility to his Australian expat Peter. Christine Lin, Angela Lin and Johnny Wu handle a variety of supporting roles that contribute to the evening's humor quite nicely as well."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Hwang, director Silverman and a fine cast provide a terrific primer on the nuances that get lost in translations. Lim, in particular, gives a convincing bilingual master class in what Hwang presents as the Chinese ability to compartmentalize."
Chicago Theatre Addict - Highly Recommended
"...The acting by this mostly bilingual cast under Leigh Silverman’s expert direction is pitch-perfect — particularly the chemistry between Waterston and Lim. Through clever use of supertitles, Hwang allows us entry into the inner workings of the native speakers. For example, during a strained, translator-free business meeting, Lim fires out intimate things about herself to Daniel in her native tongue, which goes right over his monolingual head. Daniel gets a sense she’s saying something important, but it’s all a puzzle to piece together."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...This fast-paced comedy revolves (literally on David Korins fine set) using easy to read Super-titles to express the meanings of the spokes Mandarin. Credit Candace Chong translations back and forth from English to Mandarin to add spice to the production. The skilled actors speak Mandarin/English and they land their comedy with spot-on timing. The work gets us laughing as it vividly deals with the peculiarities of each culture. With Chinglish, we learn a little about the challenges of doing business in China and we get a few hardy laughs along the way. Hwang has a clever hit with Chinglish. Translators provided!"
Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...The problem is the play’s pull-out-the-plug ending. Its abrupt and even desperate resolution suggests that Hwang doesn’t know how to sort out his tangle of foreign mis-relations. He uses the opening and closing scenes (depictions of Daniel’s Powerpoint presentation on the difficulties of conducting business abroad) as a cop out as much as a framing device. We need a bit more closure than a giant theatrical shrug indicating “Well, you never know, do you, folks!”"
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Highly Recommended
"...This show is funny enough to hold its own as just a staged reading. The script and acting is Great Wall of China solid! Luckily for us, that wasn't enough for the Goodman. Set designer David Korins was enlisted to create a Chinese masterpiece. Korins splits rooms on two revolving platforms. Restaurant, boardroom, lobby, bedroom, each room is sleek and contemporary. The amazing spectacle is the rooms are actualized by synchronized rotation. Each half of a room pivots into into its other half. I'm not doing it justice in description. Suffice to say, it's one of the coolest sets I've ever seen. At one point, during the revolution of the rooms, Waterston walks through the revolving doors, onto the elevator and comes out in the bedroom. It is so Mu Shu Pork! That is the only phrase i know in Chinese that describes something fantastic!"
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...“What we have here is a failure to communicate”! This is a quite from the Paul Newman movie “Cool Hand Luke” ad could easily be the title of David Henry Hwang’s new comedy, “Chinglish” now having its World Premiere onstage at The Goodman Theatre. This is one of the funniest plays I have seen in awhile and one that will have you in hysterics almost for the entire two hours."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...Like the film “Lost in Translation” (which uses its Japanese setting much better to convey cultural isolation as well as the mixed messages that complicate relationships and contracts), “Chinglish” employs supertitles rather than subtitles to deliver the “double takes” of minor and major misunderstandings. Coming fast and furious, these instantly illustrate the treacherous tricks that happen when idioms get mistranslated, either too literally or too abstractly. Almost half the play is in Mandarin Chinese: The comedy is not fooling around when it comes to impersonating culture shock."
