Chicago Tribune
- Somewhat Recommended
"...aside from a production that feels low-budget, this is a new script that still needs a lot of work. For starters, the play doesn't sufficiently acknowledge that most of us are now familiar with a world where one walks into a Japanese restaurant and finds a well-trained Mexican sushi chef; or where Caucasian chefs cook soul-food classics. Much blending has already taken place. This play ignores that, undermining its veracity."
Chicago Sun Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Chay Yew lets many of the play's arguments become too screechy, and in this era of supposed "post-racial" tension, these battles seem tired anyway. Overall, "Po Boy Tango" needs a better opening scene, a less shrill tone and some pruning (without touching Po Mama's scenes)."
Windy City Times
- Recommended
"...Another unanticipated boon is the premiere of Kenneth Lin's play at Skokie's Northlight Theatre. Though this midwestern production deemed it necessary to find its director and Asian actors—respectively, Chay Yew, Ken Narasaki and Jeanne Sakata—on the West Coast, their presence alongside our own Jacqueline Williams bespeaks progress ( beyond the “ethnic outreach” programs ) toward recognition of audiences often overlooked by theater marketers. Whatever its flaws (a stage too large for its intimate dynamic, for one) , Po Boy Tango delivers more than its share of worthy insights into universal human values."
EpochTimes
- Recommended
"...Director Chay Yew has utilized the Northlight stage so that every seat ( except the far sides) has great sight lines and no action is missed. While some might find this a bit wordy, I found that the stories had to be told to make the ending complete. We need to feel what our characters felt and see that the need for nourishment is not only through food, but nourishment for our souls and our well-being. This is accomplished only through hearing what our characters truly feel and the experiences they have endured."
Copley News Service
- Recommended
"...The Northlight has imported two fine actors from California to play Richie Po and Mama Po. Ken Narasaki and Jeanne Sakata deliver persuasive performances embellished with humor as well as strong emotions. The fact that both are Japanese rather than Taiwanese doesn’t matter. That reliable Chicago actress Jacqueline Williams is outstanding as the street smart Gloria B."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Playwriting is both an art and a science. Playwriting invokes spirits, and it lives with ghosts. It is the art closest to life and closest to myth. The playwright must be gentle and coax the sharpness out of the script. Have your eyes rolled out of your head yet? Swap playwriting for cooking in these platitudes, and you’ve got the ridiculously metaphor-laden script of Po Boy Tango."
ChicagoCritic
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The needlessly complicated plot with too many philosophizing monologues from each character rendered the over-written play as a stiff affair. Judicious cuts and a more focused storyline is needed. The cooking metaphor sure worked fine. Jacqueline Williams was terrific. There is a worthy play here hiding amongst all the rhetoric."
