For many of us, adolescence is all about feeling different, “less than.”
For 14-year-old good-girl Ami—or “Amy” as she prefers to be known—in San Francisco Playhouse’s production of Keiko Green’s coming-of-age comedy “Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play,” her problems concern being American-born in a Japanese family.
That means, among other things, the embarrassment of bringing her mother’s elaborately prepared bento boxes for school lunch instead of chicken fingers and fries, like her new boyfriend eats daily.
The play is initially wacky and comical, with skits and anime-style fights and Ami (a perky, charming Ana Ming Bostwick-Singer) addressing the audience directly, sparring with her brother (James Aaron Oh, impressively acrobatic) and complaining to her long-suffering mother. But it takes a turn when Ami is assigned to prepare a school report about her roots, and when a tough new girl, Betsy, urges Ami in a new direction.
When Ami learns that her long-gone, much adulated grandfather was instrumental, back in Japan, in the discovery of the much-maligned food additive MSG (commonly believed to cause “Chinese restaurant syndrome”), she’s distraught and embarks upon a mission to find out the truth. Is MSG really so evil? Has anti-Asian prejudice possibly affected society’s attitude to it?
That entails time-traveling from the present in 1999 to 1968 to meet her grandfather—at the bottom of the sea, as it happens, along with other unhappy souls taking a slo-mo non-breather from their anxiety-ridden lives above. Was Grandpa an evil scientist or not?
Later, Ami finds herself in Tokyo 1947, as the country is recovering from the devastation of the war. “Maybe this is where I’m supposed to be,” she muses.
But—with the goofy comedy; Ami’s quest to escape teenage ennui (and do her school report) by researching her family’s connection to MSG; the time, place and space travel; the underwater scene; a talent show and a meta device that serves no purpose—“Exotic Deadly” feels like a fairly pointless (and, even at only 90 minutes, overly long), confusing, and at times quite funny, LSD trip.
The best news: There is clever direction by Jesca Prudencio, who helmed the world premiere at San Diego’s Old Globe.
And there are excellent performances. Most of the cast play multiple roles; all have perfect comic timing. As a pair of goofy, horny teenagers, the especially hilarious Phil Wong and his bestie (Edric Young) make a perfect team, their timing spot-on; Nicole Tung easily transitions from gentle, strongminded Mom to an overly cheery teacher; and Francesca Fernandez as tough, influential new-girl-in-school Betsy and more finds clever nuances in her two roles.
For audiences not thoroughly interested in MSG, these performances are this chaotic play’s saving grace.
“Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play” runs through March 8 at San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., San Francisco. Tickets are $35-$135 at sfplayhouse.org.
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