Hot Asian Doctor Husband
The Twin Cities is host to some great world premieres this summer, including Leah Nanako Winkler's latest show Hot Asian Doctor Husband. The show is both hilarious and thoughtful, a touching look at identity and grief. The show centers around Emi, a woman who is approaching 30 and whose biracial identity takes on a new importance after new Japanese mother dies. She decides to break up with her white boyfriend of 3 and a half years because she realizes she has only dated white men and goes in search of a Hot Asian Doctor Husband.
Theater Mu has brought together a top notch cast to tell this story. Meghan Kreidler plays Emi and brings all the nuance needed to bring both the comedy and sincerity to Emi's highs and lows. Damian Leverett plays Collin, Emi's white boyfriend, he is very sweet and plays a very funny song about privileges and challenges of being a white man in the world. Eric Sharp plays the titular Hot Asian Doctor Husband, he is imbued with the confidence that the character demands and perfectly delivers multiple hilarious monologues and performs one of the best dance numbers that I have seen all year. Mikell Sapp, Danielle Troiano, Sun Mee Chomet and Maekalah Ratsabout round out this wonderfully talented cast.
The play is sharp in its social commentary about race and relationships. It is a fun rom com that perfectly balances having something very interesting to say, fleshing out characters that you feel for and only want the best for, and also making you laugh a lot. But in the "third act" of this 1 hour 45 minute no intermission show the tone shifts dramatically. Shifting from a modern day rom com to a dream sequence/Japanese folk tale. It succeed in delivering a resolution of a kind for our main character Emi but it also lost a lot of momentum that the play had built up. Although this was a bit of a disappointing end the play was still a great pleasure to watch.
Hot Asian Doctor Husband runs through September 1st at Mixed Blood Theater. It is a must see for those who are excited by new works and also enjoy laughing. Click here for more information about the show and how to get tickets.