Vietgone

See it if 
you're up for a wildly fresh & funny take on the Asian immigrant experience — language, change, war, loss & love as seen from that side.

Don't ​See it if
you're easily confused by nonlinear plays, don't like needlessly vulgar rap, asians, immigrants or have writ in stone opinions about Vietnam.

Every family has stories; some are more colorful or epic, others more tragic or funny. Just the fact of parents, too, everyone's parents, are stories just waiting to be dug out and passed on; along the way, someone always says, "Someone should write this down." Nguyen has done just that, and then some.

Using the raw material of how his parents met in a US camp after the Vietnam War, Nguyen's constructed a pinball machine of a play, colorfully bouncing back & forth across time, culture & language.  Disorienting from the immigrants' POV, they speak perfectly as the Americans speak pidgin and nonsense. It's all wonderfully well observed and very funny.

The ensemble cast is near-perfect and terrific, the last scene touching and quite moving & real. 

The rap songs however are mostly weak & repetitive, though a great idea & well delivered; but is rap by definition that vulgar? The profanity seems gratuitous, at times out of character. 

Still, it's a fun, unique & fresh ride; go see it.

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