A review of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama winning play, The Hot Wing King (2020) by Katori Hall. A play packed with Luther tributes, Beyonce references, and beautiful performances by some of the best stage performers of our day.
Oh, my love
A thousand kisses from you is never too much
- from "Never Too Much" x Luther Vandross
As you enter the Alliance Theater, you are met with 650 seats tucked amongst the balcony and orchestra and embraced by a swirling array of stunning woodwork sourced from fallen oak trees. The lights, almost excessively dimmed, cast a tranquil ambiance as patrons meander quietly to their seats. Just beyond the very front of those seats rests the Coca-Cola Stage, on which I had the pleasure of witnessing Katori Hall's The Hot Wing King (2020) on a chilly February evening.
The two-hour-long play showcases the impeccable talent of its seasoned cast, including Nicco Annan who is best known for his role as Uncle Clifford in Hall's show, P-Valley. In addition to Annan, the play is enlivened by mesmerizing performances from Bjorn Dupaty (Cordell), Myles Alexander Davis (EJ), Armand Fields (Isom), Jay Jones (TJ), and Calvin Thompson (Dwayne).
Summarized by Mashaun D. Simon as "an intersectional portrayal of an American Black family," The Hot Wing King follows a Memphis family as they prepare to participate in the annual "Hot Wang Festival," for which Cordell has been tirelessly preparing with the support of his boyfriend, Dwayne, and his friends, Big Charles and Isom. Though beyond this plot rests a gripping conversation about love, family, maturity, pride, self-sabotage, reality, sacrifice, and safety. An exploration of what it means to be Black and gay and southern. There's also a convicting conversation about stepping outside of yourself in order to truly show up when it matters most for the people you love.
The lighting design was stunning, truly. Extremely effective in illuminating the space to look and feel like a home, but also without sacrificing the techniques available to make that home come alive in a way that can only be achieved in the theater. The attention to detail was insane, down to replicating the lights of cars pulling up and departing. It was also tastefully used when needed for comedic notes. The diversity of execution here was truly a sight to behold, especially in a regional theater like the Alliance.
I also loved witnessing the utilization of the experience in television from both the cast and the director. It was fun to see behaviors or directorial choices made that reminded me of one I may have seen more on HBO than on a stag. But they made it work for the most part and the fusion was exciting to see, for sure. Though, the choreography for the more TV-reminiscent sections of the play was super tight and creative in some areas, and not very tight in others. Generally, though, the over-expression required of theatrical performances was super refreshing to experience. I missed that a lot.
Finally, that set design was gorgeous. It had so much movement and fluidity that made it look and feel like a real home. The actors' interaction with the set was also super interesting to see and displayed the ingenuity of the cast and crew to design something so specific, so well.
While the story had me literally saying "aww" and "wow" um maybe 50% of the play, the dialogue was perhaps my least favorite part of the play. There were, for my liking, far too many "zingers" back to back. It felt like all the comedic jokes were piled onto every other page of the script and the constant back and forth between very heavy, serious drama portions and then frankly sometimes kinda cringe jokes was a bit jarring of an experience.
Not to say all the jokes were bad, but I feel like I hardly could hear the next zinger because it was consumed in the laughter from the first one. Some spacing would've been nice.
Also, there were so many layers and emotions and context in this play. Almost too much context that was necessary to understand the relationships, but that also took up a lot of time in the first act. Much of it was rehashing what happened in previous years in each of their lives so that we could grasp how it impacted the current circumstances. But eventually, it really became more about their past relational drama than it was about the present. It was just a lot of old business and discussing said business in a really emotional way with much less focus on what was actually happening during the play.
Not to say I was expecting Marvel-level action on this stage, but I've seen and read plays that can make motion and movement within a play happen without relying so heavily on events that took place before. An example would be Craig's Wife (1926) by George Kelly. Kelly is able to present a very, very messy and honestly pretty action-packed play that takes place from five-thirty in the evening and nine o'clock the following morning. And half the action doesn't even take place on stage! But it doesn't rely on things that happened a decade ago. It's a very in-the-moment work and I think that's why I read it so quickly!
Finally, my last qualm is the unnecessary dialogue and the super strangely placed dialogue! Like in the middle of such a lovely, emotional, powerful scene, there was some random, Shakespearean-type dialogue and I was like yo whyyyy would you do this? Like it dead removed me from the moment I was in because the entire tone, syntax, everything about the language of these Memphis men changed so randomly.
Go see it if you can. I know it closes at the Alliance tonight, but if there's ever an opportunity near you to see this stellar play, please go do so. And bring your people. It's fun, funny, refreshing, and interactive, while also being romantic, relatable, convicting, and inspiring. It urges you to reflect on how you're showing up in the lives of those around you. It urges you to ask yourself how you're getting in your own way. And it encourages you to be open to finding family, joy, and support in places you could've never imagined.
“Well damn a nigga can’t cop a cappuccino in this bitch?”
“Every little black boy deserve love, even if they’re stuck in a grown man’s body”
“A nigga like me ain’t never decent “
“Sometimes you got to sit yo ass down and think”
“Lest I remind you of…the parmesan.” — “Nigga, fuck you.”
