Frequently a laugh out loud new comedy, The Hot Wing King involves several nice, middle-aged African-American men and a barbecue competition. On its occasionally serious side, the good-natured play considers a couple of issues that probably confront many an adult male relationship today.
Opening on Sunday in a smart and sassy Signature Theatre premiere, The Hot Wing King is the latest work from the ever-astonishing Katori Hall.
The stories that Hall has dramatized are bold and varied: The Mountaintop sees Martin Luther King encounter an angel in a motel room. Our Lady of Kibeho centers upon a visionary schoolgirl living in Rwanda of the turbulent 1980s. Hurt Village is a contemporary tragedy about families and drugs in a rundown housing project in Memphis.
[Read Melissa Rose Bernardo’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
The Hot Wing King is set in Memphis today, but from the looks of the comfortable Craftsman-style house where the story happens in its cute kitchen, living room, and backyard (Michael Carnahan designed the cheerful setting), this is situated in an upscale part of town.
Dwayne (Korey Jackson), a hotel executive, lives here with his boyfriend Cordell (Toussaint Jeanlouis), who is busily readying various spicy marinades for 280 pounds of chicken wings that he is entering in a regional cook-off competition on the next day. Staying overnight to help out, more or less, are their pals Big Charles (Nicco Annan) and Isom (Sheldon Best).
The backstory is that Dwayne and Cordell first clicked at Big Charles’ barber shop some five years earlier. Cordell, who then lived in St. Louis with his wife and sons, has only recently moved down to Memphis to be with Dwayne. Drained by the divorce, Cordell has not found a job yet and his dependence on Dwayne gnaws at him. And so does his guilt about the break-up of his family life.
Figuring significantly into Hall’s two-act play is Everett (Cecil Blutcher), the worrisome teen son of Dwayne’s dead sister, who wants to live with his uncle instead of his shady dad TJ (Eric B. Robinson, Jr.). So the idea of a kid possibly being raised in a gay household is another topic among several that the playwright folds into the mix.
Let’s say no more about how Hall develops the likable story, except to note that it cunningly entwines thoughtful matters with some fairly broad comedy, as when one character deservedly and hilariously suffers the explosive effects of chomping on atomic-hot chicken wings. Several other fellows toss off a spontaneous “Never Too Much” song and dance tribute to Luther Vandross that tickled the audience no end.
Notable also about the play is the regional Memphis idiom that the characters talk. If there’s such a thing as a fast drawl, that’s how these guys usually speak the flavorful dialogue that Hall puts in their mouths. Frankly, some of the deeply Southern-fried lingo escaped my old Eastern Seaboard ears the other night, but people all around me were laughing over it, especially whenever a saucy Sheldon Best was snapping off the feline Isom’s catty lines.
A playful though ultimately sincere dramedy with an upbeat viewpoint, dynamic characters, and a happy ending, The Hot Wing King is agreeably performed by a company of tiptop actors who appear highly natural and easy in their intimate interactions.
Looking good in the casual sportswear provided by designer Emilio Sosa, the actors smoothly wend among the story’s numerous transitions in tone from humorous to reflective and back again. Steve H. Broadnax III, the director, has done quite a capable job in guiding his company through the play’s changing emotional subtleties while supporting them with well-chosen visuals.
Theatergoers interested in gay-themed plays who felt that The Inheritance was somewhat pretentious in its doings may well find that the sweet, relatively easygoing The Hot Wing King to be more to their taste. Certainly the play delivers a worthy American story for today that is composed, produced, and performed with considerable intelligence and charm.
The Hot Wing King opened March 1, 2020, at Signature Center and runs through March 22. Tickets and information: signaturetheatre.org
