“Cambodian Rock Band,” East West Players, Los Angeles, Feb. 13 – March 23, 2025
Mar. 4, 2025 | By Bruce R. Feldman
In Brief: Cambodian Rock Band fuses contradictory themes and genres into a sobering moral tale that manages to be both impactful and celebratory at the same time. This audacious production from the always reliable East West Players is a triumph of art and entertainment.
(From L to R) Abraham Kim as Rom, Joe Ngo as Chum, Jane Lui as Pou, Kelsey Angel Baehrens as Sothea, and Tim Liu as Leng in Cambodian Rock Band at East West Players. (Photo: Teolindo)
As her characters bounce around from 1978 to 2008, playwright Lauren Yee scrutinizes the personal and societal repercussions on several Cambodian generations of the ruthless Pol Pot Regime from 1975 to 1979.
The dictator maintained that his goal was to create a peaceful, agrarian society free of Western influences. In truth, he and his venomous Khmer Rouge party ruled the nation cruelly, tearing families apart, attacking artists and intellectuals, banning all forms of entertainment and expression, and ultimately killing some 2.5 million civilians before the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia in 1979.
The show opens cheekily with a couple of terrific rock numbers played by a six-piece band. These and all of the other songs in the piece are by Dengue Fever, an American group that combines Cambodian rock and pop music of the 1960s and ‘70s with other world styles.
These and the other songs and musical performances in the show are electrifying and infectious.
Yee then introduces us to Duch (a brash Daisuke Tsuji) who functions at first as a sort of M.C. Duch is a mystery, but we will soon learn his critical role in the events that are about to unfold.
Next up is Neary (Kelsesy Angel Baehrens), a young American woman of Cambodian descent, who has been in Phnom Penh for two years working for an NGO that is trying to get justice for the victims of the Khmer Rouge.
Joe Ngo as Chum and Kelsey Angel Baehrens as Neary in Cambodian Rock Band at East West Players. (Photo: Teolindo)
Her father, Chum (Joe Ngo), turns up at her hotel without warning. She hasn’t seen him since she arrived in the capital. What’s he doing in Cambodia now? Neary doesn’t know it yet, but Chum is there to confront his own messy past during the Pol Pot years.
Tsuji, Baehrens, Ngo, and the three other cast members – Abraham Kim, Jane Lui, and Tim Liu – each skillfully act several different roles in the dramatic parts and perform the Dengue Fever songs with ferocity and abundant musicianship.
Clearly these are gifted talents, and lucky for us, they’ve had the opportunity to perfect their roles, as they’ve all played their parts in many other regional productions of Cambodian Rock Band.
Yee’s storytelling, under the confident hand of director Chay Yew, is persuasive, although the interrogation scene between two childhood friends in the second act feels a bit ham-fisted. That’s the only flaw in an otherwise nuanced tale.
Takeshi Kata and Mina Kinukawa’s sets are spare but effective. Derek Jones’s lighting and Jason H. Thompson’s projections add immeasurably to the visual appeal. They are particularly mesmerizing and enjoyable during the rousing concert sequences.
Human frailty under pressure, impossible-to-comprehend evil, acceptance, and the love for music that flourished and sustained Cambodia during the rough1970s co-exist seamlessly in Yee’s multi-generational saga.
Cambodian Rock Band is daring, emotional, joyful, and not to be missed.
“Cambodian Rock Band, East West Players, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, 213-625-7000, www.eastwestplayers.org
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