Theater turns controversial “tiger mother” into musical
Tags: Theater, Acting, Theatre, Broadway, Musical

[caption id=”attachment_2646" align=”alignleft” width=”399" caption=”Legacy of the Tiger Mother, a musical by Angela Chan and Michael Manley, explores the relationship between a mother and her daughter in an Asian Pacific American household. Photo Credit: tigermotherthemusical.com”]

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In today’s world, the phrase, “My parents are Asian,” would be a sufficient explanation for why you have to stay inside to study rather than hang out with friends. The common stereotype that Asian parents are strict and hard on their children is brought to the stage in the humorous new musical, “Legacy of the Tiger Mother,” written by Angela Chan and Michael Manley.

The story, directed by Lysander Abadia, is centered around three generations of Chinese women living in America. Lily is a first generation Chinese immigrant who believes playing the piano is crucial for success in life, and pushes her daughter to painstakingly practice the piano as much as possible. Her daughter, Mei, naturally becomes an avid believer in the piano as well, when she raises her own daughter.

However, the question of how much parenting is too much parenting causes Mei and Lily to argue over the right amount of severity. Mei must find the balance between typical Asian parenting styles and Western parenting styles.

Looking at the musical’s playbill, one can see that it is meant to be a humorous play — the “r” in “regacy” is crossed out and replaced with an “l” to poke fun at the stereotypical Asian accent. The musical is based off of Chan’s own experiences growing up and also draws inspirations from the controversial book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” by Yale professor Amy Chua. Chua’s memoir reveals her own harsh parenting style as a Chinese American. Part of the book’s subtitle says, “This was supposed to be a story of how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones. But instead, it’s about a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory, and how I was humbled by a thirteen-year-old.” The book and its controversy appeared all last January; people are still talking about it today.

Many Asian Pacific American students are able to relate to the show’s theme of strict Asian parents.

“My mom doesn’t even like me sleeping over my girl friend’s places,” said Stella Song, a freshman letters and sciences major. “I don’t think that’s a big deal in western American culture but to Koreans, it looks bad when the girl in the family doesn’t sleep at her own house.”

Themes involving APA culture are not commonly found within typical mainstream American theatre. “Legacy of the Tiger Mother” may become a hit or it may become just a simple yet failed attempt at bringing in cultural diversity to the stage.

“I would probably go see the musical because I think it’s an interesting topic,” said Rachel Buninski, a freshman economics major. “I have American parents, and you often don’t see as much strictness in the American style of raising children,”

The musical had its first performance in December 2011 in Las Vegas. The show moved on to perform in New York City and will be showing in Australia this spring.