Disco Fever Meets Opera in ‘F.O.B.’ Revival

In the faraway land of Torrance, in that thankfully short-lived Bee Gee-ruled dynasty of disco, the Chinese god of warriors, writers and prostitutes Guang Gung appears to both protect and mock the overlapping generations of A.B.C.s (American-born Chinese). Little does he know that the woman warrior Fa Mu Lan is ready to do battle.

Yet in this revival of David Henry Hwang’s disco-fever fable, “F.O.B.,” at East West Players, the opponents are not well-matched, making the ending a bit doubtful.

Reggie Lee gives a devastatingly mercurial and bitterly humorous portrayal of Guang Gung in the guise of an F.O.B. named Steve. He slips quickly from the “clumsy, ugly, greasy F.O.B.” to the arrogant god incarnate and back in a nanosecond. His acting is bolstered by a wonderful physicality in his Peking Opera meets disco dude stances. As Grace, the human disguise for Fa Mu Lan, Jennie Yee projects a sly, manipulative cunning, yet she never has a commanding physical presence to make the final battle convincing. As everybody’s straightman Dale, John Cho is the perfect, bewildered foil.

Director Tim Dang sets a good pace and balances the pathos with the sometimes slapstick humor. And what good timing! Even the post-disco generation knows who John Travolta is.

* “F.O.B.,” East West Players, 4424 Santa Monica Blvd., Silver Lake. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends May 11. $23. (213) 660-0366. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.