Sometimes, a moment in a play can be forgotten, as our memories rush to fill in plot details or mention standout acting or staging performances. For us, one of the concluding scenes in Keiko Green's "Exotic Deadly: Or The MSG Play" has stuck with us for days. This is when the excellent Anna Ming Bostwick-Singer, as the teenage daughter Ami, and Nicole Tung, as Ami's mother, stare into the audience and announce that all our ancestors are looking out for us at all times -- from the first row. The lights come up and there we all are - wait, am I one of these ancestors? Well, why not? I like these actors and I'll be happy to look out for them.
"The MSG Play" is fun and light-hearted, but it makes no bones about MSG, the flavor enhancer that has been shown to be harmless but for some years was trumpeted as the source of the deadly "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome," a claim based on bad science and anti-Asian propaganda. Ami's quest is to discover the original inventor of MSG. The plot thickens.
Francesca Fernandez plays the rebellious new girl, Exotic Deadly, with a lot of soul. Ami would love to be like her, but, you know, not really.
The show is fun to watch, especially if you remember cultural references from the 90s, as everyone in the audience (except, perhaps two reviewers in the corner) appeared to. Do Ami and Exotic Deadly save the world? Well, look at the ingredients on a package of Instant Ramen. They seem to have succeeded.
RATINGS ★★★
The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants "Exotic Deadly: The MSG Play" Three Stars. We loved the energy of the show and the entire ensemble, plus the amazing job by director Jesca Prudencio. Fun and laughter are in short supply these days, but not at San Francisco Playhouse.
"Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG PLAY"
San Francisco Playhouse
450 Sutter Street (2d floor of Kensington Park Hotel), San Francisco
Through 3/8/25
$35-$135
