Dragon Lady

Born in the year of the Dragon, Anna May Wong was the first Chinese American woman to star in the movies. Poured into a black satin dress with a spectacular, sparkly and fiery dragon wrapping itself over her left shoulder, Fiona Choi introduced us to this remarkable woman, through story telling, song and a well-chosen silent movie-style backdrop.

Choi captured her audience as we met and fell for Anna May Wong.  She took us back to the beginning of the 20^th century, a busy Chinese Laundrette in a Los Angeles back lane and to a young girl captivated by the new movie industry.

Choi played the same stereotyped roles over and over – the Chinese female villain, the beautiful exotic mistress who, when her lover leaves to marry his white woman, is left with only a choice of which weapon she uses to kill herself. Choi’s ‘Six ways to play an oriental’, whilst funny, was sharpened by the way it cut to the heart of cultural dominance, especially when the pictures of the movie stars who played Chinese characters were shown on the screen behind her. John Wayne as a Chinese character? Really?

Wong needed to be smarter, brighter, funnier and more beautiful than any white actress, and she learned German, French and spoke English without an American accent, as well as perfect Mandarin. Choi demonstrated her fluency in languages too, singing in German and Mandarin, switching her accents and voice with ease. Wong in life as in art was the perfect mistress for the men of power and influence; not allowed to walk down the street holding hands as a mixed race couple, she was sometimes allowed in places where women weren’t, except in Shanghai!  

Choi was accompanied by a small band-piano/guitar, clarinet/sax and cello-and chose a variety of songs to mirror the times and the themes. Her choices were excellent and applauded by the audience.

Choi is best known for her role as the mother, Jenny Law, in the SBS comedy series The Family Law and the ABC’s The Let Down. Like Anna May Wong, Choi fell in love with performing and has carved out a successful career path in the US and is now returning to Australia. On checking her biography for this review, it seemed to me that just like Wong, Choi too has had to put up with more than her fair share of racial stereotyping. “I have been in a lot of big American shows, but I’ve pretty much always played the same type of character. I’ve played a reporter, an authoritarian figure, or very smart”: SBS – talking about her new role in Family Law

I really enjoyed this show and strongly recommend it to cabaret goers. I think we’ll be hearing and seeing Choi more and more in the future.

Sally Putnam

Photographer: Tony Lewis

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