Review: 'Dragon Mama, part two of Sara Porkalob's epic Filipina American family saga, reels us in for more
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In “Dragon Mama,” the second part of her Dragon Cycle, writer-performer Sara Porkalob fleshes out the story of her Filipina American family.The focus here is squarely on her mother, another survivor who inflicts her own share of damage along the way.
“How do you solve a problem like Maria?” Maria herself sings these words from “The Sound of Music” at the start of the play.It’s a question that will take a long time for the character to figure out — and with good reason.
It’s a miracle she made it out of her childhood.Maria is 8 years old when the play begins, living in Honolulu with her mother, also named Maria, whose harrowing early story was told in “Dragon Lady,” the first installment of the trilogy presented at the Geffen Playhouse’s Gil Cates Theatre in 2024.That piece, more of a solo musical, was able to command the bigger stage.
“Dragon Mama,” which opened Thursday at the Geffen Playhouse’s Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, affords Porkalob brief opportunities to showcase her captivating singing talent (including one memorable bit of Whitney Houston karaoke).But the piece is a more traditional coming-of-age drama, and it flourishes in the intimacy of the smaller venue.
But one thing is for certain: All of Porkalob’s characters lead epic lives.“Dragon Mama” offers snapshots of Maria’s daredevil youth in Hawaii, her reckless adolescence in Bremerton, Wash., and the self-destructive spiral that leads her to venture out on her own.
A young mother at this points, she leaves her daughter, SaraLee, in the care of her family while she finds work and a stabilizing lesbian relationship in Anchorage.There’s some plot overlap in the first two plays.
Teenage Maria, forced to be a second mother to her younger siblings, is shown keeping the household together while her mother goes inexplicably AWOL for weeks.And like anyone who has had to grow u...