Ashland Theater Review: Cambodian Rock Band

Before I recently went to the spring opening of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, I had never seen a play about a Cambodian rock band. I had never even given a thought to Cambodian rock. 
But it thrived, before Pol Pot took control of the country in 1975 and tried to destroy all music, along with other signs of education and western culture. His way of doing it was simple: kill all the musicians.
A new play by Lauren Yee, “Cambodian Rock Band,” recounts the country’s brutal history with dark humor, chilling intelligence, and a slew of throbbing songs, many of them written by the LA group, Dengue Fever. 
As directed by Chay Yew, the superb actors also play instruments and sing the songs as they jump through time from 1975 to 2008. The band’s psychedelic surf music expresses a range of emotions from elation to rage.
In the beginning we are greeted by a slick, high-fashion version of the Emcee in “Cabaret,” played by the dazzling Daisuke Tsuji. He warns us of surprises, some pleasant and some horrific. 
Soon we meet Neary, a young Cambodian American working for a human rights organization in Phnom Penh in 2008. She’s gathering evidence against a war criminal who ran one of the country’s most deadly prisons.
When her cheerful, friendly father shows up unexpectedly, all the way from Massachusetts, the plot turns topsy turvy. Father and daughter are a mystery to each other. The past will be revealed, but I’m zipping my lips. I will say is that Joe Ngo as Dad is a marvel, as is Brooke Ishibashi as both Neary and a powerful rock singer.
“Cambodian Rock Band” is my top pick for the spring season.
This is Dorothy Velasco with KLCC’s Ashland Theater Review.