Smart, splashy and wonderfully funny. There's never a dull moment onstage. A meeting of dauntingly innovative theatrical minds. You’ve never seen a musical like 'Soft Power.' A form-busting examination of the American dream. Has its finger on the pulse of this exact moment. Conrad Ricamora is a revelation! Might be the most creatively ambitious new musical of the year!

World Premiere

A contemporary comedy explodes into a musical fantasia in the first collaboration between two of America’s great theatre artists: Tony Award® winners David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Flower Drum Song) and Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home). Soft Power rewinds our recent political history and plays it back through a Chinese lens: a future, beloved East-meets-West musical. A Chinese executive visiting America finds himself falling in love with a good-hearted US leader—Hillary Clinton—as the power balance between their two countries shifts following the 2016 election. As original as it is topical, Soft Power overflows with the romance, laughter, and cultural confusions of the golden age of Broadway. Hwang and Tesori have created one of the most eagerly anticipated new works of the year.

soft pow·er (noun) a persuasive approach to international relations, typically involving the use of cultural influence.

Produced in association with East West Players and the Curran.

Listen: David Henry Hwang & Artistic Director Michael Ritchie In Conversation

For David Henry Hwang, conflicted feelings about 'The King and I' inspire the ambitious 'Soft Power' Center Theatre Group bets big on the playwright behind "M. Butterfly" and the composer behind "Fun Home." Their new project's audacious story: 100 years in the future, China has stepped up to the lead the world because America has collapsed. Read More