'Golden Child' review: a tale of China

This latest version compresses and changes the modern framing device from a playwright and a ghost in New York to a student asking his questions of an old relative in Manila. This wisely puts the emphasis on the fascinating middle section, in which a wealthy husband tries to introduce Western ways to his three wives -- and one daughter, the audacious "golden child" who lives to tell the tale.

Although Hwang clearly recognizes the horrors of the wives' forced ignorance and crippling foot binding, he is equally fascinated with the sophisticated, ritualized, convoluted layers of female self-deprecation in the culture. But the modest production, directed by Leigh Silverman, feels oddly stilted and lacks the elegance of the earlier ones. The structure is neater, but the reach, less captivating.

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