Chan directs the strong cast who must sing as well as act, perform intricate, full body movements, and execute elaborate battles with swords and lances. Justine “Icy” Moral, in the title role, can be chipper playing Xianqi at home with her father, powerful learning to be a soldier, and aspirational singing alone of her evolving self-awareness (“The Way that I See Me”). And she can be funny too, which she has to be to manage her time with her two sidekicks (aka “Team Useless–the kids in the audience will love them), played like a youthened double act by Rafael Sebastian and Jacob Yeh–think Daffy Duck and Porky Pig begat a pair of twentysomethings with Laurel and Hardy.
Broadway World
Reviews: The Ballad of Mu Lan, Imagination Stage
July 1, 2019