“Sakata’s triumph in what seemed an impossibly demanding role…triply wonderful”
“Jeanne Sakata’s Ovation Award for her amazing performance in RED was applauded by me with special enthusiasm. Sakata’s triumph in what seemed an impossibly demanding role was an age-and-gender-bender. Her portrayal of an aging male Chinese opera star playing a female was triply wonderful.”
Backstage
“Sakata gives an awe-inspiring portrayal… RED simply could not be in better hands”
“As Hua, Jeanne Sakata gives an awe-inspiring portrayal of a proud practitioner of a dying, outlawed art… giving Hua a severe exterior, Sakata teaches us what it means to equate one’s life and art entirely, yet releases Hua’s buried humanity gracefully in his most desperate moments…..a finely-tuned, inspired work, RED simply could not be in better hands.”
Backstage
“Inspired… Sakata is superb throughout”
“In an inspired bit of cross-gender casting, Sakata is superb throughout.”
Los Angeles Times
“Playing against type… brilliant performance”
Playing against type, Jeanne Sakata turns in a brilliant performance as Hua Wai Mun, world famous for his female impersonations in the ancient Chinese opera.
Long Beach Press-Telegram
“Impressively wide-ranging… deeply moving”
“The impressively wide-ranging Jeanne Sakata plays Hua, in the most successful portrayal of a man by a woman I’ve seen since Linda Hunt portrayed Billy Kwan in THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY. It’s a deeply moving performance, and Sakata has all of the moves—from the nettled pique of a prima donna to the gentle delicacy of a court dancer to the poignant sadness of a deposed monarch.”
Los Angeles New Times
“Transcendent… Sakata is simply magnificent”
“Transcendent…..Sakata is simply magnificent as the monumentally self-righteous artist who is determined to preserve the traditions of this past even though he knows it will mean his destruction.”
Los Angeles Daily News