Comedy review: Love You Wrong Time takes down stereotypes with laughter and song

Multitalented team of Deanna H. Choi and Maddie Bautista turns a satirical spotlight on the destructive ideal of the perfect Asian woman

By Robert Kuang

Love You Wrong Time. Photo by Helen Fung

The Cultch and Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre present Bad Muse Collective’s Love You Wrong Time at The Cultch’s Historic Theatre to May 11

LOVE YOU WRONG TIME is a bold and timely exploration of the Asian femme experience. Rather than easing the audience in, Deanna H. Choi and Maddie Bautista prefer to kick the door down with laughter and a song. This is their ship, and beneath the raucous humour lies a depth of pain, rage, and hard-won power honoured by the two captains.

Conceived, composed, and performed by Choi (who is Korean-Canadian) and Bautista (a Saudi Arabian–born Filipina), the show began as an interrogation of the question “What is the perfect Asian woman?” It premiered in 2023 through a unique pop-up, concert-style presentation in various venues in Toronto, and was met with sold-out shows and two Dora Mavor Moore Awards. In the words of Choi and Bautista, “It’s a good time, with teeth.” It joins The Cultch’s inaugural Warrior Festival this year as one of five “innovative, status-quo toppling” shows.

Love You Wrong Time functions somewhere between a cabaret act and a comedy variety show, often rotating between songs, “rice breaker” moments with the audience, and game show activities in rapid succession. Their personal anecdotes about dating and their friendship serve as clever transitions that also reveal their complex experiences as Asian-Canadian women.

Except in a short intermission, the duo never leaves the audience and energetically carries the show from beginning to end, often trading off roles in a way that keeps the pacing tight and the transitions as seamless as possible. Choi’s spunkiness and at times deadpan humour are complemented by Bautista’s jovial delivery, and their vocal prowess is more than enough to serve their music. Their songs dance between musical-theatre, singer-songwriter, and electronic moments, but remain cohesive through the composers’ pointed lyrics and repeated jabs at the idea of the perfect Asian woman. 

Director Erin Brubacher makes broad use of the The Cultch’s Historic Theatre by transforming the space into something that’s part game show, part concert, and part open mic at the local bar. It’s this hybridity that gives the production so much to savour, and so much room for audience interaction. As a co-creator of the show, Brubacher’s multidisciplinary touch is particularly effective during segments that take unexpected emotional turns in the second half.

Meanwhile, Helen Yung’s production design capitalizes on every Asian diaspora signifier one could imagine, from Choco Pies to cultural attire, bringing a level of kitsch that is instantly familiar to anyone who’s been inside an Asian gift shop. Upon entering the space and seeing the clash of commercialization and cultural tradition, the audience immediately feels the satirical nature of the show.

Although Love You Wrong Time leads with raunchy humour and comedic numbers, its strength lies in social commentary that sneaks up on the viewer between the laughs. Choi and Bautista trust the audience enough to sit in the discomfort of their everyday stories involving fetishization, sexism, and harassment, before contextualizing their experiences through a historical lens. By exploring ideas like “yellow fever” and the hypersexualized Asian woman, the show underscores how their experiences are shaped more by the perceptions and desires of others than by their own identities and agency. At the show’s emotional peak, a dedication to the victims of the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings gives a sombre reminder of the dangers of perpetuating racist, sexist, and anti-Asian stereotypes.

With Choi and Bautista exuding so much talent, Love You Wrong Time feels like a delicious display of appetizers at times, and suggests they have way more to say than the show can encapsulate in 90 minutes. One could easily imagine the show expanding upon its many threads with additional or different segments, which can be a blessing or a distraction. The experience will be influenced by levels of audience engagement, and aside from a few hiccups, Choi and Bautista handle the unexpected like seasoned emcees. With their intentional efforts to celebrate being in community, much can be forgiven when the storytellers are fully committed. Given the show’s multidisciplinary storytelling, it is inevitable that different audience members will prefer different segments, but this is a risk that mostly pays off for this creative team. 

At its core, the show celebrates not only Choi and Bautista’s biting commentary as artists, but also their friendship as Asian-Canadian women. It displays their trust in each other, and their chemistry anchors the audience until their final bow. Love You Wrong Time sets up an exciting journey ahead for the team as they continue to create “political, music-centred” works.

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