Soft Power is a musical (also referred to by its authors as a "play with a musical") with book and lyrics by David Henry Hwang and music and additional lyrics by Jeanine Tesori. Soft Power was intended as a "reverse The King And I". Instead of exoticizing an Asian country, Soft Power exoticizes America by looking at it from a hypothetical future Chinese musical. It also serves as a quasi-sequel to Hwang's 2007 play Yellow Face, featuring the same DHH character who appeared in said play.