Ambling, meandering and lollygagging down Broadway

The Trip To Bountiful  is a lollygagging sort of play so perhaps it ought not to be surprising that it feels slow by today’s standards. The play is quiet, ruminative, meandering, fussy, petty and just plain pleasant. Michael Wilson, Horton Foote's oeuvre's principle director, has accomplished all the ordinary, plain as a dishrag qualities that make The Trip To Bountiful  by Foote such a memorable play. And this “all-black” production stands the test of universal color/ethnic/race transliteration. “Leaving the land and going to the city and longing for the land and returning and seeing it changed and having to accept that everything changes and adapting to circumstances at every phase in your life and getting old if you don’t die young” is everybody’s story. 

Go on and get tickets because you'll be sorry if you don't.

http://thetriptobountifulbroadway.com/

Cicely Tyson as frail-looking, tender, sweet, brave, nuisance-y old Carrie Watts gave, despite a thirty year absence from Broadway, a bravura turn and showed her fellow stars, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Vanessa Williams the difference between stage presence and just showing up. She really showed her stage “cred.” Thirty years! Ha! Cicely Tyson managed to look and sound as good at being an old lady playing an old lady as she was, in The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman, at being a young woman playing an old lady. She gives hope to gray heads. 

The TV and film stars, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Vanessa Williams are good in the roles of Ludie and Jessye Mae Watts the hardworking nice guy and his petty, pretty, mean wife though they are perhaps too soft-toned and intimate for Broadway. They never quite nail that vocal tone that is quiet, piercing, incisive yet audible -- that “carries”. Cuba Gooding Jr. especially seemed unable to project well vocally and, by the end of the show, sounded hoarse. However, Vanessa Williams is a treat for the eyes and her sizzlingly beautiful costumes tell us much about her relationship with poor, sickly, milquetoast, Ludie. I wished that the one or two moments in which Jessye Mae reveals her vulnerabilities had been given more attention. 

Oh, but I heard everything and more that spectacularly talented, Condola Rashad  said with her voice and her lovely large eyes as the gentle, sprite, Thelma, who accompanies Carrie Watts on the Greyhound bus. Three thumbs up for Jeff Cowie’s  bus interior design. Rashad holds her own side by side with Cicely Tyson and handles the production’s most sentimental moment with veteran skill. 

This production of A Trip To Bountiful is great  -- all you could want -- if you want to have an up close look at film folks. This production is special and memorable if you want to see an actress at the top of her game. The The Trip To Bountiful film with Geraldine Paige in the role of Carrie Watts is and always will be unforgettable. But I promise you I will always remember that Cicely Tyson did Carrie Watts as well. Well done, Miss Tyson. 

Detroit '67: race riot redux

 I know Detroit doesn't want a pity party.They need all kinds of economic uplift and reinvention, but not pity. Don't hang the crepe. The patient is injured but, she can recover and thrive. Playwright, Dominique Morisseau may be the city’s best hope. Her play, Detroit ’67  closing today at The Public, but reopening at The National Black Theater on March 23 through April 14, is a good dose of what could cure Detroit or any town: reality, understanding, compassion and hope. Morisseau writes about her beleaguered, yet beloved hometown without pity, rather with a deep, complex understanding of its history, love of its people and staunch defense of its unique identity. 

Dominique Morisseau is a good daughter of Detroit. Part of what I like most about Detroit '67 is the good–natured evocation of the Motown moment – the combo of adolescent feel–good energy and revolutionary awakening reflected in 1960’s popular music. I was there. I remember leaning over the back seat of my parents’ car when my father drove, cranking up Martha and The Vandellas and The Supremes. And I recall in myriad personal details what happened following the death of Martin Luther King in my hometown, Washington, DC in 1968. 

     My aunt lived in Detroit at the time of the conflict there. I remember very clearly and with much fondness and many repetitions that we three sisters would yell through the phone when we called long distance to speak to our beloved aunt in Detroit. So, I have always cared about what happens/happened in Detroit.

     Detroit ’67 takes you into the decorated basement of a house in the Twelfth Street neighborhood where the events  of the riot, a.k.a. "The Great Rebellion” took place. The very best part of the set is that it is so accurate and cozy and that the events of the conflict stay outside. Though events loom and threaten and eventually involve, consume and subsume the people inside, the distance serves to establish that the so–called riots were a response to oppression by individuals struggling for meaningful inclusion in the governance of their community. People died. And the people who died belonged to other people.

I was asked to participate in a panel following Thursday night’s performance to discuss Detroit ’67 in light of past riots – sort of posing the question of “what do we mean when we characterize riots” and what are some of the big, historical riots we should be aware of. The lively discussion was moderated by the playwright, Dominique Morisseau and I was on it with Dr. Karen Miller, who teaches US history at LaGuardia College and long time political activist and writer, Mr. Kevin Powell.

In preparation I pulled out some quotes from texts that I had read in research for my recently completed novel that is set in 19th century New York and New Jersey. Because this work climaxes at the events of the New York Draft Riots of July, 1863, I did quite a bit of reading on the subject. I didn’t get the chance to hog the whole discussion with my quotes. I am appending them here:

“When Federal officials began choosing the first draftees in mid–July, New Yorkers responded with the bloodiest week in their entire history. The predominately Irish–American mobs lynched a dozen or more African Americans and terrorized thousands. Hundreds of fires were set*. Rioters fought pitched battles with the police and the militia for control of uptown avenues.”

           From Five Points by Tyler Anbinder

* The Colored Orphans Home, a refuge for destitute, African American children on Fifth Avenue, was looted of its furniture and fixtures and was burned. The children were evacuated by law enforcement and taken to Rikers Island for their safety.  

"Nowadays when Americans use the term "race riot" many immediately conjure up images of Los Angeles in 1992 (following the famous acquittals of the police officers who assaulted Rodney King) or the disturbances in Detroit, Newark, and elsewhere during the long, hot summers of the late 1960s. In those riots, people of color comprised the bulk of the looters and arsonists, targeting the businesses of "whiteys" and others perceived to be exploitative outsiders. "Reconstructing the Dreamland" recalls an older tradition of race rioting in which whites targeted blacks and their property for destruction, a tradition in which police, national guards, and other ostensible guardians of law and order invariably sided with perpetrators of mayhem against vulnerable racial minorities."

                   -- Randall Kennedy, from the preface to Reconstructing the Dream by Alfred L. Brophy. This book revisits and enlarges upon research into events of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 which destroyed the community of Greenwood.

"Vicious race riots plagued Philadelphia in the years before the Civil War. From 1834 - 1849, white mobs rampaged through black neighborhoods, terrorizing residents, destroying property, or seeking to drive the entire black population from the city. Inflamed by the annual August First celebration held in 1842 to commemorate the end of West Indian slavery, mobs ran riot through the streets, hunting blacks as if they were "noxious animals". They burned a black owned hall and church to obliterate signs of black achievement. Hundreds of blacks fled the city for the woods and swamps of New Jersey."

  from chapter one of Voice of Thunder" The Civil War Letters of George E. Stephens, from Violence in Philadelphia by Geffin. Stephens was an African American who fought in the Civil War.

Well, of course, we could have talked all night. Detroit ’67 was evocative of the time and place, as well as, stimulating to the discussion of responses to injustice and inequality. Perhaps it was the playwright’s father who nailed it when he commented that the role of the playwright and other creative artists can be of singular and useful service in redressing reductionist images of certain cities. Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit ’67, a play I’ve seen through several readings and workshops, has very deftly and entertainingly proved that the last word has not been said or written about Detroit, Michigan. 

It was exciting also to see the beautiful development of the performances of Michelle Wilson as Chelle and Francois Battiste as Lank. They each, in their exquisite performances, brought the audience to the place of understanding and empathy that is the quintessential reason we sit there in the dark and watch and listen. We want Chelle and Lank to survive because we've pinned our hopes to them. The characters of Bunny and Sly were pitch perfect and ably played by De’Adre Aziza and Brandon J. Dirden. Samantha Soule as Caroline was solid, on key, under control and firmly attached to the central theme of the play. It is my opinion that Ms. Morisseau has achieved a dramatic style that avails itself of the individuality of characters while gathering them into a thematic ensemble that furthers her play’s objectives. Kwame Kwei–Armah’s skillful, knowledgeable direction must come in for praise. Here again, choices made serve the moment, the characters and the players. Thumbs up to the sound designer as well. 
Don't wait any longer. Get your tickets for Detroit '67 at The National Black Theater at  2013 5th Avenue.

A glorious homecoming

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess

And sing they did. I loved the singing.

I appreciated, understood and liked the book tweaking done to the original Gershwin- Heyward production and film called " Porgy and Bess." I believe Suzan Lori Parks and Diedre L. Murray have created a more realistic, less stereotypical script. Though I didn't think Diane Paulus's direction was innovative, it was not troublesome. The staging and set were sort of dull. The costumes provided the only "pretty" and I could have used more.

And though I didn't agree that the full and passionate and skillful performance of Audra McDonald put everybody else in the shade, it is her show. She was wonderful and others in the cast were likewise wonderful. Putting it all together finally, all of the elements worked for me. All of the cast was good for me. I loved Norm Lewis' ragged, but virile Porgy. His disability was well done and his vocals were expert. I enjoyed all he did and was occasionally delighted by some note or passage I was not expecting. His voice has these nice surprises and I think he and Audra McDonald are beautiful together both visually and vocally. Of course, this piece doesn't work unless you can be convinced that Bess will/would stay - and be satisfied to do so. Porgy must be attractive to her and clearly Norm Lewis' Porgy is.

Bess is the dance. Bess is the reason for the season. I have read that, for the Gershwins and the Heywards, Bess was an afterthought. Well in this play, she is not. In this production Bess is Audra McDonald and that makes all the difference in the world. With McDonald there does not seem to be the need to diminish her sex appeal or embellish it. She's got it and you can look and see what Crown and Sporting Life and Porgy see. And you can certainly hear it and all of her other myriad attributes in every note out of her throat. I don't have the scholarship to critique the vocals in this production. All I know is taken from the evidence of my ears and my soul. The singing was marvelous.
That the signature song,"Summertime" was sung as a duet by the new parents was one of the small, but meaningful changes in this production. Rather than sing about her frustrations as a poor,rural mother hoping for a good, rich life for her child she was a part of a young couple with high hopes and aspirations. That things don't turn out as Nikki Renee Daniels' Clara would have wished is beside the point since there are no foregone conclusions in the life of a play. Of course we know what will happen though Clara and Jake don't. All parents hope that the road ahead of their child will be paved with ease. Joshua Henry as Jake and Nikki Renee Daniels are sweet and harmonious throughout the play and their energy embellishes the dances.
I liked the dancing in Porgy & Bess. It was not showy or "stagey" or seemingly choreographed though, of course, it was. Ronald K. Brown did a great job with performers who clearly were there to sing. He/They created lovely stage pictures and the competitive, gender-based social dancing echoed the heterosexual contretemps of the main characters.
Yvette Williams as Mariah is a refreshing departure from the much broader film characterization by Pearl Bailey. She is a visual delight in every scene and is a glue for the Catfish Row community. A special mention for Bryonha Marie Parham who sang "My Man's Gone Now" with the vocal brilliance and great depth of passion that the song requires. Yes, Ma'am, thank you.
I laughed at the audience when they gently, good-naturedly booed Crown and Sporting Life in the curtain call. It was atavistic. Cheer the good people and boo the bad ones. Both of the familiar villains were good and properly dangerous. David Alan Grier was excellent as Sporting Life. Who knew he could sing like that? He was in complete control of his character's dignity. He was comic, but not bufoonish. He was a charming villain, but no less serious and dangerous than Crown. This tightrope was skillfully navigated by playwright/adapters, Suzan Lori Parks and Diedre L. Murray and by Grier. Phillip Boykin embodied the play's true villainy as Crown. Whenever he came onstage he changed the stage dynamic and caused a ripple effect in the others. The staging of his violence toward Bess was truly scary. It was dancelike- very dancelike - without seeming to be choreographed. And that became, for me, the metaphor. Men like Crown are, for women like Bess, insurmountable obstacles. Bess could not escape him. She had to tangle with him. And it is a testament to the enduring resonance of this work that I wanted to call out a warning to Bess - I wanted to change the play - I wanted to yell out, "Kick him in the balls and run!"

She didn't. Too bad.

The themes of Porgy & Bess are timeless - and well-worn. There are no surprises. Whatever they trimmed out in this superb adaptation was stuff I didn't miss. The issues and situations raised are oh,so topical. One question: Rihanna, have you seen this show?

To the women who sat near me and surreptitiously videotaped the show: that is piracy and is really,really rude. Respect the performers. Next time I will report you.

Religion, Traditions and Zimerican perspective

THE CONVERT written by Danai Gurira and directed by Emily Mann is running through February 13th at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, NJ. I went down with my little theater wolf-pack and we were really glad to have made the trip. We were pumped up at the chance to see THE CONVERT before it travels to The Goodman in Chicago, then to Los Angeles' Center Theater Group.

If you want to quibble you could say THE CONVERT by Danai Gurira, billed as a world premier by the McCarter, is too long a play by about thirty minutes. But the performances are so good and the directing so expert and the writing so lovely that it seems churlish to complain. It was a true pleasure to see Cheryl Lynn Bruce's work as Mai Tamba. Her skills are impeccable and, as always, her work is memorable. To the inexpert ear, the Shona language and pidgin English as used in the production appeared well rendered by all of the actors. Very little information is lost though the dialogue of Chancellor is often difficult to understand. Pascale Armand begins as appropriately winsome in the role of Jekesa/Ester and finishes as a stalwart woman warrior. It is pleasure to watch the progress. And though we kind of know where things will end, we are surprised and gratified by the clear, unequivocal moral stance that Jekesa/Ester takes - that the playwright, Danai Gurira gives. Zainab Jah is convincing as Prudence. Here again, a character buds, then blooms nicely. LeRoy McClain and Kevin Mambo as Chilford, the aspiring priest and Chancellor, the opportunistic, African businessman are vastly out-done by the three actresses. The play is set in Salisbury/Harare, Zimbabwe in 1895-1897 at the time of the Ndebele-Shona uprising.

"What drives me artistically is the lack of subjective voices from the African world heard in the Western world. In the profession of storytelling, I am blessed to have the opportunity to bring one voice to the other, and therefore, in my small way, to contribute to more balance." by Danai Gurira from NOTE FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR by Emily Mann, director of THE CONVERT.


http://www.mccarter.org/theconvert/