For example, not only was a trophy that Top Gun Pilot Haydel Joseph White Sr. This exhibition, produced by photographer Jim Thorns and previously seen at the WWII Museum, features photos of Louisiana men and women, some now centenarians, from all branches of the military who served our country in their youth.Īccompanying biographical information gives thumbnail portraits of these people, but, for some, wall cards detail their heroic service as well as the racism they encountered. When you arrive at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center, you’re greeted in the foyer by “Souls of Valor - A Photographic Tribute to the African American Heroes of WWII”. While Johnson does offer some lovely heartfelt moments towards the play’s end, otherwise her performance aptly demonstrates why one should think twice before directing oneself in a major role. I suspect Phylicia Rashad employed a more nuanced approach and, had someone else been directing, Johnson probably would’ve done so too. It might’ve made more sense for Johnson to take a softer approach and play against Peggy’s harshness I’ve known a few women like Peggy and their snobbery reveals itself in much more subtle ways. She’s not bad, but whereas she’s steered her castmates into giving flesh-and-blood characterizations, her own portrayal borders on the caricature as this privileged, pretentious woman looks down her nose at others and, later, acts inexcusably, you can almost sense Johnson’s Peggy twirling her (metaphorical) moustache. So who keeps this cast from scoring a 10? Director Johnson who has cast herself as Peggy Clark. And there may be a reason for Johnson’s decision to have Hartley lip-sync Blue’s songs, but it’s a questionable one. His numbers, penned by Labelle vocalist Nona Hendryx, however, seem to be inserted more to allow for costume changes than for dramatic effect. Sam Hartley certainly looks the role of the suave eponymous jazz/R&B singer Blue Williams you can understand why Peggy is infatuated with him. After Blue fast forwards about 20 years, Daniel Hartley may appear a little too youthful for a 30something, but he’s otherwise fine as the adult Sam III, poised to take over parts of the family business. If Rayson Brown as Sam III, Sam’s elder son, is good as a would-be teenage ladies’ man, his best moment comes when no one else is around and he exuberantly dances to The Commodores’ Brick House as though he’s on Soul Train. If at first I questioned the pairing of the restrained Sam and the more demonstrative Peggy, I then recalled similar couples, gay and straight, whom I know of the “opposites attract” variety. Playing Tillie’s son and head of the mortuary business, Tirrel Sylvus (real life father to Asia) comes off a little stiff (pun not intended) but not inappropriately so for a man of his profession. Jennifer Baptiste and Kaula Johnson in Blue Baptiste’s Tillie is the kind of grandmother everyone wants to have. Baptiste astutely knows how to play anger for laughs, and, after Tillie has had a few drinks, expertly makes her tipsy without going overboard. Still, transitions could’ve been smoother on Adam Landry’s functional set the audience spends a little too much time looking at a bare stage at the beginning and end of scenes as crew members adjust furniture and various set pieces.Īlong with Sylvas, Jennifer Baptiste, who did a marvelous job directing Once on This Island for SLT last year, is wonderful as Grandma Tillie Clark. If, at times, the staging veered too much to the static, Johnson did the best she could with Blue’s ofttimes talky script. Kaula Johnson directs with a sure hand, guiding her cast, with one exception, to polished, believable performances. That such notable actresses as Diahann Carroll and Leslie Uggams, as well as Rashad who starred in the original production, have appeared in it signifies Blue’s worthiness. Randolph-Wright’s script is, alternately, sit com-y and soap opera-y, and I could’ve done without the older self of one character talking to his younger self (and vice versa), but, overall, Blue holds your attention with well-drawn characters and provides entertainment with a secrets-waiting-to-be-spilled plot. It was supposed to return to NYC in a high-profile production directed by Phylicia Rashad, but Covid derailed those plans. I look forward to seeing more performances by Sylvas.Īs for Blue, when the Roundabout Theatre Company presented Charles Randolph-Wright’s 2000 dramedy, it was one of the first portrayals of an upper-class Black family (their wealth comes from an expanding chain of funeral parlors) on a major stage in New York. Full of spice and perfect comic timing, Sylvas negotiates each shift with ease, always remaining true to LaTonya’s core personality yet believably effecting these variations with poise and a piquant charm.
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