Caroline, or Change

 Caroline, or Change
Roundabout Theatre Company
Studio 54
November 9, 2021 

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Caroline,or Change is bold and glorious.  The book and lyrics by Tony Kushner tells a very personal and intimate story, while the music by Jeanine Tesori exaggerates the emotional impact.  Director Michal Longhurst pulls very powerful performances out of the seventeen skilled cast members, who fill the stage of Studio 54 with energy, authenticity, and joy.  

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Caroline (played by Sharon D Clarke) is the maid for the Gellman family in Lake Charles, Louisiana.  The year is 1963.  Caroline spends most of her time underground, in the basement doing laundry.  Eight year old Noah (played by Jaden Myles Waldman) visits her after school.  He misses his mother, who passed away from cancer.  Caroline is a strong link for Noah to his mother.  To teach him a lesson, Noah’s step mother, Rose (played by Caisie Levy), tells Caroline to keep any money she finds in Noah’s pockets when she does his laundry.  At first Caroline returns the spare change to Noah, unable to take money from a child.  Then Noah deliberately leaves coins in his pockets for Caroline to take home to her children.  When Noah accidentally leaves his twenty dollar Chanukah gelt given to him by his grandfather (played by Chip Zein), Caroline decides to keep it.  Noah demands its return, and Caroline voices hate in words she cannot take back.  She does not return to work for a week.  Caroline must come to terms with her inner struggle in order to heal herself and improve the relationship with her own children.  

Sharon D Clarke & Jaden Myles Waldman
Photo courtesy of Roudabout Theatre Company

Sharon D Clark is a powerhouse as Caroline.  This story hinges on the character’s inability to let go of hurt, and Ms. Clark is tenacious and immovable in this role.  When her backstory is revealed in Act II, all of what she portrayed in Act I comes into focus.  When she faces her truths, the release and healing is genuine.  Also vital to this story is the attachment Noah has to Caroline.  Jaden Myles Waldman is honest and truthful as Noah.  He and Ms. Clark are in sync and truly connected. 

Caisie Levy & Sharon D Clarke
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Caisie Levy portrays dual sides of Noah’s stepmother, Rose.  On the outside she is perky and polite.  On the inside she is scared and frustrated.  Her performance is riveting, and adds some most needed humor to the storyline.  Tamika Lawrence is tough and vulnerable as Caroline’s friend, Dotty Moffett.  Samantha Williams is brave and rebellious as Caroline’s daughter, Emmie.  Her character grows throughout her journey.  She leaves us with the concluding moment of the play, which is poignant and relevant.

Here is a quote from the program by Director Michael Levy:  “This show is about how we all exits together – how we should share and acknowledge our privilege, not avoid it, in order to exist in greater peace.”  Caroline, or Change is playing at Studio 54 through January 9. 

Domenick Danza

Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika

Angels in America

Part Two: Perestroika

National Theatre Live

BAM Rose

July 27, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of National Theatre Live

In the National Theatre Live screening of Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika, director Marianne Elliott transports the audience into a world where tenacious characters face their fears and obstacles with the sense of endurance they are prepared to carry forward into the next millennium.  In Part One the set was split into sections where one scene followed another in linear fashion.  In Part Two Ms. Elliott opens up the space so that the scenes overlap, unfold, and weave into one another.  This complements the way Tony Kushner breaks down the structure he sets up in Part One.  The story opens and becomes much more visceral and imaginary.  However, just when you are soaring in the avant-garde, he hits you with the human needs of the characters that bring you back to the truths of the events and frailty of human existence.  

Denise Gough & Andrew Garfield
Photo courtesy of National Theatre Live

My post from July 22 discusses Angels in America Part One: The Millennium Approaches.  The cast masterfully leads the audience through four and a half hours of emotional extremes in Part Two.  Nathan Lane’s portrayal of the ill and dying Roy Cohen evokes layers of pity, despair, compassion, and disdain.  He is riveting.  Andrew Garfield carries the audience through the complexity of Part Two, delivering the audience safely to a state of calm and understanding.  His performance is astounding, impactful, vulnerable, and truthful.  Susan Brown rises in Part Two as Hanna Pitt / Ethel Rosenberg.  She creates these two characters as enduring and persistent with an inner sense of compassion and acceptance.

  

Russell Tovey & James McArdle
Photo courtesy of National Theatre Live

The angels are portrayed as dark and foreboding.  Puppeteers (listed as Angel Shadows) create the wings of the lead angel (played by Amanda Lawrence) and move her around the stage.  These Angel Shadows also roll in the sets and props, shifting and connecting the action of the scenes.  The scene where Prior Walter wrestles with the angel is powerfully staged and emotionally enthralling. As Act III wraps up, Tony Kushner unravels the characters and events and makes clear and profound statements about forgiveness and the desire for life.

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett & Nathan Lane
Photo courtesy of National Theatre Live

Watching Angels in America offers a retrospective view of a very dark time of our not too distant past.  This perspective is very different from the way it framed the events of the day when it was first experienced in 1991, when the millennium was approaching.  Both ways, the message of hope is pervasive and valuable.  Thinking about how we as a country managed to move into the new millennium with a sense of optimism calls for a pause to the fatalistic sense of the present.  When did we abandon our sense of continuity and the inevitability of forward movement?  Prior Walters asks the angels for a sense of hope to propel him forward in his choice, which is to live.  Perhaps this is what we need to get a stronger sense of how to face the day. 

Andrew Garfield
Photo courtesy of National Theatre Live

As I said before, the National Theatre Live is an invaluable opportunity to experience high quality theatre that most of us, until now, have only been able to read about.  Take advantage of these affordable broadcasts and broaden your exposure.  Check out their website (ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk) for locations and dates of encore screenings of Angels in America. 

Domenick Danza

Angels in America Part One: The Millennium Approaches

Angels in America

Part One: The Millennium Approaches

National Theatre Live

BAM Rose

July 20, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of National Theatre Live 

The National Theatre Live screening of Angels in America Part One: The Millennium Approaches is potent and poignant.  Director Marianne Elliott finds the rhythms in Tony Kushner’s writing, and allows them to build with great momentum.  The cast creates characters and relationships that are genuine, volatile, and relatable.

Tony Kushner subtitles Angels in America as “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes.”  First performed in 1991, the play explores the aids epidemic in the Ronald Regan era through the characters of Prior Walter (played by Andrew Garfield), his boyfriend Louis (played by James McArdle), well known conservative Republican attorney, Roy Cohen (played by Nathan Lane), his protégé, Joe Pitt (played by Russell Tovey), and Joe’s wife, Harper (played by Denise Gough).  Mr. Kushner’s juxtaposition of a gay couple, a Mormon couple (Joe and Harper Pitt), and conservative Republican values opens the door for political and moral issues of the time to be aired and debated.  Roy Cohen is sick with aids and haunted by the spirit of Ethel Rosenberg (played by Susan Brown).  Historically, Mr. Cohen was influential on Ethel Rosenberg’s death penalty decision.  Prior Walter, also sick with aids, is visited by his ancestors and the great profit, who has a message for the new millennium.

Andrew Garfield as Prior Walter
Photo courtesy of National Theatre

Andrew Garfield is deeply grounded and enveloped in his physical choices for the character of Prior Walter.  He is transformed.  His performance is honest and real.  Nathan Lane is strong as Roy Cohen.  He masterfully nails the humor, the coldness, and the magnitude of this character.  Denise Gough creates a Harper Pitt who is lost in addiction and delusion.  She makes the truth in Tony Kushner’s words ring with clarity and power.  James McArdle is perfectly neurotic and torn as Louis, offering insight into the emotional turmoil of the time.  Russell Tovey effectively portrays Joe Pitt as steadfast on the outside and tragically crumbling on the inside.

Nathan lane as Roy Cohen
Photo courtesy of National Theatre

The National Theatre Live is an invaluable opportunity to experience high quality theatre that most of us, until now, have only been able to read about.  Take advantage of these affordable broadcasts and broaden your exposure and limitations.  Check out their website (ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk) for screening locations and dates.  Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika will be shown at BAM Rose on Thursday, July 27 at 7:00 PM.  Visit their website for tickets (www.bam.org/#Theater), and be sure to check back here next week for a posting.

Domenick Danza