THE 1041C Theater Reviews

I’ve been jammed in the back of a tiny Acura TL with three other people sitting next to me and one person lying down on my lap, and I still think that the seats at the Vivian Beaumont theater were the worst seating arrangements I ever had to go through in my 18 years of life. I think the experience is comparable to being in the backseat of a Mexican border smuggling van, being cuffed and squeezed inside a police car, or being locked in an Al-Qaeda solitary confinement prison cell. I won’t say which of the three listed situations I had the misfortune to go through, but I will say that after sitting in those seats I will without a doubt never be able to have children. Obviously there has been a huge increase in the obesity level over the years in New York City because those seats were clearly custom made for Kate Moss, or might have been made from a surplus of foot rests. I just thank all my blessings that I didn’t buy the overpriced popcorn at the concession stand, had I eaten anything while sitting in those cramped seats I wouldn’t have been able to get out of them at the end of the show.

All specially designed hamster seats aside, I enjoyed A Free Man of Color a lot. To start, I think the actor choices for the characters blew the character selection of Medea right out of the water, not to say that Medea was ever actually in the water. Mos Def was most definitely brilliant; it’s good to see that a lyrically powerful rapper can pull off a just as powerful performance as a powerless slave, I personally feel that his cynical acting style contributed the most to the humorous tone of the play. However, his separate portrayal of a Haitian revolutionist and his “betrayal” of Jacques Cornet at the end of the play showed a more serious side of Mos Def’s acting ability. Jacques Cornet was also very well played; his frivolous behavior and scheming player mentality was strongly portrayed by the actor. However, his fashion sense was rather questionable even for the historical time period; his wardrobe would make a gay pride parade look bland.

I also enjoyed the actresses of the play, although I feel that the only role the women played were sexual roles. I have nothing against sexually active women, but I think the role of women could have been expanded further than flings and scientists finding epiphanies while having sex. On the flip side, I found that the especially large breasted women drew attention away from the main action of the play, particularly those of the light skinned Hispanic girl. I blame the presence of her breasts on stage for my inability to recall any names from the play.

The plot of the show was relatively strong, but somewhat ridiculous. It was generally historically accurate, but the actions of the characters were much more contemporary. Of course, I wouldn’t have liked it any other way because I definitely would have dozed off had they been speaking and acting in colonial mannerisms, big breasts included or not.  I did however find Jacques Cornet’s announcement to New Orleans that his penis and testicles were shot off to be hilarious; I felt the same way while sitting in those emasculating seats. Another highlight of the play was when Napoleon got up from the bathtub wearing nothing but an extremely ornate strap-on; I nearly died laughing. The actor who played Napoleon’s character was actually among my favorites of the play; his accent mixed with a snobby, vulgar and desperate attitude helped provide a tasteless side of the play, which I find to be the best sides of plays.

I would give this play an eight out of ten. The two points were taken off for the two things of mine that were taken off while sitting in that cage of a seat, and the eight points came from a variety of positives: big breasts, a multitude of sexually charged jokes, references to people and events that came into being hundreds of years after the timeline of the play and the subliminal messages hidden beneath all the shallow sexual jokes and flirtatious women. One such message was that the phrase “all men are created equal” as stated all throughout American history is as valid as my student Metrocard from high school, and that the double standard used with blacks while dealing with equality is extremely prevalent. I for one agree with this message, and enjoyed the fact that the screenwriter managed to fit something so important into such a seemingly lighthearted theater production.