THE 1041C Theater Reviews

Walking into the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, I couldn’t help but think “We are definitely not in the BPAC anymore [Toto].” I had no idea what to expect – out of the story, out of the performances…anything. Although, the play ended up being a little too long, I was pleasantly surprised that I actually liked it.

First of all, I think each actor performed extremely well. Besides the fact that Paul Dano, Mos Def, AND the butler from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were part of the cast, I enjoyed everyone’s performance. Even though we were sitting a little high up and couldn’t always tell what the actors’ facial expressions looked like, their emotions were conveyed through their voices, their costumes, and their actions. I liked that the play made an attempt to stay as close to history as possible. The setting of the story actually came at the perfect time because it was similar to what we were learning in history at the time, which probably helped me understand the play better.

I also thought the technique of freezing the actions of some characters on stage and having other character talk, as if in another room, or scene, etc. was very interesting. It was weird, but effective. Lighting was also very important throughout the play. To make those “frozen action” scenes even more effective, certain areas of the stage would be covered in dim lighting. Sometimes, in order to get from one scene to another without lowering the curtain, the lights would dim. I most liked the use of lighting towards the end when the entire stage was enveloped by white light to symbolize the blank, uncharted spaces on the map.

Overall, the play was, yes, a little too long, but definitely interesting and at times, entertaining. I think the author was trying to give us a sense of history at the time, sometimes by mocking it and sometimes by indirectly trying to show a parallel between then and now.