Theater Review: Blue

by Mark-Brian Sonna of of MBS Productions

As I was getting ready to write yet another positive review, it dawned on me how fortunate we are to be in North Texas, especially if you love theatre. For these first few months, there’s been such a wide range of shows, and there have been no disasters. Theater companies for the most part are choosing smart plays with strong casts. Yes, there may be a weakness here and there but the productions overcome them and present a show worth your money. I’m glad to report that Blue currently playing at Jubilee Theatre continues this trend.

Blue, the play by Charles Randolph-Wright and music by Nona Hendryx, is a play people may not be familiar with, and it’s a shame. This marvelous, biting, hysterically funny script is full of texture, depth, and honesty. The setting is the home of the Clark family. The Clarks begin the play as an upper middle class family and end up quite wealthy. They run a mortuary and are successful at it. The family is governed by the mother, Peggy Clark. Mrs. Clark is an ex-model who runs the household as if she were a queen in a palace. She is egotistical, manipulative, overbearing, and clearly frustrated that the world won’t stop for her. She is also is obsessed with Blue Williams, a soul singer: every time she needs an escape she puts on his record, and by inventive stage magic he appears to croon and serenade her. This device works wonders for the lyrics of the songs he sings reflect the inner workings of her mind. As we get to know the family more intimately and time passes, their dysfunction grows. Her husband Samuel coddles her too much, her oldest son Samuel III, who is seen by Peggy as a disappointment is running around with a trampy girl Latonya, and Peggy idealizes her youngest son Reuben by pressuring him to become an artist like Blue. We begin to wonder what is holding the family together. The question of sexual fidelity enters the picture of what is an outwardly appearing "proper" family. I thought I had figured out where the infidelities were. I and the rest of the audience were wrong. The reveals shocked us, yet it ended up putting the entire play and the familial relationships in context.

The second theatrical device of this script that is unusual, besides having Blue suddenly appear every time his record is put on to serenade, is the dual role or Reuben Clark. The play takes place over a span of fifteen years. Reuben goes from being a boy of 12 to a man of 27. They both frequently appear on stage together and talk to each other thus adding a second layer of commentary to the proceedings. This may sound confusing for the audience but it isn’t. Walter Fauntleroy and Joshua Reed were cast as the older/younger Reuben, and are so uncannily similar in appearance despite their age difference that this device is convincing. They both also happen to be wonderful actors.

The rest of cast is equally as wonderful. Cynthia Jackson, who has an amazing stage presence, is the overbearing mother. Liz Mikel plays Tillie Clark, the grandmother, even though she’s obviously too young for the part. But with a talent like Ms. Mikel, it doesn’t matter that she looks too young, she still convinces us. Samuel Clark Jr. is played by the incomparable Bill Hass whose performance was palpable. Sametria Ewunes as Latonya Dinkins transforms before our very eyes, first as the town tramp, then as the girl who is attempting to become sophisticated, later as a mother coping with her self made problems when she was young. Cavin Yarbrough plays Blue Williams, the artist who serenades us all with honesty and emotion. Jordan K. Spradley plays Samuel III and he is astounding, we literally watch him “grow up” before our very eyes.

Akin Babatunde’ directed this piece with grace and sensitivity. The only issue I had with this play is he needed to “sit” on his actors more. The troupe is about as strong an ensemble you can get on a stage right now. The play is hilarious, and there are plenty of moments for great visual humor along with the lines. Not a moment of comedy was wasted. Sometimes the actors were playing it up a bit too much and hitting the comedy hard. It worked but at the detriment of what is to come later. As we learn more and more about the dysfunction and the infidelities, a pain begins to emerge. Because we have been laughing at the play we should have connected with the characters and then agonize with them. Since the comedy is so broad and over the top when the play hits its serious moments, we watch with empathy but not with sympathy. The lines and dialogue are there that should make us cry, but we don’t. The actors are able to deliver the realism in Act 2, but we needed the same level of realism in Act 1 for us to emotionally become invested. The end result is a bit jarring, it's almost like there are two separate plays. This is where the director Babatunde’ should have intervened and instructed the players to level it out. This is the only flaw in this seamless production, and by no means does it ruin the performance. I must temper this comment by pointing out that it was opening night and the audience was electric and so full of energy that it might have pushed the performers in this direction and it is possible that the over the top style of Act 1 will mellow out throughout the rest of the run.

Rebecca RedFox (Estes) the costumer for the show deserves special recognition. Peggy Clark being an ex-model would have a wardrobe to die for, and in this production she does. Each outfit was flawless and fierce. One of the running jokes in the play is that Peggy never cooks, she just orders food from various restaurants and pretends to have whipped it up in her kitchen. It’s her way to “travel the world.” She then matches her outfit to reflect the country of the cuisine. When she stepped on stage in her Kimono outfit to serve Japanese food it caused such a roar the actors had to hold for the audience to recover.

Make no mistake, this play is great, and you will thoroughly enjoy it. It also happens to flirt with being transcendental theatre, though doesn’t quite make it. But there is no doubt after seeing this show that Jubilee Theatre is producing the highest quality theatre in North Texas right now.

Blue runs until June 15 and tickets can be purchased online or by calling 817-338-4411.