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FROM SCREEN TO STAGE

By Kevin Hylton

March 5, 2003

Confronting Prejudice On Stage
Two Reviews: Charles Dutton and Whoopi Goldberg in August Wilson’s MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM and Richard Greenberg’s TAKE ME OUT

Every winter I sit back in my 650-square-foot palace in Manhattan and consider moving. It takes approximately twenty days of actual winter before I am ready to turn in my subway map, obscenely expensive gym membership, and jump into a plane and head for the left coast. Fortunately or not I always seem to find something that keeps me tied to this concrete jungle. Last night I got a clue why I still am in New York. It has something to do with the theatre (as you may guess).

When you look back at our country’s history (and I do not consider myself any Howard Zinn by the slightest stretch of the imagination), we very clearly seem to intend to be accepting of minority religions, creeds, and preferences. Unfortunately, our country’s deeply entrenched capitalist beliefs always seem to overwhelm the competing interest in equality. Two plays on Broadway today take a look at our country’s mistreatment of homosexuals and African-Americans in two different decades (the 1920s and the present times).

In 1984, August Wilson’s MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM premiered on Broadway and with it, the playwright began a ten-play series examining the lives of African-Americans during each decade of the twentieth century. MA RAINEY was the breakout play for an unknown African-American playwright from Pittsburgh’s poor Hill District. Following RAINEY, Wilson found critical success with his plays FENCES and THE PIANO LESSON and won the Pulitzer Prize. Wilson has become the leader amongst African American playwrights and one of America’s most respected playwrights overall.

MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM gives audiences a glimpse into the life of Gertrude Pridgett (“Ma”) Rainey who was known as the “Mother of the Blues” and came to popularity during the 1920s. RAINEY (played by Whoopi Goldberg) and a group of session musicians led by coronet-wielding LEVEE (played by Charles Dutton) gather together at the recording studio of two white recording producers to lay down tracks for a new album. The play chronicles this recording session and shows the relationship between the musicians and the white men who run the studio. More importantly, the play looks at African-American men and women and the way they interacted during this time and the manners in which skin color stymied opportunities and stole innocence and creativity from a race that was attempting to find its place in an unwelcoming American capitalist society.

Wilson’s play echoes late-nineteenth century, early-twentieth century African American poetry. Wilson and his play appear heavily motivated by the poem “We Wear The Mask” (1895) by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

When you study the African American characters in MA RAINEY, it seems that all of them (with exception of Ma herself) “Wear the Mask” hiding their true emotions. The play explores the masks the different characters wear during the day at the studio and the ultimate effect that the mask has upon the person it hides. From a sociological perspective, RAINEY is an interesting piece. It nicely examines the racial boundaries that existed during the twenties for many African American musicians who were trying to make it in what was clearly still a white-controlled industry.

There is a great deal that is successful with this play. As mentioned, there is much worthwhile discussion of the 1920s and social issues. Wilson clearly has a musical ear for dialogue that enables him to entertain and teach through exchanges between his characters. And yet, it seems that the play itself is slightly long-winded. It rambles in the way that an improvisational solo by some fantastic young, budding jazz saxophonist strays in directions that are entertaining, but ultimately do not serve to improve his song. When one looks back at early Albee and compare the work to later pieces, one can see places where dialog is loose and the critical eye of the playwright may not have been as sharp as in later plays. The same thing can be said for MA RAINEY. Wilson implants chord progressions in his dialog that rival the writing of any skilled blues musician. Wilson’s scenes between the studio musicians provide enchanting dialog that is hilarious at points and heart wrenching at other times. Unfortunately, these scenes last too long. Wilson seems to want to show the ways these musicians interact and are abused by a white controlled music industry and world. These points are made quickly. Regardless of how enjoyable the dialog in these scenes is, they extend the show to a point where one has trouble enjoying the comedy and appreciating the dramatic elements to the show.

Evaluating the direction in this play really forces one to ask, “What are we evaluating?” If you see the job of the theatre director to be actually managing and blocking the space on stage in an effort to express emotion then I think Marion McClinton (who directed King Headley II) has done a good job. If you see the director’s key role as a motivator for actors then again, I think McClinton has done a good job for all of the acting is superb. If, however, you feel the director’s job extends to seeing how a script can most effectively be used and manipulated to get its desired effect, I think McClinton fails in this respect. Perhaps a director should not only edit the actors performances but the play itself.

With all this said, I firmly believe that you should see MA RAINEY. Across the board, the acting is first rate. There are no flaws in this cast. All of the session musicians are seasoned thespians, many of whom are veterans of other Wilson productions. Whoopi Goldberg sings and performs respectably as Ma Rainey. Some reviewers may claim that her performance, which relies more on a humorous side to Ma, lacks the angry, hard, biting facets present in earlier productions and in the written play. Still, I found that underneath the comedic side to Whoopi’s MA, there was a very clear, very strong “Take no shit” attitude to the character that came out.

While this play is important for the social issues it presents you really should see it because of one actor. In addition to producing a career for August Wilson, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM introduced the world to the acting of Charles Dutton. Since his performance in the 1984 production, Dutton continued his stage work and appeared in several other August Wilson dramas. His work has taken him to television serials and Hollywood films including work with Robert Altman (COOKIE’S FORTUNE), the Hughes Brothers (MENACE TO SOCIETY), and David Fincher (SEVEN). Recently Dutton stated that MA RAINEY would be his last production on a theatrical stage. I sincerely hope this was a cruel joke. Dutton plays this painful role as if it were written for him. After doing some research on Dutton, it is clear why he is so successful at the part.

Typically, I abhor reviews which give too much of a view into the storyline of a play. In this particular case I think it is necessary to understand my fascination with Dutton and his portrayal of this role. Dutton plays LEVEE, an aging coronet player trying to get his break and fight his way out of poverty. He is creative, he is talented, and he has a great deal of misdirected anger. White men abused his parents and yet he continues to “Wear The Mask” for the white men running the studio in hopes that they will buy his music and give him his own band. When the “Levee” breaks at the end of this play, the actor misdirects his anger and kills the one kind person who actually reaches out to him. Now, why should you see the play now that you already know the punchline?

Charles Dutton was born in Baltimore in January of 1951. He grew up in the Latrobe Housing Project on Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore. After a troubled youth, Dutton dropped out of school after seventh grade. His next move was to try his hand as a boxer under the nickname “Roc” (the same name for the television show in which he starred several years ago). At the age of seventeen, Roc stabbed another African-American man in a street fight in Baltimore. The man died and Dutton spent the next two years in jail for manslaughter. He followed that with a sentence for weapons possession amounting to almost eight years in jail. While in prison Dutton was stabbed in the neck with an ice pick by another inmate during a fight. The event appears to have been a life-altering event for Dutton. It proved to be the first time in his life that he did not retaliate. During a time in solitary confinement, Dutton began to read the works of several prominent playwrights. He fell in love with theatre and while in prison gained his high school equivalency. He mounted a prison production with other inmates in a drama group. While on parole he attended Towson State University and in 1976 was accepted into Yale Drama School. Both Dutton’s sister and brother were drug addicts and his brother died in 1993 of AIDS.

Wilson could just as easily have written a play about Dutton and his experiences growing up in the slums of Baltimore. It is no wonder with his background that Wilson chose Dutton to portray the angry, pain-ridden, protagonist in his first production of MA RAINEY. When you look at Dutton’s life it becomes very clear what is going on stage for the actor. He is not only playing a role, he is replaying events in his own life.

It is hard to believe that Dutton will ever be able to abandon the theatre. It clearly has saved his life. But just in case, I wouldn’t miss this opportunity to see him on Broadway.

On February 27th, 2003 Richard Greenberg’s play TAKE ME OUT opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Previously TAKE ME OUT had a brief run at New York’s Public Theatre. Joe Mantello, who recently directed FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, is also responsible for the direction of TAKE ME OUT. The play is an ensemble piece telling the story of a superstar baseball player (rumored to be based on the life of a present player for the Mets) who decides to “come out” and reveal his true sexuality. The play deals with the after effects of this revelation both to the team and the world as a whole.

Greenberg’s play is not an example of fine musical language indulging in lengthy dialogs just for the sake of indulgence. It is however a very skillfully layered consideration of the myths of celebrity, our country’s acceptance of homosexuals, and, of course, baseball.

Scott Pask created a set that puts us right in there with the team in the locker room, in the showers, and on the field. You can almost smell the popcorn and hotdogs and the theatre actually had a little old man playing the organ in front of the theatre on opening night. The sound effects make you feel like you’re at the game. The only criticism I have, in regards to the sound effects, is that at times it is difficult to make out some of the dialog during the game scenes due to the ambient crowd noise being piped in.

I saw TAKE ME OUT twice. The first time was during previews on Broadway and the second was opening night. The play improves with every viewing. Each time you see it you scratch through another level of humor and somehow reveal previously invisible layers of social issues. This is a testament to Greenberg’s writing and the actors’ performances.

The acting is first-rate. Daniel Sunjata plays the godlike gay player DARREN LEMMING. Sunjata plays his lonely, sad, self-loathing and yet narcissistic character brilliantly. The actor worked on TV in SEX AND THE CITY, ED, and LAW AND ORDER:SVU. Neal Huff joins Sunjata in the role of KIPPY. Kippy is a good friend and teammate of LEMMING. Huff has the daunting task of playing both a key role in the story and being the story’s primary narrator. He does a good job in not only playing the character well but also in connecting the many scenes changes within his role as the narrator.

However, despite the overall stellar performances of these lead actors, without the performance of Denis O’Hare (playing LEMMING’s financial advisor MARZ) TAKE ME OUT would not connect on the same plane. MARZ is your typical neurotic, intelligent New Yorker, with one exception… he doesn’t like baseball. Watching him fall in love with the game over the course of the play gave me goose bumps. The playwright, through MARZ, is able to point out the wonderfully idiosyncratic nuances in the game of baseball in a way that made me want to go home and immediately start watching Yankee reruns on ESPN CLASSIC.

The brilliance of this play though, is not in its comedy. The playwright’s biggest success is in the way that he can parallel the joy of winning (for fans) with the reality of the actual living going on in the locker room. Sports are brilliant in the ways that they can consume and unite people. But winning can be meaningless, especially when it is at the cost of human suffering. Why do we have such problems with a baseball player expressing his sexuality? Why do we find it necessary to force these players who bring us such joy to “Wear the Mask?”

Tickets to both MA RAINEY’s BLACK BOTTOM and TAKE ME OUT can be obtained through TELECHARGE at (212)239-6200.

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