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Friday, November 7, 2008
‘Goodnight Moon’ @ Alliance Theatre
THEATER REVIEW “Goodnight Moon” Grade: B- Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 16 at 1 and 3:30 p.m. Alliance Theatre, 1280 Peachtree St. $15 and $20. www.alliancetheatre.com. 404-733-5000
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The two pre-schoolers in my house adore the picture book “Goodnight Moon.” Clement Hurd’s cozy, crayon-colored illustrations, with a hint of faux-primitivism in the style, and Margaret Wise Brown’s gentle, sing-songy words resonate with perceptive, if still forming, imaginations.
Parents find the 1940s tale of Bunny resisting sleep in his Great Green Room comforting, too, for its sweet earnestness — such a relief from the invasive Disney juggernaut, where every product seems focus-grouped to drive young consumers to maximum distraction.
So when our 4-year-old went to Chad Henry’s 2006 musical adaptation of “Goodnight Moon” — oh joy! — at the Alliance Theatre, the stage magic seemed to boggle the senses. The flying red balloon and talking appliances, the gags about getting one more a sip of water, the cow in the painting who actually tries to jump over the moon, and every other page of the story are brought to vivid, and often hyperactive, life.
Rosemary Newcott’s direction, in fact, has the opposite effect of the book. In striped pajamas, his cotton tail peeping out the back, Little Bunny (Derek Manson) and his pink-pajama’d pal Mouse (Sharon Litzky) apparently downed a couple of Red Bulls after dinner. They’re clearly on a sugar and caffeine high — and that did nothing to help Litzky sing in tune.
Children’s tastes aside, Chad Henry’s songs — snatches of honky-tonk and boogie-woogie and pop ballads — are mostly forgettable and offer few insights into the story.
The Old Lady who whispers hush (Amber Iman) gets a good turn with the title song. Yet “Hey Diddle Diddle,” trotted out three times, had visual gags in place but became a chore to hear.
Tellingly, the best number in the show is “Bears with Chairs,” with a driving rhythm and comic, razzle-dazzle choreography, and at the performance we attended it drew by far the most laughs and cheers from the kids in the audience, proving once again that children can be easily distracted but they know quality like everyone else.
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‘A Lesson Before Dying’ @ Theatrical Outfit
THEATER REVIEW. “A Lesson Before Dying” Grade: B. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Sundays. 2 p.m. Saturday and Nov. 22. Through Nov. 23. $30. Theatrical Outfit, Balzer Theater at Herren’s. 84 Luckie St. N.W., Atlanta. 678-528-1500, theatricaloutfit.org
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In Ernest J. Gaines’ 1993 novel, “A Lesson Before Dying,” a young black man named Jefferson is falsely accused of killing a white merchant. When his defense attorney calls him a “hog,” Jefferson is rendered sub-human, and condemned to a deeper kind of psychological purgatory.
Jefferson shuns a maternal visitor’s baskets of fried chicken and teacakes, getting down on the floor to gnash at the food and grunt like a pig. But over the course of the story, he achieves spiritual rehabilitation and rebirth, thanks to the ministering of a schoolteacher and preacher recruited by his surrogate family.
Jefferson’s journey — his capacity to love and forgive in the face of brutality — is now on display in a strong production of Romulus Linney’s adaptation at Theatrical Outfit. Delicately directed by Jill Jane Clements, the action moves painfully and methodically toward its inexorable conclusion.
Set in Jim Crow-era Louisiana, “Lesson” recalls such morally complex material as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Horton Foote’s “The Chase,” both produced recently by the Outfit, the city’s major producer of Southern drama.
At first glance, the plodding play can feel a little creaky, preachy and loaded with stock characters (the bigoted sheriff, the sensitive warden, the idealistic teacher). But as long as the criminal justice system is exacting the death penalty (in the state of Georgia no less), as long as America flaunts disparities of color and class, Gaines’ archetypal tale remains as ripe for debate as headlines and talk TV.
Here designers Jamie Bullins (sets) and Rob Dillard (lighting) create a mood of spot-on realism for the parish courthouse, where Jefferson lurches in from a nearby cell to receive visitors: His godmother Miss Emma Glenn (Veronica Redd), never without a picnic basket in hand; the Rev. Moses Ambrose (Gordon Danniels) and plantation schoolteacher Grant Wiggins (Johnell J. Easter), who comes with his own set of troubles and conflicts.
Like some directorial angel, Clements takes great care in coaxing sensitively crafted performances from her company. Miss Emma’s nerves are a source of good comedy. William S. Murphey, solid as always, struts like a rooster as Sheriff Sam Guidry. Rich Remedios, as the quiet deputy Paul Bonin, is almost always onstage, and though he says very little, he provides an aura of calm.
If Easter’s Grant Wiggins seems a little flavorless, Little’s Jefferson is appropriately sullen — a little broad at first but ultimately affecting.
As Jefferson finds his peace in a twisted, bigoted world, time hangs. As he becomes a Christlike figure who is kind to children, his destiny transforms him. On opening night, so many tears flowed that the show felt like a lesson before crying. A somber, reflective and brutal story, yes, but one pinned to a crucible of grace and hope.
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