The purpose of White People is twofold. First, Rogers seeks to unmask the prejudice lurking even in reasonable, clannish Caucasians. Mara Lynn, the one-time belle drowning in laundry and difficulties, lapses into screeds against the Indian physician attending her son, the Latino foreman who “rides” her truck-driver spouse, even the “stumpy little black girl” to whom she graciously reached out from her high-school throne and who now refuses to acknowledge her from her own exalted seat as bank manager. Her point: we were here first and they should all go to the back of the line. But Rogers also shakes a finger at language, from the painstaking terms of political correctness to ethnic slang to incendiary triggers like the n-word. Although the play itself is sharply written (even the prom queen comes armed with wit and a vivid way with words), it fails to nail linguistics as a chief culprit dividing us. Don’t hold that against it, though; this is a piece whose candor makes you sit up and cringe.
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- Killing grounds
Chekhov wrote to a friend while composing The Seagull , first of his Big Four, that he was writing a “comedy with three female parts, six male parts, four acts, a landscape (a view of the lake), much talk about literature, and five tons of love.”
- No sex please, we’re bookish
A not so funny thing happened on the way to the Huntington Theatre Company’s planned run of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum : the lead actor accepted a part in a Broadway show.
- Poster children
The freshly painted mural built on the wall outside Anthony’s Italian Kitchen is pretty convincing.
- Dashing debut
The wickedly dark, clever, and all-deprecating satire Urinetown receives a sonorous production by the newly formed Vacationland Theater Company, in Sanford, directed by Hunter F. Roberts.
- Maid in America
Caroline, the African-American maid of Caroline, or Change , spends most of her days doing laundry in a basement in Louisiana, circa 1963.
- Spring boards
As the winter wind makes fast tracks, it leaves a burgeoning crop of ancient masterpieces, world premieres, farces, and musicals to blossom come April.
- Clothes call
The musical version of The Full Monty comes across as bawdy and hilarious as intended in this version by Center Stage Productions.
- Simple gifts
If there’s a God in show-biz Heaven, she’s no doubt relieved that the folks at Cape Playhouse in Dennis had enough theatrical smarts to mount Guys and Dolls without messing around.
- Music and fashion
Since it turns out that the Evil Empire actually does suck this year, let’s start this summer preview off with Joe Boyd’s famous Faustian bargain
- Dreamgirls
The chorus has been singing for months now: Bill Condon’s can’t-miss adaptation of Tom Eyen & Henry Krieger’s 25-year-old Broadway musical is roaring into theaters to save a lackluster fall. Watch the trailer for Dreamgirls (QuickTime)
- Absolute Wilson
Back in 1991, in the American Repertory Theatre production of When We Dead Awaken , Robert Wilson’s musical based on the dour Henrik Ibsen play, there was a moment when the cast, led by Honey Cole, started a cakewalk line while chanting the play’s title over and over again. Watch the trailer for Absolute Wilson (QuickTime)
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