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<\/a>Francois Battiste and Phylicia Rashad. Photo by Craig Schwartz, as is the big one at the top of this page.<\/p><\/div>\n
I really identified with several situations in this family dramedy. First of all, Mr. X and I had begged my widowed mother to move in with us, but she insisted on staying in her own house. And last year, our own roof leaked into our living room during those torrential rains, so other audience members may deem that part of the script too unbelievable, but trust me\u2014it happens! (I\u2019ll share the biggest similarity at the end of this review.)<\/p>\n
Even though the playwright, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and I grew-up so differently from each other, and he\u2019s a young, gay, black man from Florida while I\u2019m an older (ugh,) straight, white female from Brooklyn, so much of what he wrote in this play mirrors my own experiences. That\u2019s sort-of odd and sad yet wonderful at the same time. (By the way, I predicted his Oscar win(s) the second I saw Moonlight<\/em>. But I have a feeling that I\u2019m not alone in that prescience.)<\/p>\n James Carpenter, Jacqueline Williams, and John Earl Jelks. Photo by Craig Schwartz.<\/p><\/div>\n (I\u2019ve heard that this play has a biblical basis, but, since \u201cThe Bible\u201d is one of the few categories that I cannot<\/em> run on Jeopardy<\/em>, I\u2019ll leave that discussion to others.)<\/p>\n Head of Passes<\/em> is a play of two very different halves. The first has tons of humor, while the second is essentially a monologue (which I have to admit lost me on occasion, but is still wonderful.) It almost felt like I was seeing an evening of two one-acts, with some shared characters. But they\u2019re both excellent, so I just went with it, especially because of Phylicia Rashad\u2019s tour de force solo performance that is the highlight of Act II.<\/p>\n Phylicia Rashad and Alana Arenas. Photo by Craig Schwartz.<\/p><\/div>\n During that portion of the show, you could literally hear a pin drop! And for the first time ever in a theater, I don\u2019t think anyone even coughed! Or breathed<\/em>! That performance was something to witness. Phylicia has sure come a long way since her days as Claire Huxtable!<\/p>\n I\u2019m a big fan of excellent stage acting, and Head of Passes<\/em> is full of that, and not just on the part of Ms. Rashad. All<\/em> the actors are excellent, especially Jacqueline Williams, whose comic delivery is spot-on. Also of note is Alana Arenas, as the daughter, Cookie, whom I could see being a series regular on television in the near future, just as Francois Battiste, (playing son Avery here,) will be in the upcoming TV show, Ten Days In The Valley<\/em>.<\/p>\n The set as the play begins. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n But the biggest star, (after Phylicia, of course,) is the incredible set! At the beginning of the show, I made a note that it was outstanding, especially the rain coming down outside the rear window. But I didn\u2019t know at the time that it was just going to get better and better and better as the play went along. It was truly a sight to behold. So, major props to the designer, G. W. Mercier. (What I mean by “major props”\u00a0is \u201cbig kudos<\/em>,\u201d but the set also has some actual big props<\/em>!) I could not take my eyes off it during Act II. For perhaps the first time ever, I wish I had stayed put in my seat at intermission to see how they manipulated the set. So you<\/em> may want to do that when you<\/em> see it.<\/p>\n Two of the characters whose connection to the action I’m not sure of, played by Kyle Beltran and John Earl Jelks. Photo by Craig Schwartz.<\/p><\/div>\n Okay, all that goodness being said, there are a lot of holes in the story, and I don\u2019t mean just in the roof! But who am I to judge an Academy Award-winning writer, and recipient of the MacArthur \u201cGenius\u201d Award, (when he was just thirty-three, no less!)?! So, this is less an actual review<\/em> and more a case of \u201chere are the thoughts that ran through my head while watching the play.\u201d These issues definitely don\u2019t take away from the experience, but you know that I always have to be honest and tell it like it is. So, here are a few of the things that bothered me about the script:<\/p>\n — I felt a bit like the whole thing ended abruptly, like the writer forgot to finish it, or just got tired of writing and added \u201cThe End\u201d in the middle of the monologue. But this is one case where \u201cit\u2019s not how you start, it\u2019s how you finish\u201d does not<\/em> apply. This show is all about the journey.<\/p>\n Photo of Phylicia Rashad by Craig Schwartz.<\/p><\/div>\n — I still don\u2019t know who three of the characters are to the family matriarch! I think the female is just a friend, and the young guy is the male\u2019s son (maybe,) but I have no idea who the grown man is supposed to be. My friend thought maybe he works in the house, but I\u2019m not so sure.<\/p>\n — You already know how impressed with the monologue I am, but for the life of me, I cannot figure-out why the character had to take off her dress to talk to God. I<\/em> do that activity all the time, but I\u2019m always clothed for those occasions.<\/p>\n — Most egregiously, the story in the second half got a little over-dramatic, bordering on becoming an SNL<\/em> skit. (Not the monologue itself, but the events that preceded it.) But those events are the impetus for what follows, so I had to overlook them in the whole scheme of the narrative.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s it for my few problems with the script. I really enjoyed Head of Passes<\/em> as an entire entity.<\/p>\n Phylicia Rashad and J. Bernard Calloway. Photo by Craig Schwartz.<\/p><\/div>\n Now here\u2019s that final similarity my life had with the story, without giving-away too much: In a weird parallel, Mr. X had pointed-out something I said when my mother died…on Christmas…while I was making dinner. (Thank goodness it wasn\u2019t after<\/em>! Who would have wanted to live with that<\/em> guilt forever?! And yes<\/em>, I myself cannot believe that I can joke for even one second about that worst day of my life, but humor helps–as long as it\u2019s five years later!) It\u2019s a long story, but the short version is that my mother wound-up in the hospital that day because a medication the docs shoved down her throat made her throw-up, for I think the very first time in her life! My niece came there to relieve Mr. X and me for an hour or so, so that we could go back home to feed my nephew. Once there, the phone rang, and the awful news came. So we had to rush back to the hospital because my niece was alone with her just-deceased grandmother, and I couldn\u2019t do that to her. Mr. X told me later what I shouted as I drove like a lunatic to the hospital. I loudly yelled, \u201cAre you kidding me, God?!,\u201d which amuses him now. So, the family matriarch’s soliloquy in the second half was basically that, but with more words. And about twenty minutes longer.<\/p>\n So I definitely sympathized with the character, while being in awe of Phylicia Rashad\u2019s performance. I felt her searing pain, as I\u2019m sure the entire assemblage did.<\/p>\n I have a feeling that everyone<\/em> who sees Head of Passes<\/em>\u00a0will find some<\/em> common ground with the story. Or a character. Or even recognize a set decoration or two. And if it\u2019s true that misery does<\/em> love company, I hope those feelings of simpatico and empathy will bring comfort to others in similar circumstances. And that\u2019s a whole lot for two hours of theatre to accomplish!<\/p>\n Head of Passes<\/em>\u00a0running through October 22, 2017<\/strong> HEAD OF PASSES It was a totally full audience at the Mark Taper Forum last week-end for the opening night of Head of Passes. I haven\u2019t seen such a packed house at this theater in a long time. People in this town are really excited that this well-thought-of play is finally here. (It’s already played\u00a0in<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
\n Mark Taper Forum \u00a0135 N. Grand Ave. \u00a0213-972-4400 \u00a0www.centertheatregroup.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"