From left, Jeffrey Wright, Mos(Photo: Charles Erickson)
By Lauren Yarger
Several colorful plots, though I'm not sure I followed them accurately, crash together on the stage at the Vivian Beaumont for John Guare's A Free Man of Color, wrapping up its run for Lincoln Center this Sunday.
JeffreyWright heads the large ensemble cast as Jacques Cornet, a sort of Don Juan map collector in turn-of-the-19th century New Orleans; Mos is his slave sidekick Cupidon Murmur. There's a lot of history connected with the time of the Louisiana Purchase and lots of characters (more than 35 played by some 26 actors) like Napoleon Bonaparte (Triney Sandoval), Thomas Jefferson (John McMartin), Meriwether Lewis (Paul Dano), among others, but despite a few moments of humor, and strong performances by Wright and Moss, there isn't much to engage.
The noncohesive story, at more than two hours and 40 minutes, runs at least an hour too long. At one point I found myself counting the stripes and stars on an American flag and wondering whether it was historically accurate, so my mind obviously had wandered from the story.
George C. Wolfe directs the production which at times seems like it's trying to be La Bete as the characters, clothed in shiny, colorful and elegant costumes (Ann Hould, design) suddenly launch into verse or compete with drumming when delivering their lines. Only here, we're not sure why any of this happens or what all of the stories really have to do with each other.
There are some nice visual images created with stage and lighting design (David Rockwell; Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer) and a chase through the Spanish moss by lantern light is particularly stunning
Discounted tickets are available at http://www.givenik.com/show_info.php/Masterworks/262/individual.
Christians might also like to know:
JeffreyWright heads the large ensemble cast as Jacques Cornet, a sort of Don Juan map collector in turn-of-the-19th century New Orleans; Mos is his slave sidekick Cupidon Murmur. There's a lot of history connected with the time of the Louisiana Purchase and lots of characters (more than 35 played by some 26 actors) like Napoleon Bonaparte (Triney Sandoval), Thomas Jefferson (John McMartin), Meriwether Lewis (Paul Dano), among others, but despite a few moments of humor, and strong performances by Wright and Moss, there isn't much to engage.
The noncohesive story, at more than two hours and 40 minutes, runs at least an hour too long. At one point I found myself counting the stripes and stars on an American flag and wondering whether it was historically accurate, so my mind obviously had wandered from the story.
George C. Wolfe directs the production which at times seems like it's trying to be La Bete as the characters, clothed in shiny, colorful and elegant costumes (Ann Hould, design) suddenly launch into verse or compete with drumming when delivering their lines. Only here, we're not sure why any of this happens or what all of the stories really have to do with each other.
There are some nice visual images created with stage and lighting design (David Rockwell; Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer) and a chase through the Spanish moss by lantern light is particularly stunning
Discounted tickets are available at http://www.givenik.com/show_info.php/Masterworks/262/individual.
Christians might also like to know:
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