Chicken & Biscuits

B

If you need a large dose of laughter to treat the lockdown blues, have I got a show for you! This comedy by Douglas Lyons, is now in previews at Circle in the Square, where it is getting almost nonstop laughs from an unusually diverse audience. The humor rarely rises beyond sitcom level, but I defy you not to laugh. The spirited cast of eight includes the versatile Norm Lewis (The Phantom of the Opera, Once on This Island, Porgy and Bess), the always entertaining Michael Urie (Torch Song, Buyer and Cellar) and six other actors whose names were new to me — Cleo King (Jelly’s Last Jam), Alana Raquel Bowers, Ebony Marshall-Oliver (Merry Wives), Aigner Mizzelle, Devere Rogers (The Robber Bridegroom) and Natasha Yvette Williams (Waitress, Chicago). To say they attack their roles with gusto would be an understatement. We watch the shenanigans that take place before, during and after the funeral of the Jenkins’ family patriarch, who was the church’s pastor. His buttoned-down daughter Baneatta (King) is married to the new pastor (Lewis). They have two children, the frustated-in-love Simone (Bowers) and gay actor Kenny (Rogers) who has a white Jewish boyfriend Logan (Urie). Baneatta’s younger sister Beverly (Marshall-Oliver) is a free-spirited single mother with a precocious teenage daughter La’Trice (Mizzelle). To tell you who Brianna (Williams) is would spoil some of the fun. Between the laughs, a few serious issues are addressed. At two hours without an intermission, it could use a bit of trimming. The set design by Lawrence E. Moten III uses the theater’s unusual configuration well to recreate the family’s church. Dede Ayite’s (A Soldier’s Play, School Girls) costumes are a hoot. Zhailon Levingston, making his debut as the youngest Black director in Broadway history, lets all the actors have their moment in the spotlight. You may feel guilty for laughing, but, unless you really hate sitcoms, laugh you will.