Good Grief

D

It took me less than 30 seconds to take a dislike to the new play at Vineyard Theatre by Nigerian-American playwright Ngozi Anyanwu (The Homecoming Queen), who also stars. Before the play begins, thick stage fog rolls over the audience in the front rows for no apparent reason. The play’s first words are accompanied by bright lights the actors shine in people’s eyes. As the stage lights go up, we see a two-story industrial-like metal set by Jason Ardizzone-West with sliding perforated panels and fluorescent lamps that light up when characters kiss. With all these distractions, this modest memory play about a young woman immobilized by grief almost gets lost in the shuffle. Nkechi (Ms. Anyanwu) lives in Bucks County, PA with her immigrant parents Papa (Oberon K.A. Adjepong; The Homecoming Queen) and NeNe (Patrice Johnson Chevannes; The Homecoming Queen) and Bro (Nnamdi Asomugha; “Crown Heights”), the brother who has gone homeboy. We also meet two mothers, both played by Lisa Ramirez. When Nkechi’s biracial boyfriend MJ (Ian Quinlan; The Lion King) suddenly dies, she drops out of med school and retires to her room. Not even a fling with her Waspy high school crush JD (Hunter Parrish; Spring Awakening, "Weeds") gives her solace. The acting is fine except that Ms. Chevannes’s thick accent is not easy to decipher. The story is told in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards that are sometimes hard to place in time. Ancient mythology is also drawn into the mix; Andy Jean’s (Rags Parkland) costumes for that scene are attractive. Fluorescent lights dominate the final image. Clearly, director Awoye Timpo (The Homecoming Queen) is not someone who believes less is more. For me, the excesses of the production overwhelmed this slight play. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

Godspell ***

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I must be one of three people on the planet who have never seen Godspell either on stage or screen. My reaction to the current Broadway revival at Circle in the Square is therefore uncontaminated by previous exposure or expectations. Neither its music (by Stephen Schwartz) nor its topic (the Gospel of Matthew) is something that would normally attract me, but curiosity led me to take the plunge and buy a ticket. On the whole, I was glad I did. The nonstop energy and prodigious talent of the cast go a long way to offset the show's gimmickry and simplistic core. The choreography by Christopher Gattelli is very lively and makes excellent use of theater in the round. The book really does not provide much opportunity to develop distinctive characters. Casting the same actor (Wallace Smith) as John and Judas sounds more interesting than it is. Hunter Parrish is adequate but not memorable as Jesus. Daniel Goldstein's direction rarely lets things flag. The many groups in the audience included a bunch of nuns, who looked very happy at play's end.