AUGUST WILSON’S SEVEN GUITARS

Performances are impeccable and so is its stunning production design, but I found my mind drifting throughout much of the over three-hour-long August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at A Noise Within.

A brief plot description seems promising.

Fresh out of jail in 1948, blues singer Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton releases an unexpected hit single only to see his life cut short when career success had only just begun.

Flashbacks then reveal, little by little, the events leading up to Floyd’s untimely demise.

That audiences have to wait a full three hours to find out how and why Floyd met his maker (and that’s still not the end of the play) is just one reason why, unlike Wilson’s far more accessible Fences, Jitney, and Twelve Trains Running, my attention often lagged despite the cast’s best efforts to hold me in thrall.

A 2017 New York Times article refers to Wilson’s plays as having been criticized “for being dramaturgically cluttered, overly wordy or for taking magically ungrounded detours,” all of which apply to Seven Guitars, and it doesn’t help that accents particular to late-1940s African-American Pittsburgh can challenge an audience unaccustomed to hearing them.

As for those “magically ungrounded detours,” Wilson gives a mystical character named Hedley not one but two lengthy monologs in a row, which for me at least was one too many.

In other words, despite its 1996 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award win for Best Play (and Pulitzer Prize/Drama Desk/Tony nominations), Seven Guitars is probably my least favorite of the August Wilson plays I’ve seen.

On the plus side, director Gregg T. Daniel has brought out the absolute best from some of L.A.’s most gifted stage stars.

Desean K. Terry gives Floyd the same dynamic magnetism that made his Stanley Kowalski in Boston Court’s A Streetcar Named Desire such an attention getter, and he sings the blues like an authentic hit-maker.

DeJuan Christopher (Canewell) and Amir Abdullah (Red Carter) are electric presences as well, Cherish Monique Duke ignites the stage as Floyd’s ex-girlfriend Ruby, Sydney A. Mason (fresh from being absolutely fabulous in ICT’s Closely Related Keys) is a sultry stunner as Ruby, and Veralyn Jones plays the no-nonsense Louise with abundant verve.

And though a little of the almost supernatural Hedley goes a long long way, Kevin Jackson proves a veritable force of nature in the role, and like his fellow cast members eminently deserves the audience cheers he gets at curtain call.

Scenic designer Stephanie Kerley Schwartz and lighting designer Derrick McDaniel eschew the realistic for an almost dreamlike look that seems absolutely right, and they are aided throughout by Jeff Gardner’s accomplished sound design (with some cock-a-doodle-doos that had me wondering if there just might be a live rooster backstage).

Mylette Nora’s late-1940s costumes, Shelia Dorn’s period-perfect hair and wig designs, and Denys Podmazko’s equally accurate props evoke mid-20th-century styles to perfection.

Several cast members show off vocal prowess to Maritri Garrett’s original music, with Joyce Guy’s choreography, Kenneth R. Merckx, Jr.’s fight choreography, and Carly D. Weckstein’s intimacy direction earning kudos of their own.

Also receiving program credits are Khalil J. Powell (assistant director), Andrea Odinov (dialect coach), David A. Barnes (solo blues harmonica), and Sets to Go (scenic construction/painting).

Roscoe Freeman, Rosney Mauger, and Dee Dee Stephens are understudies.

Rita Cofield is stage manager and Quinn O’Connor is assistant stage manager.

With so many contemporary playwrights opting to tell their stories in ninety minutes or less, plays that run well over two hours can test an audience’s attention span, and though August Osage County and Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Wolf more than merit their running times, I don’t find this to be true of Seven Guitars.

Those who love the August Wilson oeuvre unconditionally will likely give A Noise Within’s Seven Guitars an unqualified rave. My reaction remains rather more reserved.

A Noise Within, 3352 East Foothill Blvd, Pasadena.
www.ANoiseWithin.org

–Steven Stanley
November 4, 2021
Photos: Craig Schwartz

Proof of full vaccination, ID, and masks are required. Social distancing per request only. If you prefer this option, please reach out to boxoffice@anoisewithin.org to put in your request PRIOR to the show. No children under 12.

 

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