Generations clash to laughter-and-thought-provoking effect in the sensational Los Angeles Premiere of Pearl Cleage’s Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous, now dazzling and delighting audiences at the Geffen Playhouse.

It’s been thirty years since renowned African American actress Anna Campbell (Charlayne Woodard) rocked and shocked the theatrical world with Naked Wilson, an evening of August Wilson’s most celebrated monologs performed by a single actress entirely in the nude, that is until the riled-up powers that be shut down the show and Anna and her longtime bff Betty Campbell (Denise Burse) packed their bags and headed off to Amsterdam where the stage diva has spent the past three decades bringing to life “some very angry women,” among them Lady Macbeth, Medea, Clytemnestra, and Hedda Gabbler, to considerable acclaim.

And to considerable fortune as well, that is until she invested all of it in a Ponzi scheme that has left her virtually penniless and finally willing to head back to Atlanta where she’s about to open “Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous: A Festival of Women’s Voices” before heading off to tour the States with “an elegant evening of the most famous monologs in the western theatrical canon.”

What Betty has failed to tell her longtime bestie is that festival producer Kate Hughes (Deborah Joy Winans) has in fact not invited Anna to revive her much reviled and much revered star turn in Naked Wilson but simply to honor the stage legend with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and that worse still, a different (and much younger) actress will be stripping down to her birthday suit to perform Anna’s “radical feminist critique” of the August Wilson oeuvre.

And if that weren’t already enough to cause a diva to explode, imagine Anna’s reaction when she learns that the only exposure her successor Precious “Pete” Watson (Olivia Washington) has had to August Wilson was watching “that ‘How To Get Away With Murder’ lady” in Fences on TV, and she wasn’t wild about what she saw.

Oh, and did I mention that Pete makes her living as a pole dancer/porn star? (Well, not exactly a star, per se, but as she puts it, “I work regular.”)

If ever there was a setup for verbal fireworks and maybe even a catfight or two, this is it, though that’s just one of the reasons Cleage’s 2019 comedy proves a provocative eye-opener, because as both Anna and we in the audience are about to discover, there is much more to Pete Watson than meets the eye.

Indeed much of the pleasure in discovering Cleage’s play is in seeing how Boomer Anna and Zoomer Pete come to appreciate what each of them brings to the table, in particular where August Wilson’s problematic take on his Black female characters is concerned.

Director LaTanya Richardson Jackson brings out the best from an all-around splendid cast, Burse’s Betty providing a grounded and practical counterpart to Woodard’s fierce and fabulous Anna, and Winans giving Kate plenty of practical smarts.

Most spectacularly of all, Washington defies every one of our preconceived notions about Pete to create the most audacious, fearless, and street-smart of young women and make her more than a match for the older-and-(supposedly)-wiser Anna.

I can’t imagine a more gorgeous scenic design than the one Beowulf Boritt has created for Anna and Betty’s elegant Atlanta hotel suite, one that looks even more stunning as lit by Lap Chi Chu, with Hana S. Kim’s dazzling projections an inspired addition to the Geffen production.

Emilio Sosa’s costumes are a fantastically eclectic bunch, in particular Woodard’s luxurious loungewear and Washington’s transformative red satin gown, and George Robert Fuller has given each woman character-perfect wigs and hairdos to sport.

Last but not least, leave it to L.A. sound designer extraordinaire Jeff Gardner to enhance the dramatic fireworks with just-right musical underscoring and effects.

Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous is produced in association with Black Rebirth Collective. Kelly Jenrette is associate director. Sam Allen is production stage manager and Lisa Toudic is assistant stage manager. Casting is by Phyllis Schuringa, CSA. Pauline Dyer and Monica Parks are understudies.

Its title may be more than a mouthful, and not the easiest to remember, but I guarantee you won’t soon forget the hour-and-forty-minutes you spend with Anna, Betty, Kate, and Pete. They are as Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous as it gets.

Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. Through July 12. Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30, Fridays at 8:00, Saturdays at 3:00 and 8:00, and Sundays at 2:00 and 7:00.
www.geffenplayhouse.com

–Steven Stanley
June 17, 2026
Photos: Jeff Lorch

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Tags: Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles Theater Review, Pearl Cleage