This production was outstanding! For nearly the first 2/3's of the show, I was thinking that I was watching a nearly different play altogether from the first time. The ensemble of actors was pitch perfect. Led by DeJeanette Horn as the swaggering, imperfect Patriarch who is being forced into a modern world that he feels unwelcome in. I'm sure that I'm not the only one to make the comparison between Wilson's Troy Maxson and Miller's Willy Lohman. In the right hands, they are equally as powerful.
Playing off Horne was the equally as talented Lolita Marie as Rose Maxson, the family's Matriarch.. And when the bombs start to fall, and the truths start to pop, her presence and her measured energy throughout those scenes was a tour de force of amazing acting--the work of an atypical talent. She didn't just play Rose, she was Rose. Here every emotion landed hard on the heart.
Costumes and props were seamless in their integration into the show. The set, designed by Timothy Jones, was a work of art, both simple and filled with delightful details.
I left the Ford's Theatre production thinking, "I don't see why people think this is such a great play." I left today's production with my mind racing with ideas and swirling over them all was this: "I get it."
