Its original production featured the amazing Ray Walston as the Devil and Gwen Verdon as the Temptress. The two performances became iconic, and Verdon's "Lola" a high point in her career. Perhaps that way it isn't as frequently performed as many of its contemporaries. In this production, the cast could hardly have been better. The vocal excellence of three of the main characters in particular set the bar on the top rung early on. Bryonha Marie as the abandoned housewife, Meg Boyd, and both iterations of her husband; Quentin Earl Darrington as the older Joe Boyd, and the stunningly talented Jordan Donica as the reborn younger Joe "Hardy" brought a powerful, yet exquisitely restrained interpretation to "Goodbye, Old Girl" and "A Man Doesn't Know". After the first number, the energy in the audience came so close to driving us to stand in ovation--I still wish I had.
The role of Lola went to Ana Villafañe--think an impossibly svelte Sofia Vagara--or as my father would have sure said, "What a cool glass of water!" Her sex appeal was up for the role, even if her dancing was just a smidge off, at least by comparison to the "team". The Orioles were cast as 4 principal and 8 total men who all knew how to make a baseball uniform shine. The choreography replete with acrobatics and prop use (baseball bats, of course) was a joyous celebration of masculine energy. Hats off to Sergio Trujillo who not only directed the production, but also choreographed it!
Of course the details rest with the Devil. Rob McClure was a total revelation to me. He owned the role and when the stage was his so was the theater. I'm tellin' ya, somewhere north or south Ray Walston is smiling with his thumbs planted up! Like Walston, McClure has an amazing theatrical voice. Where as Donica, Darrington and Marie possess of depth of power that could work as well with Wagner or Puccini--McClure, with perfect pitch, delivers lyrics as if everything anyone ever says is sung. It's a skill that I have rarely really encountered at this level of ease and recitation.
The stage was as much defined by the lighting as it was by any set piece. Iterations of which (chairs, benches, cabinets, desks, tables slid in and out as needed from the four entrances to the arena. Additionally, carefully placed circles descended and ascended to whisk away or swoop in various of the characters at key moments. In conjunction with the lighting effects this switching felt truly magical -- and I overheard a row mate exclaim "How did they do that!".
Other updates of note. The main characters were all African American. An easy and 2025 appropriate innovation. During the opening number "Six Months Out Of Every Year" when the house "wives" lament to power of baseball over their "husbands" six couple were presented. One was gay (two men), and the other featured a father with baby strapped over his chest and a bottle in his hand while his wife spotted a baseball cap and mitt! Woke is not a virus. Woke is how we are meant to live in a multi-cultural society.
Of the baseball players in uniform only a couple have names that are prescribed by the script. This gave the design team another opportunity to toss in a subtle peanut or two. So one of the Black players had the name "Babatunde" on his jersey--homage to the Nigerian born NBA player? Or someone else. It certainly was the sort of name you would have expected to find on an Orioles uniform back in Memorial Stadium in the 1950's. Yes, they even got the name of the stadium right! No matter the detail--this show gets it right.
On stage through November 9th--honestly, run to don't walk to get tickets. I'm seriously considering going again.
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