Reviews 2005
Reviews 2005
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by Regina Taylor, directed by Marion J. Caffey
Canadian Stage, Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto
November 17-December 10, 2005
Crowns is the title of a book of photos African-American women in their church hats by Michael Cunningham with accompanying oral histories by Craig Marberry. Regina Taylor fashioned the material into a musical in 2002 using pre-existing gospel songs. Judging from the current CanStage production, the result is tedious and vapid.
To give shape to these remarkably inane anecdotes about hats, Taylor adds a plot involving rebellious Brooklyn teenager Yolanda (Lisa Bell), who, after her brother is slain, is sent to live with her grandmother Shaw (Jackie Richardson) in the South. For most of the play Yolanda looks askance at these women and their millinery obsession (some have over 200 hats) until, wouldn’t you know it, she sees the light, is baptized and becomes a hat lady herself, making this the perfect show for visiting conservative Christians.
As bling-bling is to ghetto kids, so are hats to these church ladies--conspicuous consumption by the impoverished as an external sign of self-worth, not that Taylor sees the topic that way. Nope, the crowns for these queens-for-a-day are supposedly all for the glory of God. Richardson and the wryly comic Bernardine Mitchell as Velma give wonderfully rousing performances of the gospel tunes, but Marion J. Caffey’s cutie-pie direction is a constant annoyance.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2005-11-24.
Photo: Jackie Richardson as Mother Shaw. ©2005 CanStage.
2005-11-24
Crowns