Reviewed by Martίn Hernández
The GGC Theatre
Through March 14
Elected in 1941 as the first Black New York City Councilmember and in 1944 as the first Black U.S. Congressmember from the state of New York, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. served 36 years in Congress, becoming one of the most famous and powerful men in America.
A Democrat and Civil Rights activist, he was admired by Malcolm X, who was a rival to Martin Luther King, Jr., and a thorn in the side of many a politician — Republican and Democrat, White and Black, even U.S. presidents. As a friend said in a 1989 documentary, Powell “gave White folks hell.” As such, he endeared himself to many Black Americans and bolstered their fight for equality with a twinkle in his eye, a sly smile, and his legendary catchphrase: “Keep the faith, baby!”
Sadly, we learn little to none of this rich history in Clarence R. Cuthbertson’s flimsy one-person play that either skims over key points in Powell’s life or ignores them completely. Myers Clark offers a plucky but tepid performance as Powell and, under Gloria Gifford’s stilted direction, displays little of the energy of the hardnosed preacher and politician who could rouse a sympathetic crowd to a frenzy or provoke a U.S. president to profanity-laced wrath.
On designer Christian Maltez’s set, bifurcated into an office and a pulpit, we meet Powell in 1967 as an unknown scandal – he endured several – threatens his Congressional career. He launches into a perfunctory autobiographical sketch, revealing how his penchant for Harlem’s nightlife — and its enticements booze and women – does not square with his being the son of the pastor of Harlem’s famed Abyssinian Baptist Church. Powell eventually follows in his father’s footsteps and takes over leadership in the church, which he uses as a springboard into electoral politics. But the story of his many civil rights triumphs for the people of Harlem, both as a religious leader and an elected one, are mostly neglected in Cuthbertson’s text.
A seemingly under-rehearsed Clark, who pauses at times as if searching for his lines, rarely comes close to conveying Powell’s rousing rhetoric or rascally charm – he also has little to work with script- wise. Only his scenes at the pulpit offer a glimmer of the preacher’s charisma, though Clark blunts the energy of one such moment by reading his lines from a printed page. When sitting at a desk, Clark also appeared to be reading from pages strewn in front of him. While a noble effort, the production barely scratches the surface on the life of such an iconic and ultimately tragic figure, a victim as much from his own hubris as the racism against a Black man affirming his dignity and that of his people.
The GGC Theatre, 6502 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood.; Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; thru March 14. https://www.onstage411.com/newsite/show/play_info.asp?show_id=7350 Running time: approximately one hour.
