The First Deep Breath
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Geffen Playhouse
Through March 5
There are moments in Lee Edward Colston II’s family melodrama where one or another of the characters reflect on human behavior in an eloquent and/or meaningful way. These are moving moments when, watching intently, you think to yourself: I know so well what that person is talking about, and it is so very true. Such interludes, however, are too infrequently found in this sprawling ambitious work, whose text might benefit from pruning and whose current staging at Geffen Playhouse features missteps in casting, design and performance that undercut the play’s strengths.
Clocking in at four hours plus on press night (including two intermissions), the story is set in the playwright’s hometown of Philadelphia, in the well-appointed home (scenic design, Michael Carnahan) of Pastor Albert Melvin Jones III (Herb Newsome) and his family. The pastor, a well-respected and charismatic figure in the community, is nonetheless a grieving man, still mourning the death of one of his daughters in a car accident six years prior. His wife Ruth (Ella Joyce), whom he loves dearly, is afflicted with Alzheimer’s, while his eldest son — christened Albert Jr. but now going by his adopted name Abdul-Malik — has been in jail for rape, and is only newly released at the narrative’s launch.
Every member of this household has a secret, including the pastor’s surviving daughter Dee Dee (Candace Thomas), who works as a prison guard, and his sister-in-law Pearl (Deanna Reed-Foster) who has given up any life of her own to care for her ailing sibling Ruth and to otherwise hold the household together with her cooking and other chores.
The pivotal character in the story is Abdul-Malik, who has major problems with his dad — not surprising, as Pastor Albert continually belittles both him and his younger brother AJ (Opa Adeyemo), cruelly and at every opportunity. Though he’s kinder to Dee Dee, she too struggles for self-respect, convinced that her father never really sees her, or if so, only as a pale imitation of her dead twin.
The consequences of this toxic parenting — it’s suggested that Ruth, pre-dementia, was part of it too — are the fount of a complicated and ultimately explosive narrative. This works — the oppressive patriarch is a time-honored dramatic wellspring, after all. The problem is that on top of this axis of conflict are a host of other issues and plot points: homophobia, alcoholism, racism, the struggle of women to be their own person, financial corruption, hypocrisy within the Church and the unrequited passion of one individual for another. It’s as if playwright Colson found it hard to leave anything out.
The end result of this surfeit of stories is to dilute the power of a single one or two of them. And while there are gripping sequences, there are also other decidedly undramatic stretches — a game of cards, a holiday meal — that might easily be cut or abbreviated without sacrificing any dramatic tension.
The production, under the direction of Steve H. Broadnax III (who also directed the 2019 premiere in Chicago, where it was much celebrated) has other problems. The evening I attended, some performances were strong and vital, others not so much. As the salty, nurturing Pearl (a role she’s reprising from Chicago), Reed-Foster was a gusty standout. Adeyemo, as a youngster who dare not share his dreams with his macho dad, kept intense compelling focus throughout the story. Keith A. Wallace, who plays Malik’s longtime friend and stand-in big brother to AJ in his absence, delivers a fine performance as an honest friend; he has some of the play’s best lines, seeming to act as the playwright’s voice. Brandon Mendez Homer, as Dee Dee’s fiancé, was likewise empathetic as a good guy looking to win his lady love away from the madness. Tentative at the start, Joyce’s Ruth evolved to a point of stature when she morphs from her demented state to a clarity that startles every character — and audience member — in listening distance.
But some of the most essential performances feel off. Thomas (who struck me as miscast) needed a lot more vulnerability and naturalness in her Dee Dee. As the beleaguered ex-felon, craving his family’s love and acceptance, Colston radiated a deer-in-the-headlights aura — which is fine, but I wanted more breadth and color for this complicated character, who has made a disturbing choice. The same went for Newsome, potentially a good fit for the autocratic pastor, and yes, doing an OK job, but not yet living and breathing the role. (The actor originally was cast as understudy, stepping in recently when the original cast member became unavailable, so timing may be a mitigating factor, for him and for the production as a whole.)
Meanwhile, the set is beautifully detailed and visually arresting, especially the impressive staircase that dominates the middle of the stage. As spectacle, it’s great to study and appreciate before the play begins. The problem is, this edifice — along with dining room and living room furniture and what not — takes up so much space that the actors are constrained to move. More than that, despite the strategic placement of family photos, it doesn’t really look like a place that people live in — a big minus in a story about family, even if it’s a dysfunctional one.
Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood; Tues.-Fri., 7:30 pm; Sat.-Sun., 1 pm & 7 pm; through Mar. 5. (310) 208-2028 or www.geffenplayhouse.org. Running time: four hours and 10 minutes with two intermissions.
