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Violet
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Kelrik Productions at The El Portal: Monroe Forum Theatre
Through May 31
Violet, which premiered on Broadway in 1997, is the kind of musical play that should speak powerfully to anyone who’s ever been scapegoated, or been on the outside looking in. But for a number of reasons it isn’t nearly as emotionally compelling as one might expect.
Adapted from Doris Betts’ short story ”The Ugliest Pilgrim,” with a score by Jeannine Tesori and book and lyrics by Brian Crawley, it’s about a woman with a grotesque facial scar and her passionate crusade to make it vanish.
The year is 1964, and cosmetic surgery isn’t what it is today. Violet (Kristin Towers-Rowles), a determined gal with a festering obsession, sets off from her home in backwoods North Carolina, traveling across the South to Tulsa, to meet with a televangelist whom she believes will heal her.
On the bus she encounters two soldiers, Monty (Michael Spaziani), who is Caucasian and Flick (Jahmaul Bakare), an African-American. At first they react to Violet as others do, with pity and laughter, but her prowess at poker and her spunky spirit draw them in.
A bond develops between Violet and Flick, who is kinder and more mature than his friend, and sensitive by virtue of his color to what ridicule and rejection can wreak on the spirit. It is Monty however who gets her to bed, since he’s free of the constraints put on a black man wooing a white woman in the 1964 South. For Violet, the particulars of both relationships are subsumed in her quest to reach Tulsa and change her destiny – or so she believes.
By its nature, the role of Violet is a showcase for any performer and pivotal to the success of the production. Towers-Rowles (who recently directed Sweeney Todd at the same venue) turns in a well-calibrated performance but ultimately she seems not quite fragile enough. Spaziani is capable but dull as Monty. Bakare, who has a fine voice, relays the frustrations of a sincere and savvy man in a bigoted society.
At times the story ambles and lacks clear definition – a function of the writing rather than anything else.
Directed by Joshua FInkel, the best scenes – and musical numbers – are the ensemble ones, especially a dynamite gospel number, “Raise Me Up,” that has folks singing up a storm and stomping about with manic glee. (The choreography is by Samantha Lee, musical direction by Joe Lawrence.)
Other highlights come courtesy of Richard Lewis Warren, so convincing as a smarmy televangelist that he seems to have leaped right out of the screen. And Gail Matthias doubles as an eccentric old lady and a drunken hooker, whose feeble come-ons to potential clientele are some of the most entertaining moments in the play.
One issue I initially had with the production was the decision to leave Violet’s scar to the imagination of the audience, rather than to suggest it with makeup. Perhaps it’s my lack of imagination, but Towers-Rowles’s unblemished complexion made it more difficult for me to respond to her character’s pain or to empathize when she acted-out. (This choice, however, was also made in the original production and in the 2014 Broadway revival.)
Rendering the story in this way is of course part of the point — which is that externals don’t matter so much; it’s how we see ourselves from the inside that counts. That’s true, of course, but it seems glib advice for someone who continually suffers the extreme disparagement of others.
Kelrik Productions at The El Portal: The Monroe Forum Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., N. Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through May 31. (818) 508-4200, www.elportaltheater.com
