Witness Uganda
Reviewed by Stephen Fife
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Extended through March 3
RECOMMENDED
Witness Uganda, the show receiving its West Coast premiere at the Wallis Annenberg’s Studio Theater until February 23rd, arrives with impressive credentials. After starting out at Harvard’s American Repertory Theater, it went on to an Off-Broadway run at Second Stage Theater (all under its previous title Invisible Thread). Along the way it has won the Richard Rodgers Award, Harold Adamson Award and Dean Kay Award, while garnering some ecstatic reviews.
I wish I could agree, but I can’t. I found this to be a frustrating show with many great elements that ultimately don’t come together. The fact that it has been in development for over 10 years without being able to tell a coherent story is a sign that the writing team of Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews may simply never figure it out. Which is genuinely sad, because there is so much to like here, so much to recommend. (Not to mention the $275,000 that the show has raised for UgandaProject, a charity founded by the show’s creators that sponsors the education of a select group of students in Kampala, Uganda.)
The problems begin by calling this a “documentary musical.” What does that really mean? Certainly it conjures up the idea that there will be some form of history and documentation — maybe slides or an attempt to teach the audience something about the actual history of Uganda? But there isn’t. The press release claims that Witness Uganda “documents the story of a man battling to find his place in a world full of injustice and inhumanity.” Huh? Couldn’t that describe pretty much every coming-of-age story? It’s certainly a thread here, and an important one, as the lead character Griffin (Jamar Williams) is a black youth in his late teens growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1990s who goes to Uganda after being tossed out of his church choir for being gay. Yet Griffin introduces his story with a few portentous sentences, telling the audience that if he’d had any idea what he would find in Africa, he would never have gone.
This ominous setup continues after Griffin gets to Uganda, having volunteered to help establish a church school there. He makes friends with Jacob (Kameron Richardson), a Ugandan worker. Soon Jacob warns Griffin not to trust Jim, the pastor in charge of their operation. I felt primed to meet Jim and discover what was really going on. But – spoiler alert! – Jim never appears, not then, not ever. Instead, the antagonist becomes Joy (Amber Iman), Jacob’s older sister, who works for the pastor. But Joy’s character is hard to pin down. Sometimes she seems as villainous as Cruella de Vil, other times she seems like a victim herself, even getting a solo song in Act II. Ms. Iman is a powerful actress, but I had no idea what to feel about Joy, or why Jim was never brought onstage. The result is that everything gets very murky, dramatically speaking. The best-written character in the show is Ryan (Emma Hunton), the roommate and best friend of Griffin in Pittsburgh, who follows him to Uganda. But the fact that she is also the only white character is off-putting and bewildering in this context.
So let me be clear that I have recommended this show based on a few outstanding elements. The costumes designed by Carlton Jones are spectacular, authentic and often pure genius. The African patterns and colors can be simply intoxicating, especially when they are swirling around the stage in the pulsating choreography of Abdur-Rahim Jackson. While the movements and steps make use of many by-now-familiar elements of African dance, Jackson has provided enough variation and originality to keep everything exciting, and the limberness and reckless abandon of the dancers is reminiscent of the best of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater — for good reason, since Jackson was a principal dancer there and has created original ballets for them.
The songs — by Gould and Griffin, I assume, though no one is credited in the program — are often too similar to each other while failing to move the story forward or illuminate character. But a few of them are very good, and they get audience members up on their feet, clapping and smiling. (The Wallis’s program also doesn’t provide a song list, a serious disservice to a show with this many of them.) The best songs point to what this show could be, if only its creators could decide what it’s about. Is the African church camp a scam or not? Are the African students using Griffin or do they genuinely appreciate him? I still don’t know.
The performers are all very good, and some are tremendous. At the top of this list is Ledisi, the 12 times Grammy-nominated soul singer who lights a fire under this musical whenever she’s onstage — which is too infrequently. Sha’Leah Nikole Stubblefield, as a Ugandan student hungry for an education, makes the most of her moments in the spotlight. Jamar Williams in the lead is charismatic and engaging, but his character is confusing. He’s a decent singer, but he is often overshadowed by Ms. Hunton, who belts out her songs with a gusto that blows him off the stage.
At the close of the show, we are informed that there are 2.5 million homeless children in Uganda, and that Griffin’s charity has helped 12 of them. Yes, 12. Um…yay?
The Wallis Annenberg Lovelace Studio Theatre, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills; Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7:30 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 2:30 p.m.; extended through Mar. 3. (310) 746-4000 or TheWallis.org/Witness. Running time: 150 minutes with one intermission.
