Caroline, or Change
Tony Kushner’s 2004 musical Caroline, or Change played for less than half a year on Broadway. After seeing The Arden Theatre’s triumphant production (a Philadelphia premiere), one knows why. It is not Disney or anglicized pop operetta, not rock and roll jukebox, or a contrivance around a star. Rather it is a big, brooding, musically bold and socially complex political statement in the American musical tradition of ... a very short list of innovative shows: West Side Story, Oklahoma!, Hair, Company are a few that come to mind.
As he did with Angels in America, Kushner creates something conceptually different from the musical norm with his book and, mostly, lyrics to Jeanine Tesori’s music. Her work brings to life the sound and roiling fury of 1963 America when the Black civil-rights movement changed the world and Camelot was lost in a moment in Dallas. And their collaboration is rich: Kushner’s song-cycle polemics keep revealing depth of character and social issues, and Tesori’s music is not stylized outside of its authenticity just to fit a show.
Caroline, separated from her husband and raising three children (a fourth is in Vietnam), works as a maid for the Gellmans, a middle class Jewish family. The ’Change’ in the title refers to Caroline’s place in the world, and specifically a moral crisis that ensues when the Gellman son, 8-year old Noah, keeps leaving money in his dirty clothes. His stepmother (Sherri L. Edelen) tells Caroline she can keep what she finds as a lesson to Noah. It may not have been the best decision: Noah is already distant from his father Stuart (Adam Heller), an always-practicing clarinetist, and from his stepmother. As a way to escape Noah clings to Caroline in the basement laundry room.
Typically Kushner busts apart stereotypes in his portrayal of these characters, a rarity in any musical framework. Putting the image of a middle-aged black woman doing the laundry for a white family in the South at this time brings forth an avalanche of thoughts from America’s racist past; and Kushner, a singular muscular and subtle voice in the theater, tackles unfinished social issues organically through his characters. There are even hints that Noah (whose character is loosely-based on Kushner’s own experiences growing up in Louisiana) is a resourceful gay boy making his invisible way in a complex world.
At one point Noah’s relatives invade for Chanukah celebrations, as Caroline, her friend Dotty (Kelly J. Rucker), and her eldest daughter Emmie (Elyse McKay Taylor) are helping her below stairs prepare their meal. When Emmie overhears some of the grandfather’s PC-rant connecting leftist views of Jewish workers from the 1930s with the civil-rights of Southern blacks, she boldly tells him he doesn’t know what he talking about regarding her struggle. Told to shut up by Caroline, the grandfather sings, "this is the first real conversation I’ve had since I’ve been in the South."
This stellar ensemble is headed by the magnificent performance of Joilet F. Harris as Caroline. Not only does she have a mighty voice, she is nuanced and true in every moment. The show’s showstopper is a vocal mountain to climb called Lot’s Wife (murder me Lord/turn me into a pillar of salt). It is such a raw, primal scream releasing the character emotionally and politically without going over the top.
Young star Griffin Back plays Noah with ease and dimension. Taylor brings restless power to the daughter’s struggle watching her mother live in oppression. Rucker’ Dotty, powerfully articulates issues of the times and the impact on her life without being preachy. And Jay Pierce, in a spider-veined blood-red tux playing Caroline’s devil ’Dryer’ (magical realism comes into play as these household appliances are personified and sing), unleashes a sardonic bass-baritone. Later as The Bus, he has the vocal gravitas of history when he announces the death of Kennedy to his community.
Tallia Brinson, Danielle Herbert, Marsha Lawson are The Radio ’girl group’ in motion hovering over the laundry room. They not only got the moves, but are a Greek chorus with a lot to say. The girls open Act II with a campy pop Christmas number that soon becomes the dramatic exposition of Salty Tears. This could have easily been a crowd - pleasing device, but here have a richer dramatic and musical purpose.
Tesori’s polyrhythmic hybrids transform 1960s formula R&B into soul arias that are deeply imbedded into the narrative flow, so much so there are only two or three opportunities for the audience to applaud.
Great production design by James Kronzer, with a multi-tiered set that symbolizes the upstairs/downstairs racial divides; and also the divides within families. In the past director Terrence J. Nolen has been acclaimed for his accomplished musical stagings at the Arden, especially in keeping the theater Sondheim-relevant; but he really reaches another level here with kinetic direction that’s in perfect pitch with the material.
Caroline, or Change, presented by The Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia. Through 4/8. For more details visit the Arden Theatre Company website.
