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Black, White and Gray
A new musical
Book by Luther Goins
Lyrics by Myrna Petlicki
Music by Craig Wilson
Directed by Ilesa Duncan
At The Theatre Building Chicago
1225 W. Belmont Ave.
Chicago, IL
Call 773-327-5252, tickets $25
Fridays at 7:30 pm
Saturdays at 3 pm & 7:30 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2 hours with intermission
Through April 22, 2007
Black, White and Gray is a tasteless polemic on racism
Dealing with racism from both the white and black point of view offers possibilities for insight, for breakthroughs and for understanding leading to healing. It is one thing to bluntly and crudely showcase white and black racism, which Black, White and Gray aggressively does and it is quite another to reach new insights, which this show fails miserably to do. The result is a weak, convoluted and disorganized show filled with stereotypical clichéd characters and situations filled with crude gutter language and hollow bland songs poorly sung by an inept cast. This show is extremely offensive to both whites and blacks as it beats us over the head with our implied universal racism. How offensive. Do the writers want us to believe that we are all racist? They make the argument that we have more in common than we’ll admit. But the only offer racism as that commonality. How narrow, how untrue.
They show a black and a white family with all the clichés of racist attitudes and hook them together by having the white rookie cop and the black teen shot to death in an unclear event. The two men travel toward heaven but arrive in purgatory while the families suffer increased racism enhanced by their loss. Much sure could be done with this concept but the musical resorts to blandly weak R & B styled songs with hints of Gospel and Blues. The remarkably flat songs lacked the zest and bite to balance the overt racial slurs particularly at black personas. The songs were butchered by an amazing collection of weak voiced performers.
The convoluted story implodes into one of the most crudely offensive song ever heard on a Chicago stage: “Corn.” The white racist father of the slain cop is at the grocery store checkout when the black woman scans the can of corn he wants to purchase, the price displays at $1.29. He starts screaming foul-mouthed racial epitaphs in a tantrum that moves into a stupid song because the price, he thinks is only .49. This is typical of the shows two main flaws. First, the racist attitude is repeated much too often and emotional over reactions to small events are not adequately set up. Characters scream at their father or their wife, and then abruptly apologize without motivation. The show has no dramatic arch nor cohesive through line. It plays as a series of small sketches with sound-alike music and meaningless lyrics. The authors need to go back to the drawing board to eliminate the crude language and hollow stereotypes. The show lacks heart, cohesion and purpose. The current production has poor singing and too much overacting. As now presented, both blacks and whites will leave the show irritated and disappointed. I’m amazed that anyone will find merit in this cold, crude show.
Not Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: March 19, 2007
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