If only anything about the production that opened on Broadway tonight were nearly as thrilling. <\/span><\/p>\n But the trail unfolding at the Shubert Theatre \u2014 of Tom Robinson (Gbenga Akinnagbe), a Black man<\/a> accused of raping a white woman<\/a> in Jim Crow Alabama \u2014 \u00a0feels unusually dull, and more like a trial of patience. A man<\/a>\u2019s life is at stake, but there is no question of suspense. Perhaps it\u2019s because we know so well how the story goes, not just from reading Lee\u2019s novel, but from experiencing or living with the injustices Black people face every day. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n What is the point of rehearsing such trauma on stage, even in the form of a towering literary adaptation, except to congratulate ourselves <\/span>for having witnessed Something Important<\/span><\/a> in the comfort of the dark?<\/span><\/p>\n Or maybe this trial feels boring because there\u2019s no question here of who is right or wrong. Even if such ambiguity were possible reading Lee\u2019s narrative today, the production makes certain we know good from evil with the subtlety of an axe splitting wood. As the victim\u2019s father (and likely rapist), Frederick Weller is a backwoods bigot with the carriage of Yosemite Sam. Robinson, and the Finch family maid Calpurnia (played by LaTanya Richardson Jackson) are thankless Black characters tasked with representing the worthiness of an entire race.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n And then, of course, there\u2019s Atticus. It is the fate of his legacy, fueled by the production\u2019s legal battle over his characterization, that\u2019s really on trial here. Would he be the paragon of moral responsibility so fondly remembered from the novel, and from Gregory Peck\u2019s performance on film? A closeted bigot himself, as revealed in <\/span>Go Set a Watchman<\/span><\/i>, released under <\/span>ambiguous circumstances<\/span><\/a> shortly before Lee\u2019s death? <\/span><\/p>\n Jeff Daniels\u2019 Atticus reads rather more smug than wise, a white savior with a chip on his shoulder and a Black maid at home. When he claims to his kids that he never looks down on anyone, it\u2019s like a Sorkin punchline that lands with a deadening thud. Whether we\u2019re meant to interrogate the character\u2019s moral standing or simply fall for Daniels\u2019 signature self-satisfaction, his Atticus doesn\u2019t make for insightful or agreeable company. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Not that his progeny have very far to look up to him; in director Bartlett Sher\u2019s production, narrators Scout (Celia Keenan-Bolger), Jem (Will Pullen), and their summer sidekick Dill (Gideon Glick) are all played by adult actors. Given that the story lives in the space between innocence and ugly truths, it\u2019s a choice that hobbles the drama from the outset. Overalls and free-wheeling limbs only go so far. (For the dramatic potential of employing actual adolescents in a play about family, justice, and the soul of a nation \u2014 look across town at <\/span>The Ferryman<\/span><\/i>.)<\/span><\/p>\n One area of concession Lee\u2019s estate reportedly made to Sorkin was the addition of dialogue for the play\u2019s Black characters. It\u2019s hardly enough to notice. Upon exiting through Miriam Beuther\u2019s framework set, Jackson\u2019s Calpurnia can often be seen banging a fist into her hand, shaking her head either in resignation or disgust. It\u2019s easy to why \u2014 and to wish we could hear her story instead.<\/span><\/p>\n Recent theatre features\u2026 Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar The post The Most Interesting Part of Broadway\u2019s \u2018To Kill a Mockingbird\u2019 Already Happened Off Stage: REVIEW<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/em>(photos: julieta cervantes)<\/p>\n