“The Legacy of a Mother and
Son”***
by Elyse Orecchio (guest reviewer)
From time to time Theatre's Leiter Side posts reviews of Off-Off Broadway shows my schedule prevents me from seeing. If you are interested in reviewing Off-Off Broadway, please contact me so we can discuss. I hope you find the expanded coverage useful. Sam Leiter
I saw Till at the
New York Musical Festival (NYMF) on what would have been the 78th birthday of
Emmett Till, the 14-year-old whose brutal murder in 1955 ignited civil rights
protests and is still in the news today. Just last week some Mississippi frat boys vandalized his memorial, as plenty others have done (consequently, a bulletproof
replacement is in the works).
Synonymous with the story of Emmett is the story of his mother
Mamie Till, who made sure the world saw the barbaric images of her son’s
mutilated body by holding an open casket funeral, iconicized in this photograph. In this new musical with music and lyrics by Leo Schwartz
and a book by Schwartz and DC Cathro, Till explores the life of Emmett
and Mamie in the time leading up to his tragic death.
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| Dwelvan David and company. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
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| Taylor Blackman and company. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
The immensely talented gospel quartet portrays the rest of the characters: Tyla Collier as Emmett’s grandmother Alma and others, Dwelvan David as Emmett’s uncle and others, Judith Franklin as Emmett’s cousin and others, Dwelvan David
as Emmett’s uncle and others, Judith Franklin as Emmett’s cousin and others,
and most notably, Devin Roberts, who seamlessly transitions back and forth
between Mamie’s kind suitor and Roy, the sinister white store clerk who ends
Emmett’s life.
Roy and Carolyn Bryant are a white couple running a small store in
Money. There are various versions of what happened to set off Roy: it was said
that Emmett whistled at his wife, Carolyn. In Till, Emmett whistles
during a game of checkers, which Carolyn mistakes as intended for her. When Roy
learns of this, he abducts Emmett in the middle of the night; the boy’s lynched
body is found days later.
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| Dwelvan David, Judith Franklin, Taylor Blackman, Ty Collier, Devin Roberts. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
The production ends with Mamie’s declaration (“Come Follow Me”)
that her son will not be forgotten, along with projections of figures from
Martin Luther King Jr. to President Barack Obama, which solidifies Emmett
Till’s relevance in the history of the civil rights movement. But some of the
most important things I learned about the Till legacy came from doing research
for this piece instead of from the show itself, such as the subsequent trial
(and acquittal) of Bryant, or the details on Mamie Till’s heroic efforts to
fight for her son’s memory.
I would have preferred more time being devoted to the aftermath of
Till’s murder. But I left the theatre feeling privileged to have watched Emmett
and Mamie’s story as a shared experience with other humans. to have been given
that real-life connection in the room. The production’s guttural emotion,
compounded with its political, thought-provoking, and, needless to say,
relevant, content, makes Till the show most likely to be remembered
among this season’s NYMF offerings.
Pershing Square
Signature Center/Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
480 W. 42nd St.,
NYC
[Closed July 28]
Elyse Orecchio studied musical theatre at Emerson College, acting at CUNY
Brooklyn College, and English Linguistics & Rhetoric at CUNY Hunter
College. She has worked in nonprofit communications for more than a decade. She
lives in Sunnyside, Queens, with her husband Joe, kids Theo and Melody, and
three cats. eorecchio@gmail.com @elyseorecchio