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| Philip Thomas. |
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| Ian Sander, Mary Alice. |
Charles Gorone’s 1969 Pulitzer Prize drama, the first by a
Black author, had played for two healthy runs Off Broadway in its original and
a return engagement. There are some fascinating notes on the play’s connection
to the Public Theater in Kenneth Turan and Joseph Papp's Free for All. It’s a play I’ve always had a fondness for, having
directed a Brooklyn College production of it in 1978, with a promising young
actor named Jimmy Smits in the lead. Whatever happened to him?
In 1971, only a relatively short time after the return
engagement closed, it was revived on Broadway, directed by Gordone himself. The
audience for it appears to have been dissipated, though, during its 578
Off-Broadway performances.
 |
| Terry Alexander, Susan Spaulding. |
The new staging of this racially sensitive drama, set in a
West Greenwich Village bar, was completely recast and reconceived, but its
placement on a Broadway proscenium stage seemed to Douglas Watt to weaken its
potency from that displayed in more intimate surroundings. Yet Clive Barnes
felt it belonged right where it was, claiming, “The play is a lot better than
it was originally,” its structure and impact being sharper than before. Jerry
Tallmer’s opinion coincided with Barnes’s, calling it “a brilliant piece of
theatre.”
Phillip Thomas played Gabe Gabriel, Ian Sander was Shanty
Mulligan, Terry Alexander was Johnny Williams, Elaine Kerr was Dee Jacobson,
Mary Alice played Cora Beasley, and Ed Van Nuys was Judge Bolton.
