A Free Man of Color
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Cititour.com Review
A Free Man of Color is such a terrifically theatrical enterprise that it's a shame it's not a more satisfying play. The talent on display includes author John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation), director George C. Wolfe (Angels in America) and a wonderful and wonderfully large cast of 26 headed by Jeffrey Wright as the title character. A well-to-do mixed-race man, Jacques Cornet has his freedom but keeps slaves and enjoys a lavish playboy existence in 1801 New Orleans, when it was under Spanish rule and different races could mingle freely.
Leave it to the Americans (of course!) to mess up paradise after the Louisiana Purchase gives them control of New Orleans. Guare places historical characters like Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis and Napoleon side by side with fictional ones in his sprawling narrative, which spans five years and sees Cornet's fortunes drastically decline. But the characters aren't as precisely wrought or as integrated as they are in a work like Ragtime, and Wolfe directs Free Man as a Restoration-style comedy, until it takes a tragic act-two turn, a scheme that's only partially successful.
Still, watching a cast of accomplished stage actors jump roles (and in the case of Veanne Cox, gender) to populate Guare's vast landscape is a treat. Reg Rogers, as Cornet's Caucasian half-brother, finds the perfect stylistic balance between the play's comedic and dramatic moments, and Mos (formerly Mos Def) is a compelling foil as Cornet's slave. And it's a marvelous piece of eye candy, anchored by Ann Hould-Ward's gorgeously decadent costumes and David Rockwell's varied sets, which propel the production from city grandeur to the barren landscape of America's then-uncharted territory. If only it were as much of a feast for the mind as for the senses.
By Diane Snyder
Visit the Site
http://www.lct.org/showMain.htm?id=198
Cast
Peter Bartlett, Nicole Beharie, Arnie Burton, Veanne Cox, Paul Dano, Sara Gettelfinger, Justina Machado, Joseph Marcell, John McMartin, Mos, Brian Reddy, Reg Rogers, Robert Stanton, Jeffrey Wright
Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/21/2010
Closing 1/9/2011
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Vivian Beaumont Theater
150 West 65th Street
New York, NY 10023
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