Jitney
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Cititour.com Review
If there remains any doubt that August Wilson is one of the 20th century’s greatest American playwrights, Manhattan Theatre Club’s revival of Jitney erases it. Director Ruben Santiago-Hudson pours heart and soul into this deeply engrossing and affecting production, which beautifully delineates the strength of community in dire times.
The play is set in the run-down office of a car service in 1977 Pittsburgh, where jitney drivers wait to be sent out on calls (on a cluttered and dilapidated set from designer David Gallo). It’s also a kind of rec room for the African-American men who eke out a living in this unstable, on-call business as their neighborhood falls apart around them.
Youngblood (Andre Holland) is trying to scrape together the funds to buy a house for his girlfriend (Carra Patterson) and young son. Fielding (Anthony Chisholm) has trouble staying sober and longs for a wife he’s been separated from for two decades. Turnbo (Michael Potts) gets his kicks from riling up his colleagues, while Doub (Keith Randolph Smith) provides a voice of calm.
Meanwhile, their even-keeled boss, Becker (always amazing John Douglas Thompson), is facing eviction. In this decade of urban blight, their place is about to be boarded up, and Becker wrestles with how to tell the men and whether to close up shop for good.
As all this unfolds, Becker is confronted with a ghost from the past. His son, Booster (Brandon J. Dirden), is being released from prison after serving 20 years for murder. In all that time Becker, who’s a paternal figure even to his older employees, never visited him and wants nothing to do with him now, despite the young man’s contriteness.
The last in Wilson’s 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle to come to Broadway, Jitney dates back to 1982 but was rewritten in the ’90s. Wilson excelled at fitting relevant themes into his epic plays about race, yet his characters are never mouthpieces for ideas. The play veers between group scenes of the men passing time at work and revealing two-character dialogues. Even the bit parts of two neighborhood locals (Harvy Blanks and Ray Anthony Thomas) add up to more than their stage time would indicate.
In fact, the strength of Santiago-Hudson’s excellent ensemble says as much as Wilson’s words about the power of community.
By Diane Snyder
Visit the Site
http://jitneybroadway.com
Cast
Harvy Blanks, Anthony Chisholm, Brandon Dirden, André Holland, Carra Patterson, Michael Potts, Keith Randolph Smith, Ray Anthony Thomas, John Douglas Thompson
Open/Close Dates
Opening 1/19/2017
Closing 3/12/2017
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 12/28/2016
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
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