‘for black girls contemplating suicide/when the rainbow is enough’ Broadway Review: Ntozake Shange’s Breakthrough Koreopoemi Breathes Again

Directed and choreographed by Kamil A. Brown and seven singers, dancers and actresses, it brings life and vitality to Ntozake Shang’s still strong decade of the mid-1970s. For girls of color who are considering suicide / when rainbow is enough. Shanghai’s fantasy of poetry, dance and confession, disobedience, fraternity, and above all resilience has unleashed a force that has not weakened for decades, or none at all, with the loss of the startling novelty on tonight’s Broadway Booth Theatre.

Sheng called the mix of spoken and danced words “koreopoem”; It was a word as beautiful and exciting as it was back then. for girls of color (as it is often abbreviated) debuted on Broadway in 1974. If the word itself seems to date back to its time, the form will take root and influence any stage play for decades to come. vaginal monologues From the 1990s to this season Thoughts of a colored man.

For such an important job, for girls of color Directed by each of the cast and design team, Brown feels different outside of the museum show: sets are Moon Hee Chos, costumes are Sarafina Bush, lights are Jung Chang, voices are Justin Ellington, projections are Aaron Rain. And Cookie Jordan’s hair and wig combined into one luxurious whole.

The premise is clear from the start: a group of seven black women, each identified only by the color of their suit, emerges on stage with a combination of movement and music in a strange twist that gives the title another layer of meaning. Juba combines with hip-hop, ballet and avant-garde, everything strengthens and unites the first fairy tale.

From there, the characters tell their stories, sing, sign or dance, but Brown rarely leaves the stage without the other soloists. At two, three, or seven o’clock the women move, react, and sometimes physically embrace the narrator.

So we understand that the Lady in Yellow (D. Woods) remembers a life-changing graduation party and the Lady in Brown (Tendai Kumba, late semester) remembers. David Byrne’s American Utopia) Gathering memories of early childhood adoration through the beloved books of the Haitian revolutionary Tusan Louverture. Lady in Blue (Stacey Sargiant) voices Shang’s fiery motto “I lived in the world”, which ends with one of Shang’s wonderful poems: “I had a right to the world.” Then I moved to Harlem and closed the tunnel because of the six atrocities that piled on his head.

This speech is brutally followed by one of the most popular moments in the game: “Someone almost gone from my articles” by Lady in Green. Okwu Okpokwasil’s poem of independence and vindication, conveyed by the power and rhythmic invention of the locomotive, maintains its strength after many years.

I want to return my products /
My rhythms and my voice / open your mouth / and let me talk to you
throw away my trash

Each cast is just as engaging as the next, and some parts are more impressionistic than narrative. Among those not previously mentioned are Amara Granderson as Lady in Orange and deaf actress Alexandria Wales (who often gives her own speech) as Lady in Purple. These two teams are in a St. Louis got together to tell the story of his woman:

Sechita/waz is dying to get back to the street. Louis /
Dirt from the earth did not seep into his soul/
At least / street. Lewis / Grimm bought a used one in a vineyard / here in Nachez / God’s face seems to have acres

Traditionally, the play ends with a gruesome tale of spousal abuse, violence, and tragedy told by the Red Lady (Kenita R. Miller, 1000%). The indescribable fear is articulated, confronted, and lamented. Once again, the director invites all the actors to the stage not for simple things like hugs and condolences, but for dance, poetry and music, and once again sends home the message that these women are inseparable from their siblings for their survival and resistance. . They meet one by one.