[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of “The Bluest Eye” by Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, adapted for the stage by Lydia R. Diamond and directed by Andi Chapman at A Noise Within until September 24.
I had not read Toni Morrison’s novel “The Bluest Eye” before I saw this play. It was her first novel and it centers on the story of three little Black girls in Lorain, Ohio. Claudia and Frieda MacTeer and their friend and foster sister, Pecola Breedlove whose father had burned down their home in a drunken rage and was the reason she was living with them. The MacTeers take Pecola in temporarily while her mother finds them new accommodations and the MacTeer sisters become her fierce protectors. Pecola is only 12 and pregnant, by her father…she needs protecting. There’s a lot more to her story of course, and the story of them all, but to find that out you’ll just have see this remarkable play.
The play opens with music. A gorgeous, rousing spiritual song that brings the entire cast onto the stage in one hopeful and glorious singular voice. For a story like this to open in such a way is a testament to the extraordinary, lyrical, poetic writing of a timeless, aching story that needed to be told. The music reminds us of the history of overcoming, and of a legacy of soulful resistance to the kind of pain that could sink you.
Toni Morrison said of the story that she “wanted people to feel how hurtful racism is.” And “The Bluest Eye” certainly shows us that. This slim, frail girl Pecola, whose name means brazen woman, has had a long lifetime in her 12 years on the earth and we can see the weight of it on her slight frame. Her friends, Claudia and Frieda, have had an altogether different experience so far, full of family and safety, but her life crashing into theirs changes everything for them. Pecola’s wish for blue eyes comes from deep inside her. Always feeling ugly, being told she was in fact by her parents and the world around her, she connected to the little white girl dolls and the Dick and Jane stories with pale-skinned children living perfect lives, being loved and cared for. To be good for her meant to be white and not enough people corrected her.
This production is as tapestried as the story. Leaping back and forth through time, merging characters, actors playing multiple roles – those roles somehow still fundamentally connected to each other. There’s a distinct element of jazz in this play. The scattering of truths and the repetition of heartache and also love.
It’s an absolutely dazzling production and the actors are utterly sublime. Funny, honest, inventive, broken, strong and compelling. I felt a deep connection to everyone on stage and as the ‘why’ of how the most difficult and excruciating moments in these lives unfolded, I also felt a really deep understanding and an empathy to it.
“The Bluest Eye” is a beautiful play about the results of a tragic thing. An ugly thing. For if ever anything could be ugly it was what Pecola’s father did to Pecola. But the story is about much more than that one moment. It’s about the strength of these characters, the grace of them, the intricate nature of their relationships, their expectations and their dreams. In 1941, when this play is set, Black people in the USA were discriminated against as a matter of course. It was hard to vote, harder still to find fair-paying jobs and to make a life, to build a future. This play is also about all that, and the hurt that Morrison referred to. That hurt beats a person down and still does, to our collective shame.
But art like this changes things. I believe that. It keeps us focused on what really matters. How we treat each other. Within relationships, within families, within society, within the world. If we can’t find our kindness, if we can’t tell a child she is beautiful and mean it, what are we? Lost.
“The Bluest Eye” is a transcendental production. Magical and unmissable. Each and every actor was so intensely present. Every syllable they spoke nuanced and breathtaking. It’s a triumph of directing. To take this sad story and make it rise effortlessly is truly brilliant…I had not read this book…but now I absolutely must.
“The Bluest Eye” runs until September 24, which is not far from now. So don’t dawdle. A Noise Within has gifted us an opportunity to see something remarkable and important and wonderful, it’s well worth your time. Believe me…
Tickets:
When:
Runs through September 24
Where:
3352 E Foothill Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91107
The Cast and Team
Akilah A. Walker heads the A Noise Within cast as Pecola, alongside Kacie Rogers and Mildred Marie Langford as sisters Claudia and Frieda, from whose point of view the story is told. The rest of the cast includes Julanne Chidi Hill as Mrs. Breedlove, Kamal Bolden as Cholly Breedlove, Crystal Jackson and Alex Morris as Claudia’s and Frieda’s Mama and Daddy, and Alex Metz as classmate Maureen. The creative team includes composer and musical director Maritri Garrett and choreographer Indira Tyler; scenic designer Fred Kinney; lighting designer Andrew Schmedake; sound designer Jeff Gardner; costume designer Wendell C. Carmichael; wig and Makeup designer Shelia Dorn; properties designer Stephen Taylor; and dramaturg Dr. Miranda Johnson–Haddad. The production stage manager is Zaira Paredes-Villegas.