Joan Marcus

From left, John Douglas Thompson, Michael Potts, Anthony Chisholm and Brandon J. Dirden

 

                                                             By Ron Cohen

 

One of the first things that may strike you in watching Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s lovingly directed production of Jitney is the joy his company of nine actors seems to bring on stage in performing August Wilson’s masterful comedy drama. It is infectious, but as the play progresses, you may well forget that those are actors up there on stage, so vibrantly real have the people they’re portraying become.

 

Jitney is one of the series of 10 plays written by Wilson that are referred to as The Pittsburgh Cycle or Century Cycle. They depict African-American experience during the past century, as seen in the microcosm of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wilson’s home town. Each play takes place in a different decade. The works have garnered multiple awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes (for The Piano Lesson and Fences), for Wilson, who died in 2005.

 

The first of the 10 plays to be written, Jitney is set in 1977 in the storefront office for a group of unlicensed or “gypsy” cab drivers. As Becker, the boss of the group, puts it, they provide the denizens of their hardscrabble neighborhood with “a way to get their groceries home or to get their suitcase down to the bus station or the airport so they can go home to visit their mama or whoever it is they want to visit.” The passage illustrates the genius that Wilson has to imbue everyday speech with a sense of soul, lifting it to a colorful yet organic intimation of poetry. As the drivers pass the time waiting for calls, they play checkers, reminisce, squabble about debts, and eventually face an uncertain future, learning that the building which houses their office is about to be condemned. And we get to know them intimately, in revelations of their humanity and resiliency, even while the improving but still oppressive society that has shaped their lives looms ever in the background and sometimes come right to the forefront.

 

In addition to the unwavering leadership he provides for his co-workers, Becker’s profound despair over the fate of his son, Booster, is central to the plot. Once a highly promising university student, Booster became romantically involved with a fellow student, a white girl, who accused him of rape when their relationship was discovered by her father, a powerful executive. In his rage over her lie, Booster fatally shot the girl, and now after 20 years in prison, he has been released, must face his unforgiving father and try to explain himself. It’s a confrontation that virtually defines anguish, and as brilliantly enacted by John Douglas Thompson as Becker and Brandon J. Dirden as Booster, it is guaranteed to leave you breathless while tearing hearts to shreds. It’s a conflict that takes another turn of random fate to resolve.

 

Joan MarcusJohn Douglas Thompson as Becker and Michael Potts as Turnbo

 

Among other standouts in a company of standouts, Michael Potts beguiles as Turnbo, a compulsive gossip and busybody who’s responsible for much of the play’s humor. As a man who can’t stop expressing himself on almost any subject, Potts’ dead-serious dissertation on Lena Horne’s prettiness versus that of Sarah Vaughan’s is a comic gem. He also delivers heaps of exposition with such a sense of eager storytelling that it never sounds like exposition. Equally arresting but more quietly so is Keith Randolph Smith’s Doub, a Korean War veteran whose observations on life are endowed with a straight-seeing intelligence as well as a touch of grace. Other memorable turns come from Harvy Blanks as a jovial numbers runner using the jitney station’s phone for his business, Anthony Chisholm as a driver who was once a successful tailor until his alcoholism caught up with him, and Ray Anthony Thomas as a downtrodden doorman at a nearby hotel and a frequent passenger.

 

André Holland and Carra Patterson                   Credit: Joan Marcus

 

Another major story thread concerns Youngblood, a veteran of the Vietnam War and a driver trying to build a better life for his girlfriend, Rena, and their two-year-old son. However, the time he has been spending secretly doing extras jobs and looking for a house to buy is misinterpreted by Rena as cheating on her. Their problem is easily resolved once Youngblood explains himself. Although the two are played with compelling energy and an appealing sexiness by André Holland and Carra Patterson, their quick and blissful kiss-and-makeup is the only element that doesn’t quite convince in a play that otherwise threatens to knock you over with its grand sense of pulsating life. It’s a veracity that is further bolstered in the well-worn detailing of David Gallo’s set design and Toni-Leslie James’ costumes. The lighting by Jane Cox, sound design by Darron L. West and the blues-y original music by Bill Sims Jr. conspire effectively to help further define the script’s shifting moods, each one of those moods given their full due in Santiago-Hudson’s astutely paced staging. 

 

Since it first premiered in 1982 in Pittsburgh, Jitney has had numerous productions around the country and in London. An Off-Broadway production that opened in 2000 racked up 312 performances. But it was the only one of the 10 Pittsburgh Cycle plays not to have a Broadway production. Now, thanks to Manhattan Theatre Club and a group of associated producers, that has been remedied, more than making up for the wait.

 

Broadway play

Playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

261 West 47^th Street

212-239-6200

Telecharge.com

Playing until March 12