By Kyle Osborne
The cast alone makes ‘Violet’ a must-see musical at Ford’s Theatre. Erin Driscoll, a great singer and actress, shines even brighter than the spotlight she deservedly earned as the play’s title character.
Set in the Civil Rights era 60’s, Violet is a young woman who sets out on a Greyhound bus from her hometown of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She hopes an evangelist will heal the “ugly” scar on her face. It’s a scar not visible to the audience, leaving the question open as to how much of that “scar” is in Violet’s head. One thing we do know that’s in her head are vivid memories of her childhood, and how an accident involving her father’s ax led to her injury.
Violet’s memories are told in flashbacks with young actress Lauren Williams playing young Vi and Bobby Smith playing Dad. The flashbacks don’t always work: they’re sometimes jarring, they happen too frequently, and they disrupt the flow of the bus ride, which is much more interesting
For that, we can thank James Gardiner and Kevin McAllister who play Monty and Flick, two military men in uniform, one white, the other black. The soldiers befriend Violet and the group dynamics among them become changing, and interesting to watch. The parallels about physical appearances and the consequences in an age where a black man and a white woman would rarely be seen together don’t go unnoticed.
Although the performances are across-the-board superb, the first act tends to lag a bit. One wishes to “get this thing going” at a more brisk pace. This problem is solved in the second act, when Violet gets to the home church of the Evangelist (Gregory Maheu) who appears to be somewhat like the Wizard behind the curtain whom Dorothy encountered at the end of that Yellow Brick Road. At any rate, the gospel singers in the church choir breathe new life into the house at Ford’s, doubling the energy of that sometimes lagging narrative. What Violet discovers at the end of her own journey, I’ll leave for the viewer to discover. But what has been experienced along the way is some tremendous singing , great sets, and stand out performances.
L-R Erin Driscoll, Kevin McAllister and James Gardiner
Speaking of which; James Gardiner is one of the areas very best singer/actors and he acquits himself nicely here—one wishes that more opportunities had been written for his character. The “Bring The House Down” song is Let It Sing, and Kevin McAllister crushes it. It seemed to move the audience more than any other single moment. Sung with so much power and purpose, one felt like standing and putting his hand over his heart for a moment. And Nova Y. Payton plays a small role, but everyone knows she can hit notes that only small dogs can hear. Her singing, while brief, was memorable. She’s a leading lady who isn’t too much of a big shot (in her mind) to take a little character part and work it.
I hadn’t been to Ford’s in many years, and it was nice to see all of the renovations and upgrades that make it a great venue to see, well, just about anything. But seeing ‘Violet’ would be a good start.
All photos by: Carol Rosegg.
Violet plays through February 23, 2014 at Ford’s Theatre— 511 10th Street NW in Washington, DC. For tickets call the box office at (202) 347-4833, or purchase them online at: http://www.fordstheatre.org/