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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Radio Golf Also see Richard's review of POTUS
St. Louis Black Repertory is once again completing Wilson's "Pittsburgh Cycle" of plays, set in the Steel Town, with Radio Golf at the Edison Theatre. It's a modern, two and a half hour show (with intermission) first performed in 2005. And it marks the second time the 50 year-old company has completed the grand cycle: a 10-chambered Hamlet, where we peer into the Black soul in all its anguish and glory. In its earliest days, Radio Golf (Wilson's final play) moved around the country in different productions before arriving on Broadway in 2007 where it ran for about two months. Wilson's fictional Aunt Ester is exactly as old as the Black experience in America itself, and here she once again serves as the legendary, unseen 378-year old matriarch of The Hill, on the poor side of town. She is referred to in awestruck tones again and again throughout the Pittsburgh Cycle (also known as the Century Cycle). And if you do the math, for all we know, she may have been born on the first slave ship that came over to the American colonies in 1619. Of course, we'd assume she's dead by the time of this play, set in 1997. But you can never be 100% sure. And it would be foolish to try to bury her, as she's had the seemingly god-like power to change anyone's future (in Wilson's world) with unerring insight, for as long as anyone can remember. And on second thought, maybe this final installment of Wilson's magnum opus is at least partly Winter's Tale, where the dead queen miraculously comes back to life. And now her condemned house is about to be torn down for a Barnes & Noble parking lot, as a couple of sharp young men work the levers of federal aid on The Hill, with plans for a gleaming new redevelopment. The only thing standing in their way is the memory of Aunt Ester and her firm hold on the neighborhood regulars, who've spent their entire lives just holding on. Jon Royal directs with great naturalism as each of his characters discovers their own future, one step at a time. Reginald L. Wilson is excellent as Harmond Wilks, a long-shot candidate for mayor. And Ronald L. Conner shines, canny and clever as Roosevelt Hicks, Harmond's partner and childhood friend. Mr. Conner is like a shark on the stage, and his Roosevelt is determined to get government grants for their blighted part of town. Mr. Wilson, as the would-be politician, has that wonderful air of a good man being pushed and pulled by events–until Harmond's own "to be, or not to be" moment, when something immortal grabs him by the soul. But highly detailed comic relief steals the show, with Black Rep founder Ron Himes brilliant as the shuffling, seemingly crazy Elder Joseph. And Kelvin Roston Jr. is terrific as the golden-hearted Sterling Johnson–Mr. Roston being the opposite of Mr. Conner in temperament here. Those two humble supporting characters seem to work in service of Aunt Ester's memory, though they also seem like the two halves of a comedy team that almost never come to meet on stage. But she's moving them around like chess pieces, somehow, from her remote location in the eleventh dimension, from a locus in that house slated for demolition at 1839 Wylie Avenue. Gradually, our priorities shift, as we come to root for her in her final intervention. The excellent set is by Jim Burwinkle, with a fine light plot by Jayson Lawshee and costumes that sparkle by Shevare Perry (though two of the costume changes were stubbornly slow at the performance I attended). On stage, Velma Austin once again shows great stagecraft as Harmond's wife Mame, bickering lightly over campaign slogans and poster colors. Later she tries to shoo him out of town when the wrecking ball comes for that old tenement house. But the "other woman" in the story has been around for a lot longer. And she sees the real value of all that newly blighted real estate, shimmering full of old souls. Radio Golf has been extended through June 8, 2025, at Washington University, the Edison Theatre, 6465 Forsyth Blvd., St. Louis MO. A portion of the ticket sales will support tornado relief. For tickets and information, please visit www.theblackrep.org. Cast: Production Staff: * Denotes Member, Actors' Equity Association |
