CurtainUp
CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
HOME PAGE

SITE GUIDE

SEARCH


REVIEWS

REVIEW ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

FEATURES

NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings


LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
Through the Night

By Megan Finnegan

December 6th update: Producer Daryl Roth announced that, due to popular demand, the solo show will return to Off-Broadway beginning January 24, 2011. It will bepresented on Monday nights at the Westside Theatre Downstairs Stage (407 W. 43rd Street), 8pm. Tickets, priced at $39 ($25 with valid student I.D.), will go on sale on December 17 / (212) 239-6200.


I will father myself so my children will know: a black man stays. . .
Be a black man, take a stand.
Run, black man, run.
A fatherless child I may be but
I'm the man I choose to be.

— 'Twon
(Photo: Carol Rosegg)
Is it possible for one actor to embody six black characters who in turn present the challenges facing the entire African-American community today in just 80 minutes? Daniel Beaty is banking on it with Through the Night, his dynamically-performed one-acter that connects his sextet of personalities through personal relationships, shared circumstance and one tragic, culminating event.

Beaty, who is the script writer as well as performer, begins by embodying a meek-voiced but strong-willed 10-year-old boy named Eric, determined to concoct a magic elixir that will cure the sadness he sees in the eyes of the grown-ups around him. Eric is the voice of innocence and hope that the adult characters have lost. His dad, Mr. Rogers, runs a health food store in the hood, which he wryly equates to "a fried chicken stand in a vegan compound," while Bishop, the local pastor, wrestles with an addiction to Ho Hos and serious over-eating.

Other characters we meet include Bishop's son, Isaac, a music executive who stuggles with his sexual identity and mentors young 'Twon, a recent high school graduate from the Jefferson Projects. 'Twon is bound for Morehouse College and a greater future than his own absent father despite the influences that threaten to pull him back into the cycle of too-young parenthood. There's also Mr. Rogers' employee Dre, a nerve-addled former junkie pacing a hospital hallway as he waits for news about his pregnant girlfriend. Rounding out the cast with the wives and girlfriends (and one boyfriend) of these men, Beaty reaches into every corner of one community.

Randolph-Wright's directorial nuance and Beaty's precision as a performer prevent us from being distracted by the numerous and rapid character transitions. Except for Alexander V. Nichols' boldly colored projections to indicate locations, Beaty relies on his physicality and vocal intonation to quickly make each of his characters distinct and recognizable. He takes each of one from dialogue to soliloquy to a heightened state of dream-like internal monologue, making this at times feel more like a poetry slam than a play. While I didn't find this device a problem I did find the revelatory moments of the various characters struggles a bit too simplistic. I also would have preferred a bit more subtext, instead of having each character say exactly what he means. It's as if Beaty doesn't trust his audience enough to understand anything not spelled out.

On the plus side, the 80 minutes are peppered with easily accessible, universal humor and the moments of music and stylized rhyme make us understand why Beaty and his characters have already had three previous productions: at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and New Jersey's Crossroads Theater in New Jersey (see Curtainup critic Simon Saltzman's more unqualified rave here ) which also premiered his previous solo show EmergenceSEE (Our Review when it was at the Public Theater). No wonder the Off-Broadway production has opened for an optimistic open-ended run.

Through the Night
Written and performed by Daniel Beaty
Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright
Scenic, Lighting/Projection Design: Alexander V. Nichols
Sound Design & Original Music: Lindsay Jones Running Time: 80 minutes no intermission
Union Square Theatre 100 East 17th Street . 212-279-4200
Tickets: $65
From 9/10/10; opening 9/26/10 for an open ended run-- closing 12/05/10
Wednesday 8pm, Thursday 8pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 3pm & 8pm, Sunday 3pm & 7pm
Review by Megan Finnegan based on performance 09/25/10
REVIEW FEEDBACK
Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
  • I agree with the review of Through the Night
  • I disagree with the review of Through the Night
  • The review made me eager to see Through the Night
Click on the address link E-mail: esommer@curtainup.com
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V):

Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review.

Visit Curtainup's Blog Annex
For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader
Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter
Subscribe to our FREE email updates: E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe, E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country.
In the Heights
In the Heights


broadwaynewyork.com


amazon




©Copyright 2010, Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com