‘Crowns’ is a jewel
Lyric Theatre’s Oklahoma premiere production of the gospel musical “Crowns” is not so much a show as it is an immersive experience.
Lyric Theatre is ushering in its 2018 season by taking its audiences to church. The venerable theater’s Oklahoma premiere production of the gospel musical “Crowns” is not so much a show as it is an immersive experience, especially staged in the cozy warmth of the Plaza Theatre.
A poignant and jubilant celebration of black church ladies’ glorious hats, “Crowns” should be faithfully familiar to theatergoers who have grown up in that rich tradition, while serving as a dazzling introduction to those of us not already acquainted with the majestic custom, which is about far more than fashion.
Adapted from the photography book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry, the show was penned by actress and writer Regina Taylor, best known for her role on the 1990s Emmy-nominated TV series “I’ll Fly Away.”
Producing Artistic Director Michael Baron said he believes that “Crowns” is the first show that Lyric has ever done that was written by a black author.
Starring an all-black cast of superb singers and actors who should be well-known to local theatergoers and music fans, “Crowns” drops viewers into the story of Yolanda (Ashley Marie Arnold whose Lyric credits include Disney’s “When You Wish” and “Dreamgirls”), a black teenager from Brooklyn who loves break dancing, rapping and her older brother.
When her brother is shot, her mother sends the grieving girl to stay with her grandmother in Darlington, South Carolina.
A proud New Yorker, Yolanda is homesick, heartsick and out of her element in a small Southern town, but the reluctant teen is lovingly embraced by her grandmother, beloved local matriarch Mother Shaw (M. Denise Lee, who is making her Lyric debut but starred in Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre’s “Avenue Q”).
Mother Shaw welcomes Yolanda into a circle of churchgoing women — classy Velma (Kimberly M. Oliver, “When You Wish”), sassy Wanda (Delanie Phillips Brewer, “My Fair Lady,” “The Wiz”), flirtatious Jeanette (Nakeisha McGee, Lyric’s “A Christmas Carol” and “Rock of Ages”) and outspoken preacher’s wife, Mabel (Kizzie Ledbetter, half of the popular OKC music duo Adam & Kizzie) — who eagerly share with the girl the stories of their favorite hats, their keys to having the right “Hattitude” and their “hat queen rules.” The sole man in the cast, Derrick Cobey (“Big River,” “Ragtime”) deftly plays a variety of supporting roles, from doting husband to fervent preacher.
Although she initially holds the women and their traditions at arm’s length, Yolanda — along with the audience — comes to realize that their stories are about so much more than fancy headgear: They are triumphant and tragic histories of working long hours in tobacco fields, participating in lunch counter sit-ins and shopping for the first time in a formerly whites-only store. Yolanda’s discoveries of her community, her heritage and her joy are uplifting to behold.
Since “Crowns” doesn’t follow a traditional narrative structure but immediately immerses the audience into the women’s stories, Jeffrey Meek’s costume designs are especially vital, with the ladies’ colorfully snazzy suits and, of course, their lovingly embellished “crowns” giving us quick clues into their lively characters.
Guest director W. Jerome Stevenson, the producing artistic director of Guthrie’s Pollard Theatre, lets his love for the material shine like sunlight through a stainedglass window, and he keeps the proceedings both spiritual and spirited. The choreography by Hui Cha Poos, executive director of RACE Dance Company, is at once naturalistic and heightened; similarly, the scenic design by Uldarico Sarmiento, made primarily out of what looks like recycled wooden pallets, is both rustic and otherworldly.
Music director and pianist Sandra Thompson, who is also the artistic director of The Ambassadors’ Concert Choir, leads the ensemble, accompanied by drummer Jemar Poteat, through splendid renditions of gospel standards like “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and “I Gotta Crown.”
Although the performances are uniformly grand, Oliver stopped the show during Wednesday’s opening-night performance with her powerful delivery of the beloved hymn “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.”
Although it’s too early in a season packed with state, regional and world premieres to declare “Crowns” the crowning achievement of Lyric’s year, theatrical experiences don’t get much more soul stirring than this singularly spiritual coming-of-age story.