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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. Choir Boy Also see Susan's reviews of Crime and Punishment in American and The Illusionists
The play is less a propulsive story than a series of vignettes focusing on Pharus (Jelani Alladin), a talented singer at the (fictitious) Charles R. Drew Prep School. Pharus, a scholarship student, is ambitious and has worked hard to become the leader of the school's famous gospel choir, but he's also not inclined to hide his natural flamboyance, and he has to decide how to deal with gay slurs from his classmates. Director Kent Gash has created an ensemble of performers who work as a unit while each actor manages to maintain his individuality. The primary conflict is between Pharus and Bobby (Keith Antone), a member of a prominent family and nephew of the headmaster (Marty Austin Lamar), while Pharus' main defender is his roommate Anthony (Jaysen Wright). Filling out the cast are two more students, Bobby's friend Junior (Eric Lockley) and Pharus' serious friend David (Jonathan Burke), and Mr. Pendleton (Alan Wade), a retired (white) faculty member the headmaster enlists to help the singers work together and think through their difficulties. Alladin succeeds in portraying the different sides of Pharus: a young man who wants to be loved and accepted, but who also understands the need to follow the rules. Antone conveys Bobby's frustration at not getting the respect to which he feels entitled without becoming a cardboard villain. Lamar shows sympathetically how the headmaster is occasionally in over his head, and Wade's guilelessness allows his character to emerge gradually. McCraney incorporates a cappella gospel songs between the scenes, sung brilliantly by his five young leads. Studio Theatre
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