THEATRE REVIEW:
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE

JOHN COULBOURN, QMI Agency
25 JAN 2012
R: 5/5


Pictured: Arlene Duncan, Michael Levinson

TORONTO - It could, one supposes, be the theatrical debate of the decade, if not the century -- Is CAROLINE, OR CHANGE the perfect musical for people who really hate musicals? Or is it, in fact, the hottest ticket going for people who absolutely adore the medium?

But save such discussions for later, because finally, the important thing now is for people from both camps (and everybody in between, I suspect) to get down to the Berkeley Street Theatre to catch the beautifully staged version of the Tony Kushner/Jeanine Tesori collaboration that opened Monday, a co-production of Acting Up Stage and Obsidian Theatre Companies.

As musicals go, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is admittedly a strange beast -- a slice-of-life affair set in 1963 Louisiana , a story where very little happens between the story's two protagonists, while a lot happens to the world around them.

The Caroline of title is Caroline Thibodeaux (played by Arlene Duncan), the long-serving black laundress and sometimes-maid in the Gellman household, where young Noah Gellman (Michael Levinson) still mourns the death of his mother. So too does his father (Cameron MacDuffee), for that matter, even though he is trying to incorporate a new wife (Deborah Hay) into the troubled household to serve as stepmother to his distant son.

Less-than-enthralled with his new family, young Noah initially sees the woman who rules his basement laundry room as something akin to an all-seeing goddess, but trouble flares when the boy's well-meaning but beleaguered stepmother tries to teach him to empty the change from his pockets before he puts his clothes in the laundry. It's a small thing, but in a world of the Vietnam War, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the rise of Martin Luther King, little things can and do get blown out of all proportion as that world teeters on the cusp of revolution.

But it is also a world of small joys and minor triumphs, of happiness and sorrow -- a world populated by a singing washing machine (Londa Larmond) and a steamy clothes dryer (Sterling Jarvis), a world where the radio comes to life in the impressive forms of Jewelle Blackman, Alana Hibbert and Neema Bickersteth (the latter of whom also hangs around in the evening hours as a haunting moon).

It's an extensive cast, and together, under the assured musical direction of Reza Jacobs, they tackle a songbook that overflows with everything from jazz to blues to gospel to klezmer, without missing a beat. Meanwhile, director Robert McQueen keeps an assured but unobtrusive hand on the storyline, incorporating stylish choreography from Tim French, and drawing beautifully centred performances from his entire cast.

In the title role, Duncan is a revelation, a living, breathing monument to the power of human dignity, perfectly balanced by Levinson's beautifully and hugely disciplined performance, blessedly as long on humanity as it is short on cute. That humanity is echoed by the youthful Derrick Roberts and Kaya Joubert Johnson, cast as Caroline's sons, while, as their big sister, Sabryn Rock provides even more balance with a powerful demonstration of her considerable talent.

Working on a multi-layered set created by Michael Gianfrancesco and lit by Kimberly Purtell -- both of whom do the show and themselves proud, as does costume designer Alex Amini -- McQueen creates a memorable, thought-provoking production that sidesteps musical theatre cliches as adroitly as the writer and the composer did in its creation. So, in the end, it is unimportant whether you love musicals or hate them --if you're one of those who like theatre that risks much and wins big, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is a must-see before it closes Feb. 12.