You might have been in the same row as me lol.
On his own, Bates doesn’t have the full lived-in quality of the role *just* yet, but that is entirely due to the fact he just started performing for the first time this week. Damn, he was just fantastic and brought the house down boots! Now having seen this five times, the nuances between the Ushers are quite clear and yet somehow each performance is so remarkably different with the energy between the performers and the audience.
Overall, Bates is the dance winner for me. His movements were so crisp and clean during Intermission Song and it was just delicious.
Kyle Ramar Freeman wins the vocals and comedy of the character down pat. He is the sarcastic Care Bear you don’t want to cross and will sing your face off when you do.
Spivey, however, has the most lived-in portrayal of the role. In watching him, you could very easily see the line between Usher and Jaquel blur and it made the dramatic book scenes in the latter half of the show really land and hit you right in the tear ducts. There is no artifice with his Usher - it is pure, unadulterated, and raw.
No matter who you see as Usher, you will never lose. And if you are as blessed as I have been, you should seize the opportunity to see all three of them.
Side Bar: I would love to see all three of the Ushers do the “Writing A Gospel Play” scene together because I’m pretty sure I would pee my pants laughing.
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