Mother Courage at CSC — Page 13

She started January 8th. Has anyone been to see Kecia Lewis yet?

Sorry, double post.

Updated On: 1/16/16 at 11:48 PM

I went back to see Kecia Lewis. It's difficult to say exactly what's different because of direction or because of the switch in lead actresses or just how the actors decided to play it that night, etc. There are a few obvious changes. The show no longer opens with Mother Courage going into the audience trying to sell her wares (I can't remember if this happened before or after the goat/young men question originally). Also, all the cast members have suddenly acquired "African" accents, except for the general with the French accent. I think there were some changes in blocking. I remember Tonya Pinkins (I think in the opening scene with the two soldiers) threatening to slice one of them in half (she had the machete between his legs). That was not part of the scene with Kecia Lewis. The ending was also different. Tonya struggled to pull the cart (in character, I mean) and she attempted it more than once. Kecia pulled it along pretty easily. I'm not sure if it was on my mind because of the whole "Mama" vs. "Momma" thing but I did notice that there were times they called her "Mama" and times they called her "Mother Courage."

I may have more to say about the performances later.

I heard "Mama" but I don't know what Tonya would say.

@ClydeBarrow No one really blew me away, but it came across as a fine production instead of the very tedious one I watched the first time. I do think that not having Tonya Pinkins with her incredible charisma and warmth and danger and sexuality pulling focus helped. It's not that Kecia Lewis was bad but obviously under the circumstances she had less time to develop a character and make choices and say what you will but Tonya Pinkins is a riveting performer. One thing I really got with Tonya that I missed here is why the chaplain and cook would have wanted to pursue her.

There was one other cast change. I'm not sure if the actor left the production or he was just out that night but there was an insert and the previous understudy was now assuming all his roles. He was a much better performer than the actor he replaced. I mean, he was one of the soldiers so there wasn't much for him to do but just having someone engaged and not dead-eyed helped greatly. The other soldier was pretty much the same.

Eilif was similar but slightly better. For some reason I think the accent helped him. Also, his singing sounded better. Swiss Cheese and Kattrin were pretty much the same. I think Kattrin was a little more effective playing off of Tonya. Yvette didn't adopt the new accent as well as some of the others and I feel like maybe trying to do the accent hindered her performance. The sergeant who also played the father in the village at the end was slightly more muted (in a good way) but still making the weird choice to keep giggling. The cook/Lamb was still one of my favorite parts and genuinely funny unlike the awkward attempts at humor interspersed throughout but I think he was better without the accent. I think the chaplain was slightly better the first time though it was a very similar performance. I don't know if it was because Pinkins and Potts' relationship was more contentious but those scenes played a little better.

I just got back from this evening's performance. Although I didn't like the production quite as much as Isherwood did, I thought it was better than most of what I've seen from CSC lately. Also, it's the best thing I can remember seeing from Kulick in a long time (probably since Richard III, which I believe he only "co-directed" with Michael Cumpsty).

And unlike at least one critic, I was glad that the African setting seemed to be mostly superficial. It was visually attractive (especially the variety of dirty old t-shirts -- Bolivia, US flag, Charlie Brown, etc.) without making me feel like I was being beaten over the head by yet another pretentious directorial attempt to make an excellent older work more "relevant" to modern audiences.