Sharon Brown as Caroline — Page 2

Saw it for the very first time tonight.. and holy **** did Sharon Brown turn the house out. I’ve always known the story, I’ve seen some boots of the original, and saw Sharon Clarke do public performances but SB was so great. I didn’t expect to cry after Lot’s Wife AND after Salty Teardrops.


SB also reads more as 39 IMO. Regardless, I’m very happy I got to see her go on tonight.

Sad to hear it was so empty, but how great that the audience was still great. These are insane times.

Sad to hear about the emptiness. The two times I went I was pleasantly surprised it was fairly well attended. This show was always going to have an uphill battle to complete it's run, but the variant is likely doing a number on it.

I guess I'll be a dissenting opinion. I didn't love Sharon Brown nearly as much as Sharon Clarke. I don't think she was terrible but this production is really anchored around Clarke and she has a much fuller, richer understanding of the character that is completely grounded in the text whereas Brown seemed to have moments. She came across as much softer and kinder and actually meeker. She seemed more connected to the loss of her husband/breakdown of her marriage. I do think her Lot's Wife was incredible and worth seeing but her vocals weren't as incredible in the other songs. They weren't bad... just not flawless. Clarke's Caroline is Shakespearean. Brown's interpretation is more ordinary and human which made all the themes and symbolism feel more awkward to me.

I am curious if anyone has thoughts about Rheaume Crenshaw as Dotty. It was interesting to have Dotty feel more like a contemporary of Caroline's and it felt like it was more of a challenge to her assertions that she could not change or "improve" her situation. From the website, it seems like Tamika has moved on to Black No More.

I was especially impressed by Cariani's clarinet playing last night but perhaps that doesn't reflect well on how detached I was from the story.

The sound seemed better balanced last night. I did have passing thoughts about how wonderful this show could sound with a fuller orchestra.

I am sad to hear the orchestra was also undersold. I had an entire row to myself in the mezzanine before people moved around at intermission.

I agree. The ironing fight was really good too. Brown and Levy work so well together on stage. The tension didn’t seem cheesy or forced.


I don’t know the name of the some, but the number where she is recalling being beaten by her husband was moving too.

“while Tonya and most actresses I've seen clips of play the role pretty angry from the jump, Sharon didn't - her Caroline was clearly frustrated but not visibly or tonally upset. In Act Two, you could see the anger start to come out and then her performance of "Lot's Wife" might have been the best thing I have ever seen on a Broadway stage.”


“Clarke plays Caroline with a lot more outward wear and tear and harshness and I think Brown's Caroline does all of that internally but it still oozes out of her in a different way.”

In comparing the two takes on Caroline, I very much agree with these two assessments. Clarke played it with a hardened exterior shell right out the gate, while Brown’s Caroline is more like a slow burn experience. There is a ratcheted up tension that Brown builds over the course of Act l that finally explodes at the end of Act ll. I noticed a sadness and desperation in Brown’s eyes immediately as as she sang “Nothing ever happen underground in Louisiana”, but also like there might be a little tiny speck of hope left deep down within her. This glimmer of hope leaves by Act II which culminates with her “Lots Wife” which I also agree is one of the best things I have ever seen on a Broadway stage. So satisfying.


My main gripe with Clarke’s performance the time I saw it, is she played it very “actorly” IMO. Some parts (not all) seemed too rehearsed as if what we were experiencing was not organic or real in any way which also made it come off like she wasn’t present but just going through the motions. Also, Brown handled the score with such ease, where I noticed Clarke was reaching for many of the notes or just completely brought them down to be in a lower range.


It was magical watching Brown’s response to the audience’s reaction at curtain. The tears in her eyes just sealed the whole experience for me. She was really taking in / relishing the well deserved moment and reaction she deservedly got at the end of the night.

Updated On: 12/27/21 at 03:41 PM

This isn’t specific to Brown, but I found it ->very<- weird how much the audience laughed after she said Jews go to hell.

I think there is an authenticity of being an American Black woman that SCB brings to the role that is just not accessible to SDC.

Just one example, in “No One’s Waitin’” SDC says “give your mama” a kiss but mama sounds like it has an r on the end, which is not a southern pronunciation. I believe it is a British one. It seems like a simple correction that I have continued to wonder why it wasn’t picked up on and corrected by the director. It’s recorded that way on the new cast recording.


I listened to a podcast with SDC and she is as confused as you with the reaction to that line (and Noah’s line before it). My two guesses are either people laugh because they are uncomfortable or they laugh because they are such ridiculous things to say that they can’t believe those things were said.

But it’s not a catty “Real Housewives” thing for her to say. It’s the most hurtful thing she could ever say to Noah. She’s telling him that his mother is burning in hell.

It’s definitely uncomfortable laughter. The first time I saw it someone in the audience screamed out “Oh my Gawd” in shock.

forfivemoreminutes said: "Jordan Catalano said: "But it’s not a catty “Real Housewives” thing for her to say. It’s the most hurtful thing she could ever say to Noah. She’s telling him that his mother is burning in hell."

When I’ve seen it, it always sounds to me like people are laughing with discomfort and surprise, like, “She said WHAT?” rather than finding it “funny-ha ha.” More like funny-uncomfortable."

I explained it poorly but yes, that "Damn..." reaction like she really went there. Also, those fights are about something stupid but they can manage to be deeply hurtful and personal. One moment, it's petty bickering, the next, they're going for the jugular. And I do think Sharon Brown delivered it as more of a taunt. It would have been more shocking if it didn't know it was coming because her Caroline had been much nicer to Noah up to that point. That early conversation they had about cancer felt much more like she was comforting/counseling him.