THE HANGOVER REPORT – The fine Signature Theatre revival of SUNSET BABY broadens the scope of Dominique Morisseau’s intimate play

Moses Ingram and Russell Hornsby in Signature Theatre Company’s production of “Sunset Baby” by Dominique Morisseau (photo by Marc J. Franklin).

This week also saw the opening of Signature Theatre Company’s Off-Broadway revival of Sunset Baby by Dominique Morisseau at the Pershing Square Signature Center. Having penned such nuanced dramas as Paradise Blue and Skeleton Crew, it’s no surprise that Morisseau in this intimate earlier play – about a woman who finds herself torn between the gritty life she and her boyfriend have chosen for themselves and the legacy her estranged father has fought hard to win (spoiler: her father makes an appearance in the play) – displays a knack for writing characters with rich internal lives and scenes that pop with tension.

I still vividly remember seeing Labyrinth Theatre Company’s world premiere production more than a decade ago. Staged in a tiny venue in the West Village, the claustrophobic staging benefited the play’s renegade characters and their unconventional points of view. In larger, fancier digs uptown, the play is able to more fully breathe – particularly with respect to its philosophical debates about hard-won ideals and the tough economics of life. Even as the playwright implores you to lean in and engage in the psychologically and dramatically astute scenes she’s written, director Steve H. Broadnax III also broadens the scope, giving Sunset Baby additional historical context, particularly incorporating the songs of Nina Simone – the tough heroine’s namesake – into the proceedings in a more integral manner.

Although a part of me misses the intensity and danger afforded by a more intimate, in-your-face staging, there’s no faulting the acting that animates Signature Theatre’s fine revival. At the center of it all – in her New York stage debut – is Moses Ingram as the tough-as-nails Nina. There’s an impenetrable, matter-of-factness about her performance that comes with years and years of strife, both internal and as it relates to life’s blows. As her boyfriend, J. Alphonse Nicholson gives a surprisingly complex portrayal of someone floundering for more in life. And as Nina’s father, Russell Hornsby digs deep, making a compelling case for what he’s struggled so much to achieve.

RECOMMENDED

SUNSET BABY
Off-Broadway, Play
Signature Theatre Company
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through March 10

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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