Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu adds a whole new dimension to PASS OVER for its Main Stem outing

• By drediman
• September 11, 2021
• No Comments

Last night, aptly at the August Wilson Theatre, I got the chance to reassess Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s Pass Over, the first new production to grace a Broadway stage since pre-pandemic times (the production started previews on August 4 and officially opened on the Great White Way on August 22). As a sort of modern day Waiting for Godot, Ms. Nwandu’s play tells the story of two Black street kids – Moses and Kitch – who aspire to escape the blighted block where they find themselves stuck. As with Vladimir and Estragon in Beckett’s seminal work, they spend the play discovering that escape and salvation, in whatever form it takes, is a frustratingly elusive pipe dream.

The playwright has a true ear for language, turning street talk into poetry throughout her 85-minute work. Indeed, there’s a rhythmic cadence to the dialogue that renders the play’s scenes with a certain musicality. As the play takes on a more tragic hue, the notion of salvation – or “passing over” – morphs from escaping the hood to, out of resignation of the characters’ hopeless situation, a death wish. As you may know, the play’s ending has been substantially re-written, since it played Off-Broadway in 2018, for its Main Stem outing. The new ending actually adds a whole new dimension to Pass Over, fundamentally changing the shape of the play by adding another notion of passing over – that is, to actualize paradise here and now. This is manifested in the play literally in a biblical manner, which although upon initial encounter I found to be somewhat heavy-handed, lent a fantasy aspect to the ending that I ultimately found, ironically, tragic in a more subtle kind of way than the play’s original conclusion.

Directed by Dayna Taymor, the mostly stark production is itself shrewdly inspired by Waiting for Godot (e.g., from a design standpoint, just swap out the leafless tree with a street lamp). Indeed, the production employs expressive physicality, taking its cue from the clowning tradition that’s typically infused in Beckett’s play. As Moses and Kitch, Jon Michael Hill and Namir Smallwood are simply sensational, imbuing their performances with an urban Laurel and Hardy vibrancy that sings off the stage like a vaudeville act. Although nothing much happens during the play, their performances vividly depict the gamut of human emotions (hope, fear, vulnerability, anger, despair, etc.). As the play’s invariably menacing white interlopers, Tony winner Gabriel Ebert gives a brilliantly skilled, acutely aware performance.

RECOMMENDED

PASS OVER
Broadway, Play / In-person
August Wilson Theatre
1 hour, 25 minutes (with out an intermission)
Through October 10