Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Michael R. Jackson’s latest self-excavating musical concoction WHITE GIRL IN DANGER is overstuffed, chaotic, and altogether glorious

• By drediman
• May 18, 2023
• No Comments

This week at Off-Broadway’s Tony Kiser Theatre, I had the opportunity to catch up with Michael R. Jackson’s White Girl in Danger. A co-production between Second Stage Theater and Vineyard Theatre, the work arrives in New York on the heels of Jackson’s singular A Strange Loop, which won the coveted theatrical double-crown – the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and last season’s Tony Award for Best Musical. Set in a universe of intersecting television soap operas, the musical tells the story of Keesha, a “Blackground” girl who dares to aspire to graduate to a bigger role despite the white-dominated narratives that dominate the airwaves.

The ambitious and audacious musical calls to mind the films The Truman Show and Brazil, along with a good dose of Samuel Beckett and, of course, A Strange Loop – to be sure, White Girl in Danger continues Jackson’s intense, uncompromising excavation of his own complicated psyche. If that previous musical was, well, literally a strange loop, his latest is by nature directional, expansively looking outward as it scrutinizes inwardly. At just about three hours in length, the musical is labyrinthine, overstuffed, and chaotic — and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Indeed, watching the gloriously freewheeling show gives one the sensation of riding on a careening runaway train to who knows where. Only towards the conclusion of the long evening does the show’s construction start to fully make sense (no spoilers here). Throughout, Jackson’s pastiche pop score is a joy; his lyrics in particular beguile with his signature unfiltered sass and sweetness.

White Girl in Danger has been directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, who just manages to tame the musical’s outrageousness. Somehow, she’s been able to stage the seemingly unstageable (she accomplished the same feat with her extra production of The Skin of Our Teeth last season for Lincoln Center Theater), putting on a show notable for its invention and ferocious forward momentum. The piece rejoins Jackson with downtown choreographer Raja Feather Kelly, whose fun and witty choreography add texture to the production. The hard-working cast is absolutely fantastic, delivering satiric, deliriously over-the-top performances that are as slicing as they are hilarious. Especially sensational are the big-voiced Tarra Conner Jones and Latonya Edwards, who play a mother-daughter duo for the ages.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

WHITE GIRL IN DANGER
Off-Broadway, Musical
Second Stage Theater and Vineyard Theatre
3 hours (including an intermission)
Through May 21