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Black Pearl Sings at SJ Rep
Sep. 16th, 2010 08:25 amMarina and I went to see Black Pearl Sings at the San Jose Rep last night. I admit I have had my doubts about the new artistic director... but this play is one of the very best I have seen in decades. This play was so moving, so full of layers of meaning and struggle and fantastic music embedded in a story of two women. The actresses were superb. I really run out of superlatives trying to describe it. If you are local and can manage a show in the next 10 days or so... go!
The rep blub: Susannah, a white, driven ethnomusicologist for the Library of Congress, is on a quest to find authentic, pre-slavery, African-American music. When she encounters Texas prisoner Pearl Johnson, an unlikely partnership develops between the street-smart Pearl and the ambitious Susannah. It isn’t long before Pearl is belting out radiant, soul-baring songs with the strength and beauty of the unaccompanied human voice. These vocal artifacts remind us of the power of music to help heal in the struggle between our collective past and the desire for individual histories. Does our past define us, and at what cost?
The rep blub: Susannah, a white, driven ethnomusicologist for the Library of Congress, is on a quest to find authentic, pre-slavery, African-American music. When she encounters Texas prisoner Pearl Johnson, an unlikely partnership develops between the street-smart Pearl and the ambitious Susannah. It isn’t long before Pearl is belting out radiant, soul-baring songs with the strength and beauty of the unaccompanied human voice. These vocal artifacts remind us of the power of music to help heal in the struggle between our collective past and the desire for individual histories. Does our past define us, and at what cost?
