Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Review: 'Crowns' filled to the brim with 'hattitude'

Graham's grade: B

CHUCK GRAHAM

Tucson Citizen

"Crowns," the play by Regina Taylor, was adapted from the coffee table book "Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats" by photographer Michael Cunningham and journalist Craig Marberry. The book is a collection of pictures and stories about the elaborate relationships between down-to-earth women and the social symbolism of the hats they wear to worship.

Arizona Theatre Company opened the play last weekend. Fashion definitely weighs more heavily than the music in this production, though there is plenty of singing, too. ATC regulars will remember past costume spectacles, such as "My Fair Lady" and "The Importance of Being Earnest," where the extravagant hats of white women were extremely important to their social standing.

Visually, it is tempting to compare the cultural ambitions of these two communities of females so fascinated by wide brims adorned with clusters of soaring feathers.

Andrea Frye, director of ATC's "Crowns," eagerly embraces the idea these hats connect the wearers to their African heritage. The tribal traditions of imposing headdress for the most important tribesmen has been brought over from Africa and carried on through African-American slave days to the past century's weekly gatherings at church services. Black women have become the keeper of this heritage that began with tribal royalty.

As the breakdown of African-American family life in today's urban centers has been well documented, the importance of church-centered African-American family life in rural areas has become more important. "Crowns" is a celebration of this small-town lifestyle. Though, curiously, men play a very minor role in the production and there are no children present.

The Broadway actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd is the cast's token male. His character is named Man, handling a variety of supporting roles in the stories of six women of varying ages and figures. A tall and gangling figure himself, Byrd comes to represent men as spectators in the lives of these women who call the tune in their social circles. Literally.

Performed without intermission, "Crowns" is shaped by a cycle of morning church services, a wedding, a funeral, a baptism and evening church services. The only actual preaching, however, is a comedy routine that makes gentle fun of worshippers who let themselves get carried away in their enthusiastic passion for the Lord.

Most of this passion is stirred by full-bodied gospel singing. On opening night the audience was often clapping along. Keyboard player Mahmoud Khan and percussionist S-Ankh Rasa were the onstage musicians who kept the beat alive.

"Crowns" lists 22 songs in the program, some more familiar than others, but all based in the gospel tradition. Crystal Fox in the role of teen Brooklynite Yolanda also gets to stretch out a little singing some more soulful licks.

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