Review Roundup: CEREMONIES IN DARK OLD MEN Starring Norm Lewis and More

The Peccadillo Theater Company, Negro Ensemble Company Inc. and Eric Falkenstein are presenting Lonne Elder III’s Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, starring Tony, Emmy and SAG Award nominee Norm Lewis and directed by the legendary Clinton Turner Davis. 

The production - the first in New York City in nearly 40 years – plays a strictly limited engagement at Theatre at St. Clements.

It’s New York in the 1950s.  Russell Parker, a ne'er-do-well barber and the widowed father of three adult children, spends his days playing checkers and reminiscing about his life in vaudeville as a song and dance man. His two sons, Theo and Bobby, are dreamers of a different sort – a pair of petty criminals looking for a “score" in the form of ill-conceived and dangerous bootlegging and numbers schemes. Russell's daughter, Adele, the only gainfully employed member of the family, refuses to work herself into an early grave like her mother. When Adele's long-simmering resentments boil over and the boys' criminal enterprise falls apart, tragic consequences ensue for the whole family. See what the critics are saying...

Austin Fimmano, New York Theatre Guide:  Set in the 1950s, written in the 1960s, and performed off Broadway throughout the 1980s, Elder’s play and its themes are evergreen in 2025. Director Clinton Turner Davis slowly builds the tension throughout the narrative until releasing it with one tragic line that ends the play. The entire cast are fantastic at grounding their characters in a specific era of Harlem’s history while also portraying people who could easily be NYC residents today.

Tullis McCall, The Front Row Center: orm Lewis bears the weight of the tale on his more than capable shoulders.  Story wise the tale could use a few nips and tucks toward the end of act two. Even Mr. Lewis seems to lose steam through no fault of his own.  Mr. Elder’s writing is strong enough to tolerate some brevity as the walls close in on the Parker family.  Perhaps in the next production – this is a play that should never really close.