Review: CLYBOURNE PARK at Music Theatre Of Connecticut

Everyone knows Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in The Sun – a Black family’s desire to live in the Chicago neighborhood, Clybourne Park. But what happens later? This is the story that is told by Bruce Norris in his Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play, Clybourne Park.

The two-act play first takes place in the year 1959 and then 50 years later. Things change. And they don’t. There was racism back then because a white couple is selling their house to a black family, and some neighbors fear that their property values would go down as the area would become diversified. And there is racism when community residents gather to discuss the laws regarding the fate of the same house, which a professional couple want to level and to build one that is bigger than the others and would erase its past. Seven actors play different roles in each of the acts.

The first act is a tragedy and the second a comedy, but both are respectful to Hansberry. In Act I, Susan Haefner and Frank Mastrone play Bev and Russ, the couple who have sold their home a few years after their only son committed suicide after murdering civilians in Korea. It’s painful for them to stay in the house and face people in the community. Rae Janeil plays their maid, Francine, and S.J. Hannah plays her husband, Albert. Matt Mancuso plays their not very helpful pastor, Jim. In busts Karl (Nick Roesler), a bigot and prominent member of the community association to try to convince Russ and Bev not to sell the house to a Black couple - the Youngers from Raisin in The Sun. He even brings his wife, Betsy (Allie Seibold), who is deaf and heavily pregnant, to try to pressure them to take another offer. Russ is adamant about going through with the sale.

Act II takes place 50 years later when Clybourne Park is an all-Black neighborhood that is being regentrified. Community members gather to discuss what turns out to be the same house. Lena (played by Janeil) remembers being in the house which belonged to her aunt. She wants to preserve the architecture of that house and the surrounding ones. But Steve and Lindsey (played by Roesler and Seibold) are planning to build a taller, more impressive looking house. Lena’s husband, Kevin (Hannah), and neighbors, Kathy (Haefner), a lawyer, and Tom (Mancuso), a builder, discuss the town council’s laws about development. During this discussion, they dance around the issue of race among accusations, defenses, and tasteless jokes that lead to no resolution. During this act, workman Dan (Mastrone) bursts in and out to update them on the status of a tree with deep roots that will prevent building. The two acts are further joined by a trunk that appears in both acts.

The clever stories of Clybourne Park are a sure bet for any theater company, but in the hands of director Pamela Hill and this cast, this production just might be definitive. Every actor has a chance to shine – and they all have their brilliant moments. Janeil’s portrayal as the suffering maid and niece of the Younger family is incredibly moving. Mastrone practically stole the show as the worker who was oblivious to the discussion about the neighborhood because of his obsession with opening the trunk. His portrayal of the angry and heartbroken father is award worthy. Haefner was poignant as the grieving mother who was trying to keep herself from falling apart, and strong and self-assured as the lawyer who was discussing the planned changes on Clybourne Street. Her voice was totally different for each character. Both of Hannah’s characters were similar – pleasant and amiable, but always deferring to their wives. Mancuso’s bumbling Pastor Jim was as exasperating as his contemporary character likable and dynamic. Roesler was chilling as the bigoted Karl and Seibold touching as the deaf expecting mother. Both were edgy as self-absorbed, entitled people with a superiority complex.

Diane Vanderkroef’s costumes and accessories are spot-on for both periods.  Martin Scott Marchitto’s set is perfect, depicting the same house in its 1950s glory and in its state of ruin in 2009. On Music Theatre of Connecticut’s intimate Mainstage, the audience members feel as if they are experiencing everything the characters do.

Clybourne Park plays at the Music Theatre of Connecticut, 509 Westport Avenue (Route 1) in Norwalk through November 19. For tickets, call 203-454-3883 or visit www.musictheatreofct.com. Mark your calendars for The Legend of Georgia McBride (about a young Elvis Presley impersonator who is barely making a living) from February 16 through March 3, and Ghost: The Musical, the romantic fantasy thriller, from April 12 through 28.

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