BWW Reviews: Nadège August Simply Captivates as SUNSET BABY
Sunset Baby/written by Dominique Morisseau/directed by Jeffrey Hayden/ Odyssey Theatre/thru June 7, 2015
The West Coast premiere of Dominique Morisseau's Sunset Baby provides a wonderful star vehicle for the very talented Nadège August. As the title character, August wholly embodies Nina, the troubled daughter of her recently deceased mother Ashanti X and her estranged father Kenyatta (who deserted the two of them long time ago to lead his revolution). Now living in the slums of east New York, Nina shills for her boyfriend Damon's drug dealing, then "Bonnie & Clyde-ing" potential buyers. Kenyatta re-enters Nina's life after missing his wife's funeral attempting to re-connect with his abandoned "Sunset Baby."
Morisseau has written a fully three-dimensional character in Nina. Street smart, sassy, foul-mouth, August's Nina's also seductive, romantic, and nurturing to her lover. Other moments, she's the grieving, loving daughter (to her Mom), then the bitter, resentful "Sunset Baby" (to her father). August plays all these wide-ranging emotions seamlessly. August's Nina's also the only character sympathetic enough worth rooting for, especially when Damon exhibits his emotional (veering on physical) abuse on her, imprisoning her in her powerless purgatory. The male characters do not come off well at all in Sunset Baby.
In Vincent J. Isaac's portrayal, his revolutionary Kenyatta has become a shell of his former self- physically handicapped with a cane-assisted limp. With a sense of defeat in his voice, he records for Nina sermonized discourses-what once must have been more persuasive battle cries in his heyday. Kudos to Chris Gardner for his passionate, intense handle of his word-heavy dialogues. Gardner plays angry very convincingly.
Jeffrey Hayden smoothly directs his cast through the sometimes message-y, many times verbose, volatile confrontations.
Positive mentions to set designer Charles Erven for his utilitarian, low-end apartment set and to costume designer Mylette Nora for Nina's fierce street-walking ensembles and her less flashy civilian finery.
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