Wow!
That's the first reaction to "The Real McCoy," a powerful play that receives superb acting and brilliant staging by the St. Louis Black Repertory Company. It is the United States premiere of a work by Canadian playwright Andrew Moodie, based on the life of Elijah McCoy, the son of escaped slaves, and is a gripping, fascinating tale of a great inventor and a driven man who improved human life in many ways, but whose fame was was held down by societal norms of his lifetime. It opened Friday at the Grandel Theatre, to run through April 10.
McCoy's primary invention was a lubricating device for locomotive engines, but he also invented the folding ironing board and the lawn sprinkler. He was known, it is claimed, as "the real McCoy," because railroads, purchasing lubricating equipment, asked for that made by McCoy and not that of his competitors. During his lifetime, he held nearly 60 patents, most of them in areas involving mechanical and thermodynamic engineering.
Moodie is credited as being the play's original director, with the local production program noting that it was "staged by Tracy D. Holliway-Wiggins based on original staging by Andrew Moodie." Holliway-Wiggins is the Black Rep's resident stage manager. With Alex Van Blommestein's set design looming like a massive gear system, we are thrust into then Industrial Revolution, and before curtain we watch old, faded movies of railroad trains with puffing locomotive engines.
The action is rapid-fire, with 48 scenes blending into one terrific story, perhaps a touch melodramatic at the end. Ka'ramuu Kush is imposing and fascinating in the title role, and the other six actors equally strong as many different characters. Kush, who was in the title role of "Pericles" in January has made a large leap; he is totally confident, in full possession of his character, passionate in his intellectual capacity, secure master of what he knows. He totally engulfs the audience.
Antonio Fargas is primarily George McCoy, a former slave but educated enough to know what a prodigy he has sired. Father and son break over the role of God in their lives, and it's a terrible moment, but one they have chosen and are willing to live with. Chauncy Thomas is a delight as young Elijah, wearing knickers and the attitude of a Horatio Alger hero, that no obstacle is too difficult.
As the grown-up, Kush learns that some obstacles, like American corporate executives and some would-be partners, and the color of his skin, really are too difficult.
The beautifully balanced cast also sparkles with Alan Knoll and Whit Reichert as a wide variety of American businessmen, lawyers, bankers, customers--even a couple of English prep-schoolers--who befriend, belittle, bully and, at times, benefit the inventor. They play perfectly off one another, sometimes as vaudevillians like Gallagher and Shean, sometimes like "The Sunshine Boys." Knoll in drag is a hoot, Reichert as a hard-hearted man with a soft spot is beautiful. St. Louis audiences may have, as Humphrey Bogart told Claude Rains, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship." They are marvelous.
Monica Parks and Sharisa Whatley offer outstanding performances as the women in McCoy's life, teachers and maids and secretaries and wives, with Parks as his first wife, who died only four years into the marriage, and Whatley as his second, a relationship that lasted far longer than it seems in the play. Parks, back in town after earning an M.F.A. in acting in Washington, D. C., is her usual charming self, and Whatley has been in several Black Rep productions in recent years.
The play is a triumph for the Black Rep, with superb ensemble work and a strong drama that has real-life overtones. In addition to Van Blommestein's stunning set, Jennifer Krajicek's costumes are simple and charming, Mark Wilson's lights underline the action at the right times and whether Moodie or sound designer Robin Weatherall chose the music, it made everything feel right.
"The Real McCoy" is the real McCoy, one of the half-dozen best productions of its 34 seasons and it earns the highest recommendation.
The Real McCoy, at the Black Rep through April 10.
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