Choir Boy - Queensland Performing Arts Centre QPAC
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Wed 15 Mar 2023 - Sat 18 Mar 2023
Choir Boy - Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC)
Following the trajectory of
Choir Boy is to track the stellar venues of the theatrical world – inter alia London's West End, New York's Broadway, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Denver. Add five Tony nominations and an Oscar-winning writer and the show's back story is compelling.
And now the National Theatre of Paramatta takes it on tour.
The setting in the Cremorne Theatre is minimalist – a defined space at the back of the stage, a few modular pieces and one vertical structure – following a pattern being seen more often on stage, where suggestion, lights and back projection do the work once done by elaborately constructed staging – and do it well.
Cassie Tongue, in the Guardian, headlines the show as "a tender meditation on Black queerness told through sublime music" and that is an admirable summary.
Somewhere in middle America is the setting, at the up-market Charles Drew Preparatory School for Boys. We hear a group of half a dozen boys in glorious harmony singing a Spiritual – most of the music is in that tradition. The lead singer, Pharus, we learn, is a scholarship boy. His would-be nemesis is a privileged scion of an elite family – Robert Q the third, whose bullying tactics and homophobic taunts distract Pharos, who sings a significantly discordant note, but does not "snitch" when confronted by the headmaster, who happens to be a relative of Robert Q the third.
Robert Q accuses Pharus of telling tales and persuades the choir to eject him as lead singer thereby harming his chance of acceptance into an elite College. What will happen to him, and to the choir? Now read on.
Throughout the show is woven the tapestry of superbly sung spirituals. The anthem of Black alienation, which Paul Robeson once made his own, adds the dimension of homophobic rejection in "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child". During this spiritual, the silence was palpable as simple words encapsulated deep hurts, longings and belongings. "Trust and obey" again acquires new nuances, sung after a same-sex love scene. "Rockin' Jerusalem" is an unforgettable leitmotif of the show.
Throughout, the ironies are layered – songs evoking deep spirituality confronting prejudices often fostered by religion. Nor are the characters simplistically scripted. Headmaster Marrow, for instance, is no one-dimensional portrayal of patriarchy as he navigates the difficult decisions he has to take.
It is clear that the cast exemplifies the values of diversity both in gender and race, and there are simple standout moments – as when the broken Bobby is held and embraced as he processes his pain, or Antony shared his pain about his brother's inability to accept that Antony could accept and share a room with a "faggot".
This is a show where energy, passion and superb singing enable the exploration of multiple aspirations and vulnerabilities, within adolescence, race, gender, and spirituality.
Ethical debate allows us to explore how we should respond to the issues of our day, and as such is valuable.
Art, however, such as
Choir Boy enables us to live in others' lives and to grow from that experience.
Choir Boy is brilliantly written, staged, acted and choreographed.
It is confronting – and that is one of its strengths.
The audience gave
Choir Boy a well-earned standing ovation.
It is a significant production and I would encourage you to experience it.
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#9733 ; "Choir Boy delivers in every single way". Time Out&
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#9733 ; "Compelling, heart-warming and reflective of how far we have come–and how far there is to go." Limelight Magazine&
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#9733 ; "History and secret histories, the things that free us and the things that tie us to the past are all examined in this exhilarating, multi-layered new play." The Guardian
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!date 15/03/2023 -- 18/03/2023
%wnbrisbane
110582 - 2023-06-12 15:10:36