BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JUNE 19, 2024) — There’s a scene in The Honeymooners (classic 39) where Ralph suspects Alice of having an affair with a “man” named Harvey. Turns out, she’s babysitting for a little boy named Harvey. When the child sees a coonskin-capped Kramden for the first time (he’s in his Loyal Order of Raccoons uniform), he says, “Gee, Mrs. Kramden, I didn’t know Davy Crockett was so fat.”

If that same lad saw Abe Lincoln in Illinois (ALII), now playing through July 14 at The Berkshire Theatre Festival’s Unicorn Stage, he might say in Act 1, “Gee, Mrs. Kramden. I didn’t know Abe Lincoln was mulatto.” Harvey might also say in Act 2, “Gee, Mrs. Kramden. I didn’t know Abe Lincoln was a lesbian.” Finally, in Act 3, confused Harv would ask Alice why Abe was black.

The play follows Lincoln during his Illinois years, when he ascended from the Kentucky backwoods (Act 1) became a lawyer (Act 2), and entered politics eventually winning the 1860 presidential election (Act 3).

———- ooo ———-

Robert McKay, left, and Brandon Dial as The First Lincoln.

Director David Auburn’s woke revisioning of Robert Sherwood’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize winner gives us not one, not two, but three Lincolns. We see a different Abe in each act, and not one of them is a white man.

The question immediately pops into the discerning mind: Are they pushing an agenda or are they trying to tell an honest story? It’s a rhetorical question, in case you haven’t guessed.

Sherwood’s talky play hasn’t aged well. Pouring it for audiences 86 years after the premiere, we taste spoiled vintage. The only way this dialogue-heavy affair can be performed effectively and appreciated as biography is straight, with artistic respect paid  to the historical elements. “Woking it up” turns insight into politics, in your face and shoved down your throat.

Auburn has made the fatal mistake of “updating” this creaky duster with the woke casting. The androgyny throughout makes one suspect that the director (a) either didn’t trust the material or (b) wanted to use the play as revisionist “history.”

Either way, a cloud of inauthenticity hovers over the sparse, pine-wooded set, wonderfully minimalist work by scenic designer Bill Clarke.

———- ooo ———-

Casting directors Kelly Gillespie and David Caparelliotis cast their pearls before swine, placing the talented ensemble in roles that beg belief. Poor casting trumps rich acting every time. If the casters wanted the audience to buy of-color, lesbian, and black  Lincolns. then the program’s cover should have had the three Abes — Brandon Dial, Kelli Simpkins, and Robert McKay respectively — in costume on the program’s cover. In other words, Sell It. Instead, we see the actual Lincoln. We should sue for false advertising.

Julian Tushabe, left, and Kelli Simpkins as The Second Lincoln.

It’s odd to see two casting directors, indicating Auburn’s equivocation. It’s as if he sniffed disaster and wanted to spread the blame around for casting men played by women, blacks playing whites, and the sweet bird of woke circling like a vulture over the three acts.

The pity is that it wasted three excellent actors. Dial as the First Abe emotes well in a solid performance, although he goes over the top when he has to portray a grieving Lincoln stunned by his sweetheart’s death.

As the Second Abe, Simpkins gives a technically competent performance, but a butch Lincoln delivering cadences in a high-pitched, female voice? Don’t think so.

McKay, the Third (and best) Lincoln, treats us to a thundering performance. Acting isn’t the issue with the three stooges. Casting is. You don’t sign Laurence Olivier as the lead in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

———- ooo ———-

The best of the rest is Julian Tushabe in the role of Lincoln’s friend Josh Speed. Tushabe has the pipes, uses them to great effect, and commands his scenes. He has an uplifting quality about him, and he raises the level of play each time he appears. Give me Tushabe for anything from Shakespeare to Witkiewicz.

From left, Lynette Freeman, David Atkins, Robert McKay as The Third Lincoln, Shawn Fagan, Julian Tushabe, and Evan Dibbs (partially seen).

At the opposite end, THE PLANET finds Lynette Freeman, The Screecher. Freeman confuses shrill volume with gravitas. Especially nauseating is her embarrassing turn as Crimmin, one of Lincoln’s kingmakers.

Freeman not only chews the scenery but is positively bulimic about it, throwing up all over the audience. Moreover, she needs lessons in cigar smoking.

THE PLANET has to wonder what induced BTF artistic director Kate McGuire to okay to this fire-cracking dud.

THE PLANET‘s rating out of five stars (* = Avoid at all costs, ** = Don’t waste your money, *** = So-so, **** = Definitely worth it, ***** = Superb and definitive.

We give ALII **

———————————————————

“It’s within your grasp, if you’re big enough to take it” — Ringo Starr, “It Don’t Come Easy.”

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

Copyright (c) 2024 By Dan Valenti, PLANET VALENTI and EUROPOLIS MANAGEMENT. All rights reserved. The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. Those who leave comments own all the responsibilities that are or can be attached to those comments, be they rhetorical, semantic, or legal. Such commentators remain solely responsible for what they post and shall be and remain solely accountable for their words. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in, but not limited to, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. We serve as a marketplace of ideas, without prejudice and available to all. All users of this site — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else — hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice and their use of/participation in this site. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.