'August Wilson's Jitney': A brilliant revival

‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: (Left to right) Harvy Blanks, Michael Potts, Brandon J. Dirden & Andre Holland. Photo: Joan Marcus

JITNEY
By August Wilson
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Through March 12, 2017
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200), http://jitneybroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Besides Fences, Jitney is one of the late August Wilson’s most solid dramas, and the first installment in his “Pittsburgh Cycle” of plays. Originally mounted in 1982, the show has been produced many times off-Broadway (most recently in New York in the early 2000s). This revival makes a powerful debut on Broadway with a superb ensemble cast.

It is 1977 in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, an African-American community, a place where traditional taxi cabs will not travel to, and Becker (John Douglas Thompson) runs a “jitney” (gypsy cab) car service. The story explores the lives of the men who work for the car service, set in a ramshackle building about to be torn down as part of gentrification, with calls coming in via an old rotary pay phone.

There’s Youngblood (André Holland from Moonlight), the young Vietnam vet who is often fighting with girlfriend Rena (Carra Patterson) about fidelity and just where he goes each night; the alcoholic Fielding (Anthony Chisholm), a man always wanting to borrow money to buy booze and who claims he was once a tailor for Count Basie; the gossiping busybody Turnbo (Michael Potts); the numbers runner Shealy (Harvy Blanks) and others. Each has a story to tell, illuminated by August Wilson’s colorful, crisp dialogue.

The drama’s biggest conflict centers on Booster (Brandon J. Dirden), the 39-year-old son of Becker. He has just been released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence for murder, but Becker has trouble forgiving him over the crime and what it did to the son’s mother.

Mr. Thompson’s Becker is a protagonist of almost Shakespearean proportions, a symbol of hard work and ethics in a world and era that offers few opportunities for black men. He is the epitome of a devoted husband and “tough love” father, one that cannot overlook or easily forgive his son’s past. Becker’s showdown with his son at the end of Act I is raw and packs an emotional punch as he unnerves Booster for what he did two decades earlier. It is truly a cathartic moment of theater at its best.

David Gallo’s dilapidated set anchors the story well, and there is a marvelous authenticity to the 1970s costumes by Toni-Leslie James, from polyester leisure suits to funky denim.

However, it is August Wilson’s florid, slang-riddled soliloquies that give Jitney its heart and soul. Although it takes a while for audiences to catch up with the show’s rapid-fire rhythm in the first act, one is soon riveted to every word each character utters.

The ensemble cast is a pleasure to watch, especially Mr. Thompson as Becker, Mr. Dirden as Booster and Mr. Potts as Turnbo. Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s direction allows each character to shine, but the use of jagged jazz music inserted into certain scenes seems unnecessary and awkward. Regardless, this is a brilliant production of a story that, although set in 1977, has enough timeless appeal and human themes to more than ring true in 2017

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 22, 2017
Reviewed at press performance on January 21, 2017