'Children of a Lesser God' back on Broadway

‘CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD’: Lauren Ridloff & Joshua Jackson. Photo: Matthew Murphy

CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD
Written by Mark Medoff
Directed by Kenny Leon
Studio 54
54 West 54th Street,  (212-239-6200)
www.childrenoflessergodbroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

Mark Medoff’s 1980 drama Children of a Lesser God is still a riveting show despite being slightly dated. In a 21st century world of many technological advances and progress in the arts for the challenged (think of the American Sign Language version of Spring Awakening on Broadway by Deaf West in 2015), Mr. Medoff’s depiction of the hearing impaired now seems anachronistic. Regardless, there is still much to admire in this ambitious yet unevenly paced production.

A teacher, James Leeds (Joshua Jackson), starts working at a state school for the deaf and meets custodian Sarah Norman (Lauren Ridloff), a 26-year-old who communicates solely in American Sign Language (ASL). She’s not interested in learning to read lips and to speak to fit in with the “hearing” community, and she feels it isn’t right for teachers to force the deaf to change. Sparks fly between James and Sarah. Orin Dennis (John McGinty), a deaf man who speaks and reads lips, warns Sarah that a romance between her and James ultimately won’t work. When they become engaged, school headmaster Mr. Franklin (Anthony Edwards) tells James that marriage is not a good idea.

What makes the story so engrossing is the manner in which James and Sarah interact, and Sarah repeatedly explaining her conviction that the deaf have a say in what their role should be in society. For this revival, supertitles displaying the dialogue are projected above the stage even though James explains and interprets everything Sarah says in ASL. The purpose and effect of the supertitles is debatable as they become quite distracting at times.

Fortunately, Mr. Jackson and Ms. Ridloff give outstanding performances. Mr. Jackson has the difficult task of playing both a charming romantic character and also being an actor interpreting everything Sarah says, but he does both beautifully.

Ms. Ridloff’s portrayal of Sarah is even more demanding since she can only emote on stage through ASL, facial expressions and body language, but we always feel her power and understand how problematic her life is, and her cathartic moment in the play when she finally speaks is deeply moving.

The supporting cast members are all first rate, especially John McGinty as Orin. Mr. McGinty’s depiction of Orin’s frustration and his nonstop pleas to Sarah to be true to the deaf community ring with truth.

Kenny Leon’s scattershot direction is often cumbersome. At times, especially in Act II, the narrative seems to be all over the place. Particularly frustrating is making sense of a subplot–in which Orin wants to bring a lawsuit against the school–because the details and resolution seem unclear. The final scenes seem hurried and thrust upon the audience in an ambiguous fashion. Mr. Leon could have improved the pacing of the material and brought more focus to the ending.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 16, 2018
Reviewed at press performance on April 15, 2018