Black No More--Fascinating Story Overwhelmed By Musical Score

    By Joseph Cervelli

While I never read the 1931 novel "Black No More" by George S. Schuyler about a machine that can turn blacks into whites as a remedy to race relations,  I was most definitely looking forward to the new musical of the same name presented by The New Group at the Signature Theater. While not severely disappointed, I was less than impressed. And one of the reasons that makes this hardworking show not soar surprised me even more. Will get to that in a bit. 

The show begins on a somber note on a large empty set (Derek McLane is the set designer) with a Dr. Crookman (Tariq Trotter) announcing that after studying skin diseases he thought it would be quite a feat if someone could turning a black person white. In his warped way of thinking this would resolve race problems in America. Immediately afterwards,  this sour beginning turns into a celebration of the Harlem Renaissance with the large cast robustly singing "This is Harlem" and dancing to the gymnastic movements of the always energetically appealing choreographer Bill T. Jones ("Spring Awakening.") Several of the leads are introduced which includes Max (Brandon Victor Dixon) the black man who decides to be transformed in white; his friend Buni (an exuberant Tamika Lawrence) and the singer and part narrator Agamemnon (a fine Ephraim Sykes). 

What is the deciding factor for Max to sit in what looks like an old barber shop chair which makes the conversion, is his going into a nightclub  only to be called various epithets by a white fellow from Atlanta namedAshby (played with terrific nastiness by Theo Stockman) there with his lovely looking sister Helen (Jennifer Damiano). Although both she and Max form a mutual immediate attraction, she, too, indulges in a vile insult to appease her brother. 

What happens much to the dismay of members of Harlem is expressed by the always welcome Lillias White who portrays Madame Sisseretta, the hairdresser. It seems that many blacks have decided to go the same route as Max which destroys Harlem and the black culture.   

Eventually, Max goes to Atlanta now as a white man and at a celebration (one of the best moments in the show) is unsure whether to join in with the whites or blacks. It is a heartfelt moment and one can easily understand his confusion. He meets Helen and and eventually  Ashby and their virulently racist father Reverend Givens (a very good Howard McGillian). He attends a rally berating the Black No More machine and how it is science that is the real culprit. He does eventually marry Helen but things become worrisome when she finds out she is pregnant. The musical moves from Atlanta to New York repeatedly for too many production numbers which add little to the impact on the show itself. 

One big  issue with the musical is not the book by John Ridley, but the fact that it is oversaturated with about 30 songs (music by Tariq Trotter, Anthony Todd, James Poser and Daryl Waters with lyrics by Trotter.) The melodies all seem to sound the same and the lyrics that I was able to understand were intelligent and meaningful though whether it be the orchestrations or the singers, a good deal of them  undecipherable. A score to any show should enhance the book not deter from it. There are times, sad to say many times, that I almost groaned when I heard the first note of yet another song. 

My biggest disappointment was with Dixon. I have admired him in all the previous shows I have seen him. Yet here I was more than surprised how lackluster he was. His singing was up to par but there was so very little emotion in his performance. When he first turned into a white man he had this rather "cutesy" grin which did not work and throughout there was no distinctive quality to his persona in any of his scenes. Take, for example, when he is attending the racist rally of Nordica spewing hatred comments about blacks. It should have been delivered with a fiery oration not with so little passion. Not sure if this was director Scott Elliot's interpretation of the role or Dixon's but the performance falls grievously flat. 

There is a lot of fine material here and if songs were cut and there was less choreography which also  became repetitious, however good,  it could have amounted to a memorable show.  Because the story line is so diluted by the score, the show is instead fascinating but never involving. 

PHOTOS: Monique Carboni

Tickets are available at The Pershing Square Signature Theatre Center 480 West 42nd Street.