'Black Pearl Sings!' Tells Soulful Story

Black Pearl Sings!                                                               

By Frank Higgins, Directed by Benny Sato Ambush, Music Director Eugene Wolf, Scenery Designed by Robin Vest, Costumes Designed by Deborah Newhall, Lighting Designed by Brian Lilienthal, Stage Manager Emily F. McMullen, Assistant Stage Manager Peter Crewe

Featuring Valerie Leonard and Cherene Snow

Performances through March 7 at Merrimack Repertory Theatre                                             Box Office 978-654-4678 or www.MerrimackRep.org

Merrimack Repertory Theatre boasts a wonderful selection to honor both Black History Month and Women's History Month with the New England premiere of Black Pearl Sings! by Frank Higgins. This play with music digs deep into the heritage of song and shows how two diverse women discover and reclaim their own souls by helping each other find meaning in the tragedies and challenges of their lives. Director Benny Sato Ambush and actresses Valerie Leonard and Cherene Snow weave a rich tapestry from threads of trust, connection, spirituality, and traditional music.

Inspired by the historical link between Alan Lomax, American folklorist and ethnomusicologist, and Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, iconic American folk and blues musician, Black Pearl Sings! unites an unlikely pair of women. Susannah Mullally (Leonard) is an uptight song collector for the Library of Congress, searching for lost African-American folk music by traversing the southern United States and interviewing countless women, with the hope of finding a pre-slavery gem. At a women's prison farm in rural southeast Texas in the summer of 1935, she meets ball and chain-bearing Alberta "Pearl" Johnson (Snow) who is serving time for killing a man and cutting off his private part. Each woman sees the other as a means to an end and they enter into thorny negotiations to achieve their hearts' desires. While music is Susannah's life, she also wants validation for her work by obtaining an esteemed teaching position at Harvard. Pearl wants parole so she can find the daughter she left behind when she was imprisoned ten years earlier. Along the way, they discover that their similarities diminish their differences and one cannot succeed without the contribution of the other.

The playwright does an excellent job of juxtaposing Susannah's gender struggle with the racial oppression experienced by Pearl.  Having been denied the external rewards she sees as her due, Susannah survives on her passion for the music as her life blood and believes that she has a found a reAl Pearl in the steely, wary convict. There is no doubt that her motives are far from altruistic, yet she is taken with Pearl and quickly develops the motivation to assist her both in finding her daughter and winning parole. For her part, Pearl believes that the injustices and indignities she has suffered for the color of her skin far outweigh those of her advocate, but she comes to understand that the political is personal and Susannah's oppression is just as real to her. The development of their relationship is not without its challenges and hostile flare-ups, but as they get to know each other through talking, singing, and sharing some down home food, their preconceived notions gradually melt away.

After Pearl agrees to let Susannah make a recording of her singing the old songs, she is granted parole and they take their show on the road in the second act, specifically to New York where they can play to the "right" people. With a nod to Pygmalion, a paradigm shift occurs when Pearl is a big hit and Susannah feels her control slipping, leading up to a moment of painful truth and powerful emotions that suddenly calls into question the depth of their connection. Higgins wisely allows time for the feelings to simmer and penetrate the characters and the audience before giving the two women a way to resolve The Situation that is both plausible and uplifting.

The placement of some twenty songs throughout the play truly enriches our experience of the story just as their sharing of the music enhances the bond between Susannah and Pearl. While all of the songs are in the public domain and several seem familiar, the well-known ones are often sung in folk versions not so widely known. Still, when Pearl invites the audience to sing along on Kum Ba Yah in a call and response, it is done with enthusiasm, not timidly, and lets us in on the good feelings of the African-American spiritual. All of the songs flow naturally from the storyline and are beautifully delivered by Snow's smoky, rich voice which resonates with emotion and soul, or Leonard's lighter, warm tones that gently wrap around your heart.

It is fitting that both Snow and Leonard make their MRT debuts in stunning fashion in this play about two women on a journey into the spotlight. Like their fictional counterparts, each responds to cues from the other and they enhance each other's performances by virtue of their close collaboration. With an assist from Deborah Newhall's period costumes, Leonard's persona relaxes and warms as the flair of her fashions increases. Snow is all scowls and aggressive body language in her black and white striped prison garb, but softens into more sultry feminine attire, makeup, and stylish 'do in the outside world. As Susannah and Pearl grow and change together, Leonard and Snow create an authentic relationship with believable power shifts and genuine feelings.

Robin Vest provides a serviceable warden's office for the scenes at the prison farm, and creates an eclectic and stylish Greenwich Village apartment for the second act, rife with African artifacts and Victorian furnishings. Brian Lilienthal's lighting design is solid throughout, but is a highlight of the final moments of the play, when Black Pearl not only sings, but soars. As much as anything, this is a play of discovery - of self, of personal power, of the importance of heritage - but it is also a vivid reminder that the things that connect us are often stronger than the things which divide us.

 

Photo Credits: Meghan Moore (Valerie Leonard, Cherene Snow)