3/16/2023 0 Comments H and m ad![]() Words like entrapment, unlawful, draconian, biased, and show trial are increasingly spoken. Time passes and Bilal’s court date draws nearer. ![]() Alexander’s lighting emphasizes emotional import and intent. Bilal’s beloved double bass stands on an upstage center platform. Versatile space is backed by what looks like an unsettling sculptural installation with blue light streaming through four small barred windows cut into a concrete wall. Scenic designer Paige Hathaway’s set is both beautiful and serviceable. Over a swift and affecting 80 minutes, Douglas heartily embraces the work’s intrinsic musicality and humor along its darker moments, all the while making great use of the intimate Sprenger Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center. Douglas’ directorial debut as Mosaic’s new artistic director. This keenly staged production marks out theater maker Reginald L. Close by watching is Wes (Afsheen Misaghi), an occasionally agreeable guard who’s unknowingly receiving a master class in something altogether different from his usual fare of Ted Nugent.īetween visits, Bilal remains confined while Eric is teaching music to rich kids, warming up to jazz, and clicking professionally and personally with classical vocalist Sylvia (Lynette Rathnam), an appealing nonobservant Muslim woman. Without instruments, they opt for scatting (as in wordless jazz vocalization) Bilal’s latest music he’s composed in his mind. They engage in some stinging banter surrounding the usefulness of a Juilliard education, and then return to the way they communicate best - music. ![]() ![]() While both men are accomplished musicians - Eric on classical piano and Bilal on double bass - the elder pressures the younger to follow his lead into jazz, the only authentic way a Black man can musically tell his story, he says. ![]()
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