If you have even the slightest interest in this world premiere, buy a ticket right now. Buy two and bring a friend. Opening night was a sell-out, and based on audience response the run has been extended through October 20.
New to Baltimore Center Stage, Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb is doing some long- needed inclusion work in Baltimore City, not just for the artsy-fartsy crowd but for everyone. Bringing in new playwrights with new voices telling new stories is only the beginning.
Oh Happy Day!, a new play by Jordan E. Cooper with original songs by Donald Lawrence, is the product of a successful previous partnership. Walker-Webb and Cooper collaborated on the Broadway production of Cooper’s Ain’t No Mo’, earning multiple Tony nominations for the pair and making Cooper at age 27 the youngest Black playwright to debut on Broadway. A separate production of Ain’t No Mo’ played to enthusiastic audiences on Baltimore’s Center Stage.
The program calls Oh Happy Day! “a saucy reimagining of Noah’s Ark.” Pre-show music and DJ patter sets us in Mississippi and mezzes us right in the medius, with authority. The characters immediately earn our affection and we’re enjoying them even as we wonder what the heck is going on.
There is a live band, but I can’t see them. I wonder where they’re stashed. Under the musical direction of Daniel Rudin, the they give terrific backup to the songs, without overpowering the voices or the lyrics.
Featuring Latrice Pace, Courtney Monet, and Tiya Askia as The Divines, our beatific, belt-it-out tour guides, the show begins with a song I’d be happy to hear on the radio. They remind me of the Muses in Disney’s animated Hercules. The Divines wear beautiful gowns, which hint at choir robes, but in a glamorous way, by Costume Designer Celeste Jennings, and sway with graceful choreography by Charlique C. Rolle. The song “A Good Day to Be Happy” is a gorgeous gospel anthem written by composer Donald Lawrence.
Following the opening number, we meet the family. Niecy, who drives a great portion of the action, is played by Tamika Lawrence with ferocity, humor, and sass. Justin Sturgis plays her son Kevin, and is completely convincing as a teen trying to navigate the world and survive his family. As Lewis, Niecy’s father, James T. Alfred is obstinate, self-righteous, inflexible in attitude, and so realistic that many among the audience are a little bit triggered as they recognize someone in their own life. Keshawn, the estranged son and brother, is performed by Cooper, and his authentic, heartfelt performance is moving, inspirational, and frightening. His onstage intensity is a power to behold. I believe in this family. We’ve just met, and I already love them.
The show is about faith, family, fury, and generational trauma. It’s also about finding the truth in a shared story that it turns out isn’t shared at all. It’s about love, and how complicated humans make it. It’s about pride and how pitiful pride is as a substitute for love. It’s also about violence and survival. It’s a comedy hung on serious social issues, and Cooper takes us from laughter to tears with heat-lightning speed, repeatedly and deliberately.
There’s a lot of cussing in the show, and plenty of situationally appropriate N-word use, for which Cooper makes no apology. As with Ain’t No Mo’, Cooper seems in Oh Happy Day! to deliberately invoke a Chitlin Circuit vibe: “If you go to a Chitlin Circuit play, it doesn’t feel like Broadway; it feels like you’re at a family reunion. You see niggas in cat-daddy hats with they side pieces. You see people coming in with Solo cups,” Cooper has said.
The cast and script tell truths that resonate with the audience, and the audience is not shy about responding to the dialogue and the characters. This responsiveness was introduced and encouraged at the opening of the show by the Divines using direct address to wave away the invisible fourth wall traditionally erected by a cast who pretends the audience is not there. This is a very clever move on the part of Cooper and Walker-Webb. Instead of being observers of a story that is removed from themselves, the audience, in responding, agrees to be part of the story, and are drawn in as though they are members of the family. The three generations represented give opportunity for each of us to identify with someone in the family, and if it happens that we don’t identify with anyone, or know anyone who might be a member of the cursed Johnson family, we might count ourselves as lucky. We might more accurately count ourselves as privileged.
With some surprisingly effective low-tech special effects and the subtle, enchanting skyscape by Lighting Designer Adam Honoré, Oh Happy Day! is more than its clever, well-written dialogue. It’s a visual spectacle on all levels, and includes a set piece by Scenic Designer Luciana Stecconi that brings me nearly to tears with its extravagant beauty.
This show is a wonderful work of art. It plays like a novel I wish I’d read, like a mini-series I didn’t quite catch, like a movie I hope to see. It’s soulful, supernatural, and splendid. It’s bound for Broadway. If you can, catch it while it’s here.
Running Time: Two hours including a 15-minute intermission.
Oh Happy Day! plays through October 20, 2024, produced in association with The Public Theater, at Baltimore Center Stage, 700 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD. For tickets ($25–$65, with senior and student discounts available), call the box office at (410) 332-0033 (Tuesday through Friday, noon–5 pm), email boxoffice@centerstage.org, or purchase them online.
Performance schedule:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at 7:30, Saturday 2 PM and 7:30 PM, Sunday 3:00 PM
Additional Show: Wednesday October 9th at 12 PM.
Sunday October 6th includes audio description and a touch tour.
Friday October 12th will be ASL interpreted.
The program for Oh Happy Day! is available online here.
COVID Safety: Mask-optional performances are on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturday evenings, and Sunday matinees, and mask-required performances are on Wednesdays, and Saturday matinees. See Baltimore Center Stage’s COVID-19 Information and Resource Page here.
