{"id":328965,"date":"2021-08-23T01:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-22T22:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/pass-over-broadway-review-an-enticing-uneven-play\/"},"modified":"2021-08-23T01:02:00","modified_gmt":"2021-08-22T22:02:00","slug":"pass-over-broadway-review-an-enticing-uneven-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/pass-over-broadway-review-an-enticing-uneven-play\/","title":{"rendered":"#’Pass Over’ Broadway review: An enticing, uneven play"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#’Pass Over’ Broadway review: An enticing, uneven play<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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The August Wilson Theatre is electric prior to \u201cPass Over,\u201d Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu\u2019s play that opened Sunday night on Broadway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Such high spirits are unusual for a non-musical drama. But there\u2019s a helluvalot more buzz here than you\u2019d get ahead of your average production of \u201cWaiting for Godot,\u201d on which this play is partly based.<\/p>\n

The party vibe is because \u201cPass Over\u201d is the first play to open on Broadway since New York theaters were shut down in March 2020. For those of us who\u2019ve missed Broadway, it feels incredible to be back \u2014 even after having to present a vaccination card, photo ID and ticket before walking through a metal detector.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n
\n Theater review <\/span><\/p>\n

85 minutes, no intermission. August Wilson Theatre, 245 W. 52nd St.; 888-985-9421.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For a while, going to a Broadway show is gonna be like jetting to Dubrovnik.<\/p>\n

Was this one worth the flight? Mostly. \u201cPass Over\u201d is a compelling, if flawed, way to start things off in Times Square. Nwandu\u2019s central conceit is spot-on: Take the format of Samuel Beckett\u2019s classic \u201cWaiting for Godot\u201d and exchange his stuck-in-place duo Didi and Gogo \u2014 \u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d \u201cWe can\u2019t.\u201d \u2014 for two black men on a generic city street corner. More modern than Sam\u2019s tramps, but just as immobile. The iconic tree is now a street lamp; grass and dirt are cement and asphalt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Moses
Moses (Jon Michael Hill, left) and Kitch (Namir Smallwood, right) meet Mister (Gabriel Ebert) in \u201cPass Over\u201d on Broadway.<\/figcaption>
Joan Marcus<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our two guys are Moses (Jon Michael Hill) and Kitch (Namir Smallwood), and their lives consist of small talk and discussing how and when they\u2019ll leave. They like to list their \u201cpromised land top 10\u201d in Nwandu\u2019s muscular \u2014 often very funny \u2014 poetry. <\/p>\n

\u201cCollard greens and pinto beans \u2026 brown bunnies \u2026 my bright red superman kite \u2026 drawer full uh clean socks,\u201d Moses says. <\/p>\n

\u201cOK, see, now dats a good one,\u201d Kitch replies. (These are Nwandu\u2019s dialogue spellings.)<\/p>\n

A few folks might be offended by some of the conversation \u2014 the N-word is used a lot \u2014 but the writer uses our wincing to stir up a debate about language ownership.<\/p>\n

The duo\u2019s infinite routine is interrupted by the arrival of Mister (Gabriel Ebert) \u2014 a smiley Southern dandy with a picnic basket full of food (like Mary Poppins\u2019 magic bag) and a penchant for making racist faux pas \u2014 and Ossifer (also played by Ebert), a cartoony cop. <\/p>\n

Hill and Smallwood have a lively rapp<\/a>ort that makes us believe they really have been with each other constantly for a thousand years. Hill, in particular, reveals both sweetness and immense passion. The dance-like movement director Dayna Taymor gives the pair perfectly suits Nwandu\u2019s musical text.<\/p>\n