Steppenwolf Theatre Company is currently presenting the world premiere of Leroy and Lucy by Ngozi Anyanwu, thoughtfully and tightly directed by Awoye Timpo, starring ensemble member Jon Michael Hill and Brittany Bradford, in its Ensemble Theater at 1646 N. Halsted, Chicago, through December 15, 2024.
Leroy and Lucy is electrifying! The play is beautifully developed, the stagecraft inspired, the acting brilliant. It’s impossible to take your eyes off these two; she is seductive, sinuous, physically rhythmical. He is innocent, intrigued, despondent, renewed. The lighting is wondrous: in one twisty scene, blue and purple clouds etched on the ceiling light converge with spiraled accents on the floor, and all the air in-between, including the actors’ faces, are colored in swirling mist.
The story encapsulates the mythical/mystical saga of Robert Johnson, the young American blues giant who sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in Mississippi in exchange for musical greatness. Hill and Bradford in this production have propelled themselves into stage legend. On opening night’s end, the audience was on its feet in ovation, joyously shouting praise.
In a performance that sizzles with audacious authenticity, these actors embody the transformative power of ballad, saga and music. The character named Leroy is every down-on-your luck Black in the American deep south in the early decades of the 20th century. Lucy is a female Lucifer, thrown out of her home by a father enraged at her “sinning”. Each has a voice, each has a guitar, when they meet in the woods. Their relationship deepens when she tempts him with a fig (fig-leaf?) sandwich, a real guitar in place of his handmade box-stringed instrument, and he thrills her with his mouthorgan.
Their roles switch several times in 90 minutes, even as this theater in-the-round allows the whole audience to see the incredible changing expressions of face and figure. Leroy, revealed as Robert, and Lucy are both ingenues, both teachers, both tempters, both seduced. They are disadvantaged, advanced, in the Jim-Crow South, in colonial-era Africa, and here today. As they interact and reveal each other’s secrets, they shapeshift. Reality is turned on its head and wonderful music is heard. Murmured lyrics are crooned to plaintive tunes sensuously hummed and strummed.
Johnson’s life is shrouded in mystery; there are only 2 known photos of The King of The Delta Blues, and he recorded only 2 dozen + songs, veritably only one for the 27 years he lived. Yet, his music has influenced generations of superstar musicians of the stature of blues rock great Keith Richards. An acknowledged genius, he led an almost blighted life, oppressed since childhood, losing a beloved young wife and child in the most ignominious way. Clearly, his tragedy fueled the thrilling, deep down, gut wrenching feeling blues genre that celebrates his life today.
Kudos to the entire creative production team including Yvonne L. Miranda for costumes that are realistic and flattering; Andrew Boyce for scenic designs that span the crossroads; Heather Gilbert for en-lightenment; Jeremy Jones and Connor Wong for directing, composing and designing the music and sound; Adesolo Osakalumi, choreographer and cultural consultant; Marie Ramirez Downing, voice coach; and Maya Vinice Prentiss, dialect and intimacy consultant.
For information and tickets to all the great programming of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, go to www.steppenwolf.org
All photos by Michael Brosilow
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