Following an experienced Black stage actress through rehearsals of a major Broadway production, Alice Childress's wry and moving look at racism, identity, and ego in the world of New York theatre opened to acclaim off-Broadway in 1955. At the forefront of both the Civil Rights and feminist movements, the prescient Trouble in Mind was announced to move to Broadway in 1957...in a production that never came to be.
Trouble in Mind puts its main spotlight on LaChanze, who holds the whole play firmly in hand. She is this production's other revelation: Although she has played serious roles in musicals over the course of her 35-year career, this is the first time she has had the lead in a Broadway play. 'I want to be an actress,' says Wiletta. 'Hell, I'm gonna be one, you hear me?' An actress LaChanze proves herself to be, and not just when she's singing, and a hell of a good one at that.
What the production does give us is a trenchant, powerful lead performance from LaChanze as Wiletta Mayer, a veteran actor rehearsing a play about racism written and directed by White men. The gravitas, lived experience, and magisterial presence she brings to the role is worth the ticket price alone, and makes a fantastic case for an immediate revival of Gypsy. Looking gorgeous in Emilio Sosa's elegant costumes, she is unfussy and relaxed while still delivering Childress' critiques with the laser-sharp precision of a woman with decades of experience in the business.
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