Gem Of The Ocean 8/10
Last night me, my lady L, and Cam went to see Gem Of The Ocean at the Long Beach Playhouse. None of us had been there before and we've been trying to see all the August Wilson shows. I have seen four now and each of them have seen others but we hadn't seen this one. In writing about this I am also going to talk about the theater itself because this was our first visit and I have to. We got to the theater which wasn't too hard to find and they had plenty of parking for free which was awesome. No going through tunnels or having to find a meter a mile away. Just straight up parking right there. The bathrooms are in the lobby and if you are waiting in line you will block one of the theater entrances and the door stays open. The ladies experienced this but I did not cause I went before we got there. Inside the theater it is small but not as small as The Fountain Theater where L and I saw Freight and she got lost in Lil Murda's eyes. I'll include a picture of the setup.
In this play I had to keep reminding myself that none of these characters are in the other ones. Not even Solly who I thought was this one dude from all the other stories I have seen. Its 1904 and this lady Aunt Ester is an almost 300 year old cleaner of souls. While sitting at home with Eli this dude keeps pounding on the door. Everyone knocks on the door like they SWAT. Eli tells this guy to come back another time. Ester tells him to come back Tuesday. He ends up breaking in days earlier. Ester has Black Mary (a protege for Ester/help around the house) set a room up for this guy named Citizen. Citizen is from Alabama and Solly wants to head back there to help his sister because even though slavery is allegedly over things are still shitty there. He and Ester have some kinda thing going.
We are introduced to Caesar who is a cop and a piece of human shit. They legit did nothing to make this guy redeemable. Guess the actor was incredibly good. A man was accused to stealing a bucket of nails from the nearby mill and says he was innocent and chose to drown himself than confess to a crime he didn't commit. Ester helps Citizen cleanse his soul since it turns out he was the one that stole to bucket of nails and goes on a spiritual journey to the Gem of the Ocean. The mill gets set on fire and Solly is accused. He whacks Caesar with his stick and leaves to later be shot and killed by him. Black Mary renounces his ass as Citizen, now cleansed, takes Solly's stick, coat, and hat and leaves.
This was a very good show. Was not sure how I would feel about it since all the other August Wilson shows we've seen have been at the same theater with most of the same cast. But this cast was good. Now for my complaints. This has nothing to do with the people on stage. This is all about the theater. The way the stage was set up at certain parts the cast would have their backs turned to you or they would straight up block your view. The scene where Black Mary went in on her brother? Could just see her head over one of the actors shoulder who had nothing to do with the scene. The seats are incredibly uncomfortable. My leg hurt the next day. During intermission I never get up. I had to go outside and stretch! The show started almost half an hour late and almost 15 minutes late after intermission. While I was outside people were leaving because of the late time and we heard one person complain about their legs hurting. People were moved to front row seats to fill space. We range in heights from 6'1” to 5'1”. We all hurt. I would go back but not to a long show like this.
Gary Gibson as Eli
Asim Rashad as Citizen Barlow
Daphne Jones as Aunt Ester Tyler
Chaunice Hendking as Black Mary
Bob Baumsten as Rutherford Selig
Maurice G. Smith as Solly Two Kings
Dan White as Caesar Wilks
Click here for previous Curtain Call.
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