'Carter's Way' doesn't hit all the right notes
Like a composer weaving together multiple melodies to create a symphonic poem, playwright/director Eric Simonson weaves together several themes in "Carter's Way."
This play with music centers on fictionalized saxophone phenom Oriole Carter (a simmering James Vincent Meredith, playing the role with a nice combination of defiance and frustration), a musician ahead of his time and a black man inexorably trapped in it. A snapshot of the 1930s Kansas City jazz scene, the ambitious "Carter's Way" consists of intertwining melodies that touch on art and commerce, race, love, power, innovation vs. maintaining the status quo and the exploitation of black artists by white power brokers. Unfortunately, not all of them are fully formed and that makes for sour notes.
Several characters are underwritten and their motivations unconvincing, with the most notable being Anne Adams' sexually aggressive, slightly unbalanced Eunice. A white aspiring singer, Eunice dates mid-level mob enforcer Johnny (more great character work from Keith Kupferer as a brute with entrepreneurial aspirations) but pursues the enigmatic Oriole, who's wary of her attentions, having served six months in jail for keeping company with a white woman. He succumbs, but as she's written, there's nothing about Eunice that would inspire a man to risk his life. If she were a vocal powerhouse, that might inspire the visionary Oriole (who toys with be-bop years before it emerges). But Adams is an actress first and a singer second and there is little spark between them.
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Ora Jones plays arranger/pianist Marilyn, Oriole's former lover who plays her music like she lives her life: safe. K. Todd Freeman is superbly smooth as the self-interested but essentially decent club owner Peewee, whose keen sense of self-preservation led him to partner with Boss Jack (a brief but indelible portrait from Robert Breuler), a ruthless mobster determined to maintain a low profile.
The action unfolds on designer Neil Patel's rough-hewn, realistic, juke joint set against a swinging score by Grammy-winning trumpeter Darrell Leonard. Overall, it's a vibrant production with Steppenwolf ensemble members Meredith, Freeman, Jones and Breuler in top form. Unfortunately, they're not enough to make "Carter's Way" into a standard.
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"Carter's Way"
2#189 stars (out of four)
Location: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago
Times: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through April 27. Also 2 p.m. April 6, 16 and 23, no Sunday evening performances after April 6
Running Time: About 2 hours 20 minutes, with intermission
Tickets: $20-$68
Box office: (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org
Rating: For adults, contains sexual content, violence, strong language