Playwright: Tony Kushner ( book & lyrics ), Jeanine Tesori ( music )
At: Den Theatre's Heath Main Stage, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. Tickets: $20-45; FirebrandTheatre.org . Runs through: Oct. 28
"Don't make me the oppressor," a character in Caroline, or Change begs of her father.
But of course, she is: a white woman with a Black maid in 1963 Louisiana, unwittingly using the maid as a pawn to teach her new stepson a lesson about money. Caroline, or Change is full of these microaggressions, these white-lady tears. Firebrand Theatre's latest premiered on Broadway to critical acclaim, but in 2004 was overshadowed by splashier musicals like Avenue Q and Wicked. Now, as illustrated by Lili-Anne Brown's stellar direction and a spellbinding cast led by Rashada Dawan, Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's musical about race, class and religion is more relevant than ever.
The titular Caroline ( Dawan ) is stoic, often grouchy, as she does laundry for the newly-blended Gellman family, listening to the radio and indulging in one cigarette per day. She may not be nurturing, but she's become a mother figure-slash-obsession for young Noah ( Alejandro Medina ), still reeling from his own mother's death and his nebbish father's subsequent remarriage to her best friend, Rose ( Blair Robertson ). As Tesori's score alternates between Klezmer and doo-wop, Caroline struggles with change: both Noah's discarded coins that Rose insist Caroline keep, and the shift in her own world, as a President is assassinated, a Black minister named Dr. King preaches peaceful uprising and Caroline's teenage daughter Emmie ( Bre Jacobs ) begins to question and rebel.
In Caroline, Kushner draws heavily on his own Southern Jewish childhood. ( Like Noah's father, Kushner's dad played clarinet professionally. ) Writing about one's own experiences can come off indulgent, but thankfully Kushner escapes that trap, infusing nuance in every single character, even Rose's boorish father ( Michael Kingston ). Noah, Kushner's stand-in, isn't the lovable moppet typical to most musicals: he's isolated and spoiled, imagining "saving" Caroline's family with his spare change, but also lonely and sad, blowing his money on cheap toys and ( in secret ) Barbie dresses. When Caroline finally shows vulnerability, it's not in the form of a soaring gospel tune, as is typical of older Black female characters, but the gravelly "Underwater." Emmie challenges her mother's kowtowing to white folk and is immediately upbraided by Caroline's friend and fellow maid Dotty ( Nicole Michelle Haskins ): Caroline's job with the Gellmans keeps a roof over Emmie's head.
Is it possible for a musical to age better? If so, Caroline, or Change leads the pack. Neither creator is new to the theater-as-social-justice game. At the time he wrote Caroline, Kushner had won the Pulitzer for Angels in America. Tesori would go on to pen the Tony Award-winning Fun Home. Neither are Black, however, leaving wide the possibility for white saviordom or general cluelessness. Instead, Caroline, or Change highlights the behavior of well-meaning white people that is just as insidious as out-and-out racism, and even more prevalent. Instead of giving Caroline a raise, Rose encourages her to take money from a little boy while calling Caroline her "friend." Most significantly, the musical encourages us to acknowledge and celebrate the women like Caroline, who may not have marched on Washington, but raised children like Emmie, who would and did. Not all heroes wear capes.
