Review: HARRIET TUBMAN AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD at Virginia Rep's Children's Theatre (At Willow Lawn) Tells Stirring Story with Strength

I was fortunate to get to the final performance of "Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad" at Virginia Rep's Children's Theatre (at Willow Lawn). Douglas Scott Jones's play for young audiences does minimal simplifying of the great heroine's story, following her life well before and after her famous work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

This time out the play had the benefit of finely tuned, sensitive direction by Katrinah Carol Lewis and excellent musical direction by Anthony Smith. Both traditional spirituals and original songs (music by Ron Barnett, lyrics by Jones) are sung a cappella by the wonderful ensemble of six, led by Marjie Southerland as Tubman. Southerland is strong and dignified in the role, and her voice is stunning.

Castmates Gregory Morton, Dorothy Dee-D. Miller, Dan Cimo, Durron Marquis Tyre and Elisabeth Ashby perform a variety of roles in service of the story. The show opens with music, but before long we get a bit of a frame tale, with author Sarah Bradford (Ashby) trying to sell her book on Tubman to skeptical publisher Moses (Cimo). Bradford explains that despite Tubman's years of service as a nurse during the Civil War, and the tremendous amount of help she provided to legions of Americans before and after, she had not been awarded a government pension and was in dire need of financial support. Book sales might raise money for this purpose, so Bradford presents some stories about Tubman's life and work to the publisher, and we see the scenes unfold before us.

A lovely set by Emily Hake Massie, fine lighting by Matthew Banes, excellent costumes by Sarah Grady, and a solid sound design by Nicholas Seaver made the piece even more enjoyable. It was a well-honed experience for youngsters, both entertaining and educational.

Photo credit: Aaron Sutten