BWW Reviews: Learn About Great Acting at THE PIANO LESSON at Portland Playhouse

Every family has a history. Some families run from their past, hiding it in order to get past the bad memories or to move forward in the world. Other families seem tethered to the past, dwelling on past glories and ignoring the present. Sometimes both elements can happen in the same family - one member rushing toward the future, another locked in the past - and therein resides conflict that runs so deep it can tear the family apart.

August Wilson's The Piano Lesson is built on such a conflict. Wilson, of course, was one of the master playwrights of the past fifty years, and while his plays are not always easy to watch, The Piano Lesson, like Fences, is structured around a family conflict so universal that everyone can identify with it. In 1936 Pittsburgh, Berniece lives with her uncle Doaker and her young daughter, Maretha, and holds on to a piano that has been in their family for a very long time. Her grandfather was a slave, and while he was enslaved he carved images of himself and his life into the woodwork of the piano. Berniece cannot bring herself to play the instrument, but neither can she let it go.

In comes Boy Willie, her younger brother, a sharecropper in their Southern hometown. He is looking to buy the very land that their father worked as a slave, and has saved up almost enough money to have his own farm. The last of the cash, he hopes, will come from selling the piano. He wants no part of the family history; he wants to move forward. Berniece prefers to keep things the way they are. Another uncle, Wining Boy, has his own opinion, as does Doaker, but the standoff between Berniece and Boy Willie is the meat of the play.

I've come to appreciate August Wilson's plays as if they were operas; I listen to the music without always understanding the words. I don't always follow the references, some of which continue from one play to the next, and the language is so thick and dense that I occasionally lose track of what's going on, but that's my failure, not Mr. Wilson's. Here, however, the central battle is so clearly stated that it's impossible not to care about what's happening, and the acting is so vibrant that I never once got lost. Director Kevin Jones does a masterful job of clarifying the story and keeping the many digressions from pulling us away from the central issue. Yes, it's a very long play, over three hours including intermission, but I was mesmerized throughout.

The performances are all excellent, and they are all of a piece. You believe that these people all exist in the same time frame, the same culture, and the same place. The eight actors create a believable history, particularly those playing relatives, and there isn't a false or forced moment in the entire production. Chantal DeGroat as Berniece and Bryant Bentley as Boy Willie have the true heavy lifting, and both are more than equal to the task. DeGroat is just heartbreaking, her grief is palpable, and her longing is almost painful to watch, and when Berniece starts to open up to new possibilities you'll be thrilled (and a little scared) for her. Bentley has energy to spare as Boy Willie, who walks into every room as if he owns it, and talks nonstop while he's there. I don't know how he manages to keep going at that level throughout this long performance, but he's exceptional, and he manages to find infinite variations on Boy Willie's righteous anger and irrepressible search for what he wants.

The other performers are equally gifted. As Doaker, Mujahid Abdul-Rashid is strong and dignified until the moments come for him to let loose and show us his inner feelings, and then he's just astonishing. "Ranney" plays Wining Boy as a charmer and an entertainer, but we get glimpses of the heartbreak underneath his smile. Seth Rue is a winning presence as Lyman, Boy Willie's friend, whose main interest in life seems to be female companionship; he seems to be there just to listen to the others, but then he too gets a chance to open his heart, and the simple way he states his desires is beautifully played.

The smaller roles are well played also, with Ronald Scott just right as Avery, a preacher who wants to marry Berniece; Carmen Brantley-Payne a rambunctious joy as Grace, a woman who runs into Boy Willie and Lyman in the city; and Sinai La'ryn Jones just right as Berniece's young daughter.

As befits a play centered around a piano, there are some musical moments in the piece, all welcome and well played, particularly a moment in Act One where the men break into a work song, their voices and bodies becoming so impassioned that you understand the joy and the pain of their lives all at once.

One of the great things about Portland Playhouse - besides their terrific track record for choosing plays and giving them impeccable productions - is that they completely reconfigure their building for each new show. The Piano Lesson is played in the middle of the space, with audience on both sides of a central set depicting Berniece's living room and kitchen, which is a perfect choice by scenic designer Alan Schwanke. (I do wish the Portland Playhouse staff would keep the audience from walking across the stage during preshow and intermission, however!) The other technical aspects of the show are just right, with a special shout-out due to Christine Myers for costumes that suit the characters' lives, ambitions, and means in every possible way.

The Piano Lesson is an ambitious play for a small theater to take on, but Portland Playhouse has made a habit of making audacious choices. I salute them on this round and eagerly await their next production.

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