The Jenkins family is coming together to celebrate the life of their father—hopefully without killing each other! Eldest daughter, Baneatta, wants everything to be perfect for her father’s funeral. “Favorite” daughter, Beverly, would rather honor her daddy dressed to show the entire congregation what she’s been “blessed with.” Teenage granddaughter, La’trice, can’t mind her own business if it was on a leash. Not far behind comes grandson Kenny and his very Jewish boyfriend Logan who is maybe, sort of, okay definitely afraid of Baneatta. But Baneatta’s hopes unravel when a family secret shows up at the funeral…
A fun night out reminding us of the importance of familial love, tolerance and forgiveness. Lyons' play, which stars Cleo King, Norm Lewis and Michael Urie, and features Alana Raquel Bowers, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Aigner Mizzelle, Devere Rogers and Natasha Yvette Williams, is filled with warm-centered performances and broad but entertaining characters.
The performers, several of them new to Broadway, strive mightily to mine the broad humor for all its worth and generally succeed. The standouts are Mizzelle, a hoot as the precocious teen, and Urie, who gets laughs with every nervous twitch, although he's playing the sort of role from which he should have graduated by now. For more than a few, Chicken & Biscuits will live up to its name by being enjoyable theatrical comfort food. But you can't ignore the fact that it simply isn't very nutritious.
2020 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2021 | Broadway |
A New Comedy by Douglas Lyons Broadway |
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