Breath and Imagination, Lyric Stage Company of Boston and The Front Porch Collective, through December 23. 617-585-5678 or lyricstage.com
Twelfth Night, Moonbox Productions, Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, through December 30. 617-933-8600 or bostontheatrescene.com
The Front Porch Arts Collective has found the perfect inaugural work—namely "Breath and Imagination." FPAC, committed to supporting local talent of color, is making a very welcome debut with Arts Emerson artist in residence Daniel Beaty's inspiring musical tribute to black lyric tenor-composer Roland Hayes (1887-1977).
What makes the moving Lyric Stage Company of Boston presentation especially auspicious is the opportunity it provides musically gifted Boston African-American performer Davron Monroe to do full justice to the art and life of his great predecessor.
Hayes' majestic chronicle is a tale of many cities. While he hailed from Georgia and moved (at the age of 11) with his mother Angel Mo' to Tennessee after the death of his father, he also lived in Brookline, performed in Boston and gave concerts before kings and queens.
That majesty had as much to do with his refusal to be artistically denied in the face of racism (including) as with his undeniably large talent. Beaty's dense 90-minute effort makes generous use of Hayes' classical and black spiritual repertoire in demonstrating both the range of music and his indomitable spirit.
Set during 1887-1942 at Angel Mo' 's farm in "the flatwoods of a Negro settlement in Georgia," this informative work goes all the way back to the tenor's enchantment as a youth with a (scratchy) Caruso recording and his memories of singing scales and musical exercises. Look for Schuman concert lieder and African-American spirituals, all sung with vibrant tone by Monroe.
On the plaintive Donizetti aria "Una furtiva lagrima," he displays the kind of sharp phrasing and beautiful high register that Hayes himself would admire. Monroe also shares rich harmony and strong exchanges—both heated and tender—with Angel Mo', played with tenacity and warmth by Yewande Odetoyinbo. Premier local actor Maurice Emmanuel Parent (two Norton and three IRNE awards), in a terrific professional directing debut, sharply captures all of Hayes' moments of frustration and anger as well as his gratifying musical and personal successes. Asher Denburg's musical direction is equally stunning.
At one point, Hayes is justly called an "extraordinary artist." Monroe and "Breath and Imagination" deserve the same high praise.
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Moonbox Productions has brought very fresh approaches to such musicals as "The Wild Party" and "Cabaret" (the latter a hauntingly powerful revival). Now they are trying to do the same with Shakespeare's seminal comedy "Twelfth Night" at Boston Center for the Arts' Plaza Theatre. To that end, Evan Turassini actually sings the beginning of Duke Orsino's famous "If music be the food of love" initial speech, and sheets of metal achieve the sound of the pivotal opening storm. Thanks to a tour de force performance by gifted Matthew Zahnzinger ("Amadeus" and "The Thirty-Nine Steps among others), Malvolio's adoration of Olivia and his dupery by her cousin Toby Belch and his entourage achieve both pathos and humor.
If director Allison Olivia Choat does not fully push the proverbial envelope in other ways, her generally satisfying cast does make savory fare of this play's always intriguing combination of sibling reunion and ambiguous relationships--with Orsino attracted to Caesario (Viola of course in disguise) and Antonio's very bromantic feeling for Viola's twin brother Sebastian. Evan Turassini and Charlotte Kinder—properly vulnerable though quick witted as Viola/Caesario—have good chemistry. Sarah Gazdowicz as Olivia has the right subdued demeanor as a widow attracted to Caesario and convincing authority with her household. Zahnzinger is a scene stealing hoot as Malvolio sports yellow stockings and arrives cross-gartered thinking he will please Olivia. Arthur Gomez displays appealing comic ease and sings with panache as Feste the Jester.
Moonbox' "Twelfth Night" could do with more risk-taking, but a spirited cast keeps it safely off the rocks.