MULE BONE: A Comedy of

Negro Life

Mule Bone is the result of the attempt of two literary greats, Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, to collaborate. The script was never finished and exists only in fragments, because its creators got into a fracas, complicated by the machinations of their white patron. The project was scuttled. Sprawling and incomplete, Mule Bone has remained a tantalizing theatrical artifact ever since.

The play is based on a story written by Hurston, inspired by her work as a folklorist. Two best friends, Dave and Jim, come to blows in a rivalry over a pretty girl, Daisy. One hits the other over the head with a mule bone and the incident lands them in court, where the case pivots on biblical interpretation.

What is known of the impetus behind Mule Bone is that Hurston and Hughes envisioned a truly African-American theater. A turkey was the source of conflict in the original story; its replacement with a flirtatious girl is considered to have been a Hughes contribution.

The Paul Robeson Theatre gives the play an energetic and frolicsome outing. The cast is huge, representing two factions of a small Southern town—one Methodist and the other Baptist. The principals, played by Donald Capers and Leon S. Copeland as the friends and Annette Christian-Ragin as Daisy, are appealing and sincere as they run through the innocent high jinks of the comedy. All of the contour performances give spirit and personality to the show.

What is fascinating to me about this foray into a true African-American drama is the way Hurston and Hughes use and undermine the minstrel show format. The large courtroom scene, which takes place in a church with a pulpit in the center, the Baptists on one side, the Methodists on the other, exactly mirrors a minstrel stage, with the interlocutor center and a comic actor on each side of the chorus. Even the two-man format of the relationship between Dave and Jim mirrors the minstrel model, as exemplified by Bert Williams and George Walker, who pioneered the double-act format that, evolving from minstrelsy, has become a mainstay of American entertainment.

Indeed, disorganized and chaotic though it is (director June L. Saunders Duell has worked to give the piece shape), Mule Bone is, beneath its light-hearted and farcical exterior, quite a subversive tale. Through the squabbles of a small-town, African-American community, the authors show how the fictions we live can split people apart.

The Robeson Theatre has given the play a worthy and entertaining outing. The play continues through Feb 25, Fri & Sat at 8, Sun at 4. Paul Robeson Theatre, 350 Masten Avenue (884-2013).

"Foundations" continues through this weekend at the New Phoenix Theatre.

FOUNDATIONS

In the great tradition of Buffalo labor-union plays, pioneered by Emanuel Fried, writer-director Kurt Schneiderman brings us Foundations, the story of conflict at a construction site. Presented by the Subversive Theatre Collective in collaboration with Buffalo Ensemble Theatre, the show features Dennis Keefe as the foreman, with Willie W. Judson, Jr. as a worker who begins a one-man strike when he learns the project has been changed from a neighborhood supermarket to the building of a police station. It seems his own son had been killed while in police custody just three days before.

The production is handsomely mounted with a wonderfully effective set by David Butler and steady direction by Schneiderman himself. The plot is engaging and affecting. The play is highly enjoyable.

The script does struggle with an element of implausibility. Why, we wonder, don’t these construction workers just muscle the jerk out of the way when he obviously jeopardizes their jobs? The effect is that the central character of the striking worker, despite a tour de force performance by Judson, is unsympathetic. We root instead for the motley crew of co-workers who get themselves liquored up before taking matters into their own hands.

Schneiderman has an impressive command of dialogue and the interchanges between characters are spirited and entertaining. This lapses only at moments of sermonizing, when language becomes more elevated than the situation seems to merit. This would be easily remedied, however, and does not subtract substantially from the whole.

Individual scenes, too, are quite impressive. Schneiderman’s technique, however, is more expressionistic than naturalistic. Foundations is a metaphor for everything in the play, and his drama unfolds logically from his implausible premise. The logic of reality sometimes interferes.

The playwright also handles character development in pleasing ways, especially among the secondary characters. Interactions between Chris Standart, Keith Elkins and Sandra Gilliam are particularly well-written and entertaining. Andy Moss plays the representative of management; Victor Morales plays the union officer. Each is very fine. Lawrence Rowswell, Hasheen DeBerry, Tom Scahill and Marshall Maxwell also make strong contributions in smaller roles.

Foundations continues through this weekend, Fri & Sat at 8. The New Phoenix Theatre, 95 Johnson Park (408-0499).

SWEET CHARITY

Molly Ringwald is every bit as charming in person as she is in the movies, and that is the magic of this pleasing touring production of the recent Broadway revival of Sweet Charity.

Add to that an uncommonly strong dancing ensemble and superior performances among the supporting players—including Buffalo’s Richard Ruiz, who is both cuddly and irascible in the role of Herman, the manager of the Fandango dance hall—and you’ve got a wonderful evening in the theater.

Based on Federico Fellini’s 1957 film classic, Nights of Cabiria (Notte di Cabiria), about a prostitute who manages to keep a positive outlook and an open heart despite a life of adversity, the story became a 1966 Broadway musical vehicle for the great dancer-actress-singer Gwen Verdon, with a book by Neil Simon, score by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Conceived, staged and choreographed by Verdon’s husband, Bob Fosse, Sweet Charity boasted as good a team as was ever assembled for a Broadway show. It was a huge hit, even spinning hit tunes with “If My Friends Could See Me Now” and “Big Spender.”

Charity of the musical is a dance-hall hostess. The role was conceived as a strong triple-threat dance part, but Ringwald, who is decidedly not a dancer, proves that other interpretations are possible and valid. Her Charity is closer to Giulietta Masina’s original screen performance, something that the actress herself acknowledges.

Playing on her screen image, Ringwald’s Charity is like the little sister of the dance hall. She is the innocent girl who can’t really do anything right and whom the other girls feel compelled to protect. When dance machines Amanda Watkins as Nickie and Francesca Harper as Helene flank Ringwald in “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This,” they could easily run her over and mop up the stage with her—but they don’t. They look out for her; they care about her; and they live in fear that something bad will happen to her. In the bridal shower scene when each bursts into tears with happiness, we believe them. This Charity is vulnerable.

In addition to Ruiz, Watkins and Harper, Guy Adkins is brilliant in the role of Oscar, the well-intentioned but too-flawed boyfriend. The scene between Ringwald and Adkins in the elevator is a sensational moment of physical comedy. The one on the Ferris wheel is pretty good too. In fact, the one in the Mexican restaurant is also pretty wonderful. It’s Neil Simon at his best, and they squeeze it for all the juice it’s got.

It is possible that Ringwald has grown into the role. Reviews of the show from earlier in the tour were harsh. I, however, no matter how dutifully I looked for fault, and no matter how often I saw it, found Miss Ringwald to be irresistible. I had a great time at Sweet Charity.

Sweet Charity continues through Sunday: Fri at 8, Sat at 2 & 8, Sun at 2 & 7. Shea’s Performing Arts Center, 646 Main Street (847-0850).