Press

By Anthony J. Piccione, OuterStage lead-writer

As a society, American citizens tend to remember its former presidents with fondness, with a tendency to forgive – or even forget – some of their worst traits and biggest mistakes. Arguably, no president in history is remembered with more fondness than Abraham Lincoln, given how he is remembered his role in freeing the slaves and ending the Civil War. However, as the new musical  Common Ground shows us, even “Honest Abe” – while his ultimate legacy may have been leagues above that of more recent presidents – was hardly a saint.

The premise is clear: While Mr. Lincoln is lionized by most Americans today, he was a far more politically driven and morally complex figure than the symbol he has become, and as depicted in the conversations he has with Mr. Fredrick Douglass, where he questions the political value of pushing for abolition during the Civil War, and even goes as far as to question – despite his declared disdain for slavery – whether black and white people are truly equal. By the time the show ends, there’s not much doubt, as to why Lincoln didn’t ultimately push further on civil rights than he should have, despite the fact that abolishing slavery proved to be far from the end for what would be – and still is – a long historical struggle for social justice.

It’s certainly an intriguing concept for a show, and I applaud the writer of the show for his willingness to look at such a beatified historical figure with a more critical eye. However, while some on the creative team seemed to wonder beforehand whether it would be too controversial to depict Lincoln as such, I would actually argue that there’s room to go further here. Regardless of the different times that Lincoln lived in, that doesn’t excuse that Lincoln could have gone further and pushed more aggressively than he did. Racism is not an issue where there is any room for compromise or “common ground” and I would have liked to seen the show find a way to make that clearer, particularly given the current political climate. Nonetheless, the show still does a good job, at least, at raising the question of whether our 16th President was really the champion of civil rights that many remember him as, or a political creature whose motives for doing some good on the issue of slavery were far more complicated.

It’s particularly difficult to fully critique the music when reviewing a staged reading for a musical, given the obvious difference there would be when hearing it performed by a full orchestra, as opposed to a piano. Yet its easy to imagine how in a full production, many of the songs written for this musical would blow audiences away, particularly the gospel-inspired songs toward the beginning of the show, which clearly got the attention of the audience toward the beginning of the reading.

Directed by none other than Jay Michaels, the reading was wonderfully staged, and the performances by its ensemble of performers were vocally impressive, as they performed the various musical numbers. While each of the actors were fairly good, the standout performance of the night was Kalonjee Gallimore, whose passionate performance as Fredrick Douglass was particularly strong, and helps draw the audience into the vital conversations he has with Lincoln and others on the issues the play confronts.

Again, this is a show that is still being developed and has yet to be fully realized, and when it reaches the next stage of its journey, I suspect it will evolve further beforehand. Nonetheless, judging by this performance, and the overwhelming reaction at the reading I attended, I won’t be shocked if we eventually start in to hear more about this musical’s future in the coming years, and unlike some other musicals I’ve seen recently, this production will merit the attention.

Presented by Quill Entertainment Company & Jay Michaels Arts & Entertainment
Book & Lyrics by Granville Wyche Burgess
Music by Stan Wietrzychowski
Director: Jay Michaels 
Musical Director: Tracy Stark
Assistant Director: Jessica Francis Fichter

THE CAST
Frederick Douglas: Kalonjee Gallimore
Abraham Lincoln: Dan Pavacic
Mary Todd Lincoln: Miranda Luze
Anna Douglas: Aviana Rivera
The Reverend/Soldier: Maurio Brown
Secretary Stanton/Soldier: Brenden MacDonald
Hannah Bonnett: Musical Ensemble
Secretary Seward & John Wilkes Booth: Steven M. Singer

BACKGROUND
Over time, most significant men get turned into myths. That is certainly the case with Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. Lincoln has been enthroned as our greatest president (which he probably was) and Douglas has been acclaimed as the Moses of his people (a good comparison, if a difficult role to fulfill). We forget they were human beings, frequently henpecked and suffering everyday slights and pains like all of us. Frederick Douglas started out as a slave, living his life with the baggage that entails in spite of his brilliance. By the time they meet, Lincoln has lost a son and overseen the deaths of literally thousands of men and women of both races. That he was a man of his time, and retained traces of his rural upbringing in spite of his sincere belief that slavery was wrong, shouldn’t be a surprise. But it doesn’t fit with the purity of the myth, does it? It’s a surprise to learn that Lincoln might not have actually considered black Americans to be intellectually equal to whites.

Common Ground begins when Douglas and Lincoln first meet and an angry Douglas demands that the president sign the Emancipation Proclamation. By this time, the war has been raging for almost two years, and the nation has been turned into an abattoir. Lincoln is willing to do almost anything to bring it to an end, but it does take some convincing on Douglas’ part for him to consider freeing the slaves and allowing them to fight. Over the years between 1861 and the end of the war in 1865, they meet three times and discuss every aspect of this incredibly complex subject. It’s these discussions and how they interact with the humanity of these great men that serves as the basis for Mr. Burgess’ very interesting play.

THE PLAY
Common Ground is a work in progress. It is well written, tight and intelligent. The dialogue is thought provoking and the lyrics brilliant. Each scene moves skillfully into the next, although, as I understand it, this staged reading is only an hour-long sample of the complete work. From all indications, however, I can’t believe that this fine performance is not an excellent example of the overall qualities of the play. The discussion is always intriguing, the characters beautifully conceived and well played. Every character is believable and real, Mary Todd Lincoln and Anna Douglas in particular. I do have some reservations about Ms. Lincoln in this instance. She is thought to have been quite mad, but knowing what we do now, it seems more likely she was bipolar, a considerable problem, I admit, but not actual “madness,” not as it was meant in the 1860s at any rate. 

The music, skillfully through-composed by Stan Wietrzychowski, is almost rhapsodic in its scope, with many stunning melodies and quite a number of well-constructed duets and ensembles. I could almost hear a lush orchestration as it progressed. Skillfully directed and accompanied by pianist Tracy Stark, the performers in this staged reading frequently rang the rafters in the venerable Actor’s Temple on 47th Street, without amplification, I’m happy to add. That’s one of my pet peeves, but it’s not really important in this report.

THE PERFORMANCE
The cast was talented and well prepared. Director Jay Michaels and Assistant Director Jessica Francis Fichter have done a splendid job marshalling their forces, finding the essence of each character and presenting them in the best possible light. I do have to say that it was somewhat strange for me to see such young people playing these revered characters. But, everyone looks young to me these days, and Lincoln was only fifty-six when he was assassinated, Douglas just forty-seven. Neither man was old by modern standards. That’s one of the problems we have with historical drama, thinking of everyone in the past as “old.” Most of the time, the things for which people are remembered are done early on. Nobody is born old.

Kalonjee Gallimore as Frederick Douglas was passionate about his cause and very human in the way he reacted to both his wife Anna, well-played by Aviana Rivera, and the Reverend, played as a firebrand activist by Maurio Brown. As Lincoln, Dan Pavacic was strong, calm, and measured, particularly in his scenes with his wife, although he did need to project a bit more as I sometimes had difficulty hearing him. It’s well known that Mrs. Lincoln was a wild card during her time in the White House. Born as a southerner, to a family of slave owners, she had relatives in both camps, and was conflicted from the beginning. Miranda Luze did a fine job expressing this dichotomy while dealing with her fragile mental state.

As Secretarys Seward and Stanton, Steven M. Singer and Brenden MacDonald were impressive, but they didn’t have a great deal to do. Nor did Hannah Bonnett who was listed as part of the musical ensemble. Mr. Singer did do a splendid job singing as John Wilkes Booth. 

CONCLUSION
Everyone in the cast was a skilled performer. There was a lot of superb singing, and I enjoyed it very much. But, the performance in this instance, is not the purpose of this report. It’s the play we’re particularly interested in here. It’s been “in progress” for a long time, and this single performance is meaningless other than to clarify the next step for the producers. So, is it ready for orchestrations and a full, mainstage production? I think it is. The music is brilliant, and it’s a fine, well written, historical drama; intelligent, patriotic, and a moving plea for peace and understanding in an age when we could use some of that. Kudos Mr. Burgess. I really look forward to an orchestra striking up that overture.