Review: Good Trouble Makes for Good Theater - YOUNG JOHN LEWIS Premieres at Theatrical Outfit

There are many historical things Atlanta is known for - the long reach of slavery, being a hub of the Civil Rights movement, serving as the hotbed of modern hip-hop and rap.  Take all of those and combine them together and you’ve got yet another feat of Atlantan history, the world premiere of the new musical Young John Lewis presented at Theatrical Outfit and directed by Thomas W. Jones II.

Centered around the titular figure of Civil Rights activist and future representative of Georgia’s congressional 5th District, the play uses the distinctly modern medium of hip-hop to detail John Lewis’s life, beginning with his youth in Alabama.  In his mother’s home, John learns of another mother’s plight; that of Mamie Till, Emmett Till’s mother, who famously “wanted the world to see” what had happened to her son after his vicious lynching.  This act is a catalyst for the young John, who asks himself if he should seek revenge for what was done.  

The question is pushed further by Emmett himself, who appears as a spiritual figure in the play and follows John throughout his youth.  John, with the ghostly Emmett in tow and gathering real-life historical figures like Dr. King and Medgar Evers along the way, sets out from Alabama to Nashville for the lunch counter sit-ins, to the freedom rides through the south, and ultimately across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in his famous Bloody Sunday March.

With a book and lyrics written by Psalmayene 24 and music by Eugene H. Russell IV, the hip-hop score sets the history-heavy story in a much more modern mindset that is uniquely apropos to Atlanta.  Characters not only drop rhymes, they have full-on rap battles and group step routines.  It is a youth-based story with a youth-based sound, and the creative team does it well.  The music itself is toe-tappingly catchy, blending standard musical theater with rap and hip-hop, but the lyricism of the songs themselves occasionally delves into derivative territory, especially when attempting a strict rhyme pattern.  There are moments in the standard tunes when the lyrics become too repetitive or the rhymes try too hard, and it’s jarring on the ear in an otherwise slickly-written show.  The rap pieces, which tend to not follow such austere structures, are exceptionally well-done, and the cast delivers tongue-twisting lyrics with ease.  

The modular set incorporates sliding frosted glass pieces that allow for moments of shadow play, and benches and chairs are cleverly used as luncheonette counters and bus seats in a carefully choreographed dance. Thomas W. Jones, serving as both director and choreographer, utilizes every inch of his space as well as his actors.  The cast members perform on the stage, on benches, on the stairs, and are continually moving as a well-oiled machine with each performer knowing just where to go.  The complexity is to be applauded.

Indeed, the cast seems to do almost everything with ease.  They are all stellar singers, fair dancers (John Lewis doing a barrel turn? Yes, please), and emotive actors that blend well together both vocally and as a character collective.  Michael Bahsil is the electric center of the show as the titular young John Lewis, and he has moments of such profound feeling that the audience seems to be marching right alongside him (and indeed some do, during the end of Act I).  

Other standouts from the cast include Alexandria Joy’s soaring vocals as Diane Nash, Brandin Jay's soulful runs as Jim Lawson, Neal Ghant’s deadpan humor as both John’s father and Stokely Carmichael, and Terrence J. Smith pulling emotional double duty as both Emmett Till and Medgar Evers.

Theatergoers find themselves immersed in history not just in the play itself but from the moment they enter the space at Theatrical Outfit.  There is a photo op in the lobby that invites viewers to sit in a mock congressional desk, and upstairs near the restrooms are a multitude of placards that explain the historical figures and timeline of Lewis’s life, courtesy of the John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation.  

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