8/31/2024 WILD WITH HAPPY Horizon Theatre
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
Gil’s Mother, Adelaide, has passed. He comes home to Philadelphia to settle her affairs, hopefully as quickly and cheaply as possible, so he can hurry back to his cheerless Manhattan existence as an out-of-work actor still numb after being dumped by his creep of a partner. What he doesn’t expect is an encounter with a novice funeral director, constant harangues from his Mom’s sister (Aunt Glo), and being kidnapped by his best friend Mo for a road trip to the happiest place on earth.
You may rightfully ask, is this really a comedy about grief? The short answer is, “yes!” But it’s complicated. And it pays off beautifully.
Wild With Happy is a 2012 play by Colman Domingo, a Tony and Oscor nominated actor and playwright. His Dot was staged in 2018 by Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre in a wonderful production I called “a funny and moving portrait of a family in crisis” with “a big, painfully beating heart.” That play showed Mr. Domingo to be a master at seamlessly weaving strands of heartbreak and seriousness with flashy (even outrageous) family dysphoria and humor.
In this earlier play, we see that talent in development, with jagged edges of outrageousness softened by honest bonds between family and friends and even new acquaintances. Mr. Domingo takes a grieving family and sends them on the long and winding road to Happy. Well, maybe not Happy, but at least to the center of their Unhappy, and letting them find their way out.
Gil (a deeply layered and nuanced Enoch King) is dealing with the twin spikes of grief and guilt – he was so depressed over the failure of his relationship that he ignored his mother when she most needed him. His mother was admittedly a judgmental pain in the heart, aggravating in that deeply profound and personal way that mothers everywhere “own.” Now, all Gil wants is to be done with all the chores and duties that have fallen onto his lap.
When a spark ignites between him and novice Funeral Director Terry (Markell Williams), it is only a respite, not a solution. That comes in the oversized flamboyance of his friend Mo (Brad Raymond), who comfortably wears elaborate outfits that simply scream “I’m Here! Attend and Pay Homage!” (The color palette by costumer Dr. L. Nyrobi N. Moss is so broad and deep it cannot be contained by mere words.) Matching Mo’s panache is Aunt Glo (Tonia Jackson), aptly named and brighter than a thousand suns, who is like a terrier tearing at Gil’s carefully constructed (albeit paper-thin) emotional armor. Aunt Glo is a lugubrious force of nature who will not be denied or ignored or belittled. Adelaide may have been Gil’s only mother, but she was Glo’s only sister, and her plans will not be blocked, plans that include ritual, fancy casket, church, funeral, and a memorial attended by hundreds.
Neither Gil nor Glo is prepared to give an inch, so it becomes a race to see who can do what first, until Mo and Gil (with Mama’s ashes) are racing down I-95 with Glo and Terry in hot pursuit. The destination is Disney World (*), so they can tap into a memory of happiness once experienced by Gil and Adelaide.
Tonia Jackson also plays Adelaide in various flashbacks, as filtered through Gil’s memory – a trip to a church (Mama feels a need “for some Jesus” after a wild and drunken night-before party) is populated by Mr. Raymond as the rejoicing and randy (ish) reverend and Mr. Williams as a bearded “Church Lady.” Ms. Jackson keeps her two characters distinct without losing that sense of sisterhood that drives Aunt Glo’s choices and eccentricities.
Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay have designed and built a simple set that evokes a funeral home, but easily allows our imaginations to “fill in the blanks” of other locations without slavishly recreating them. .
Disney’s lavish Cinderella Suite is so vividly described by the characters that we can’t help but see the just-off-stage frills and luxuries. I enjoyed the economy of using the same rolling benches as cheap (and not so cheap) caskets AND as “cars” for the chase down I-95 . And I especially enjoyed the ease with which this approach made the transitions, keeping the pace less funereal than gonzo speed parade.
Lighting Designers Mike Morin and Mary Parker and Projection Designer Matt Reynolds help keep location distinct and provide an effective climactic burst of Disney-magic stars and fireworks.
So, yes, this is a play about grief that is often funny and outrageous, but the humor is not at the expense of real emotion. It is based on character and conflict and performance and pays off with a final scene of reconciliation and self-healing. Mr. Domingo has crafted a beautifully funny, and emotionally compelling play. I was guessing it had autobiographical roots, but he writes in an introduction to the Acting Edition of his script that it is “not my story” but an exploration of “many composites of African American men and their relationships to their mothers,” that examines “religion, sexuality, and the surreal” that surrounds exceptional situations such as grief and healing. In that goal, he succeeds admirably, and director Thomas W. Jones II and his Horizon cast and production team bring it all to vivid and compelling (and, yes, surreal) life.
This production took me to my Happy and let me wallow in it!
-- Brad Rudy (BK Rudy@aol.com #htcWildWithHappy)
https://www.horizontheatre.com/plays/wild-with-happy/
(*) As a personal aside, we will be moving to the Orlando area next month, so I truly appreciated Aunt Glo’s Line, “They don’t let you wear black in Orlando.” For the record, I’m keeping my black suit. Maybe.