PERICLES: IN CONCERT
Concord Baptist Church of Christ
833 Marcy Ave.
Monday, October 26, $33.85-$55.20
eventbrite.com
fireensemble.com
Last year I saw a rousing concert production of William Shakespeare’s Pericles inside the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, part of the Public Theater’s Public Works initiative. I wrote that it “features music and lyrics by Troy Anthony, a first for someone nurtured through Public Works; the score is an intoxicating mix of gospel, blues, ballads, R&B, and spirituals, at times turning St. John the Divine into a revival meeting. . . . The choreography is by Tiffany Rea-Fisher, who transforms a jousting tournament into a hip-hop dance battle. . . . There’s so much passion and energy on the stage that you just might forget that Pericles is not a very good play; a case has been made that the first two acts were actually written by pamphleteer and innkeeper George Wilkins. The story involves incest, pirates, child prostitution, resurrection, and betrayal as Pericles, the prince of Tyre, escapes the wrath of Antiochus and ventures to Tarsus, Pentapolis, and Ephesus, leaving behind his dead wife, Thaisa, and infant daughter, Marina. . . . Tony nominee Crystal Lucas-Perry brings the house down over and over again as Gower, the narrator, lustrous in a glorious white gown.”
A slightly different version of the show is being presented October 26 at the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Bed-Stuy, codirected by Anthony and Rea-Fisher and performed by the ninety-person Fire Ensemble, “an intergenerational pop-up choir community that centers BIPOC and queer folx.” Lucas-Perry is reprising her role as Gower; the cast also includes Aisha Jackson, John-Michael Lyles, Jason Veasey, Jaime Cepero, Genesis Adelia Collado, Amina Faye, Treston Henderson, Ava Jones, Cal Mitchell, Dominique Smith, STONES, Cartreze Tucker, Matthew Elijah Webb, Samantha Williams, and Stephen Scott Wormley. Ticket prices range from pay-what-you-can in the balcony to $55.20 for front orchestra seats to see this special show.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]