Even before the painted scrim rose on the opening night stage of Horton Foote’s The Trip To Bountiful, the audience erupted into applause as a mass of stark white hair and familiar silhouette came into focus. Mother Watts (Cicely Tyson) sat rocking in a wooden chair singing bits of the old hymn, “There’s Not a Friend Like the Lowly Jesus,” and there began her beautiful journey to Bountiful. So dear and true and vulnerable was Tyson’s performance that by curtain call she was in tears. And so were we. From Jeff Cowie’s big, fabulous sets, which change with ease, to Michael Wilson’s knowing direction, to a star-packed cast, this is theatre the way we imagine it to be – grand.
Sure, Blair Underwood is best known for his excellent work in television, but do not mistake his presence as Ludie Watts as a clever ploy to draw mainstream Los Angeles audiences. Using neither device nor scheme, Underwood sheds his twenty-first century self and magically steps back to 1953 and into Ludie’s shoes. Torn between his aging, stubborn mother and his beautiful, stubborn wife, Ludie must make peace with a past that haunts him – not for its terror, but for its simple beauty. It is the longing for that simple beauty which drives his mother to sneak away from her controlling daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae (Vanessa Williams) to get one last look at her small-town country home in Bountiful.
Tall and sassy and full of vinegar, Vanessa Williams insists that we love Jessie Mae Watts in spite of her selfish, petty ways. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when God imagined Vanessa Williams. One of the most requested recording artists in my twenty-plus years playing music on the Wave, Vanessa is even more irresistible strutting and winning hearts in the role for which she received a Tony nomination.
Along the way on her trip to Bountiful, Mother Watts encounters several kind strangers, chief among them, Thelma (Jurnee Smollett-Bell). One expects masterful performances of Williams, Underwood, and certainly, Ms. Tyson; but the surprise treat of the show is Smollett-Bell. The kindness, decency, and sheer good grain she reflects, adds to the longing for the simple beauty of a time when such social conventions were welcomed. Rounding out the cast of kind strangers are Devon Abner, who skillfully avoids stereotype in his portrayal of the Sheriff, and the excellent Arthur French.
To our feet at curtain, we all jumped, calling “Bravo.” Bravo, indeed.
The Center Theatre Group’s pairing of The Trip to Bountiful at the Ahmanson with Marjorie Prime at the Taper is a smart multigenerational look at loss, longing, and life’s end. See them both.
Photo cred: https://www.centertheatregroup.org/tickets/ahmanson-theatre/2014-15/the-trip-to-bountiful/