Crowning achievement

‘African-American women wear hats to praise the lord’ is too simplistic to describe the Lyric Stage Company production of Regina Taylor’s ‘Crowns’. But in essence, that is the whole story for two hours as seven talented actors, six female and one male, pour out their souls in high energy gospel numbers and reminisce about family, fashion, faith and their African heritage. The performers are accompanied by the beat of percussion and electric piano and as usual set design is minimal, but effective.
Directed by Lois Reach, the show is adapted from the book Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats.
The audience is the most racially diverse that I have ever seen at the Lyric in the past 20 or 30 productions I have attended, perhaps because of the subject and all black cast. The show is funny, sad, uplifting and at the same time exclusive, with ‘insider’ anecdotes that only half the audience can really be in tune with. This does not detract from the overall enjoyment; we laugh together.
There are several fine performances, from the moody New York gang member, Yolanda, played by Heather Fry, to the enigmatic Mother Shaw, played by Fukani Haynes, who by day is a Boston based pediatric nurse and by night a member of Equity, the actor union.
I can’t help thinking what an interesting mix it would be if the same audience, many wearing hats that matched and in some cases exceeded the style of the ones on stage, attended the next Lyric production.
I know I’ll be there.