ReviewPlays.com
Well Written
"Levels' performance
is real and emotional."
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LA Weekly
Recommended
"...Levels' intense stage
presence beguiles..."
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LA Watts Times
Outstanding
"...a pleasing, must-see
theater experience."
L.A. Weekly
January 9, 2003
by Wendy Gilmartin
JAMES BALDWIN - DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP
On opening night of his one-man show, a young actor (playwright Calvin Levels) begins channeling the spirit of "James." This simple séance scenario prevents too much back story from muddling the real meat that comes later — a candid conversation with novelist, playwright and civil rights activist James Baldwin, replete with his elegant swishiness, terrible honesty, vulnerability and iron will.
Chronologically told, Levels’ "autobiographical" version of Baldwin’s life maintains the legend’s integrity and spirit throughout. He fights with his stepfather, reveals his first sexual experience and recounts his first venture to the South, where the expanses of deep red soil remind him of a landscape stained with blood. But the flow of the performance never roams deeper into the man’s private pain. Under Art Evans’ gracefully realistic direction, the play’s pacing exemplifies Baldwin’s writing, constantly withholding information from the audience.
Levels’ intense stage presence beguiles, and the play offers a careful contrast between the man and his message. Nipping on a bottle of Johnny Walker, Baldwin inches his way to a somber, angry, even silly drunken episode, culminating in a jab at Truman Capote (and his insignificant “manhood”) and climaxing with a proposition to an audience member for a backstage rendezvous during intermission.
Note:
This review is of a Los Angeles, California
production with Art Evans as director.
