The Pittsburgh Hill District Blues
Arizona Theatre Company's Seven Guitars at Herberger Theater
**** (out of *****)
Mark S.P. Turvin
(w) 965-1021  (h) 894-5443
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@asu.edu

	Earlier this season, the Black Theatre Troupe presented a 
wonderful production of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning 
comedy, "The Piano Lesson." That play is a comedy that skates on 
the thin edge of tragedy. In contrast, Arizona Theatre Company 
ends their solid season with the counterpoint to that play, "Seven 
Guitars," a tragedy with elements of comedy. 
	Mr. Wilson's three-hour-plus epic explores the lives of seven 
blacks living in his hometown of Pittsburgh in the spring of 1948. 
The show is a leisurely, in-depth character study during the first 
hour and fifty minute act, and just as suddenly turns into an 
episodic series of inevitable and fast-paced events in the second. 
The action centers on Floyd Barton, a Blues singer and guitar 
player whose first recording is starting to make a stir around the 
nation; his on-again, off-again girlfriend Vera; his band members 
and her friends. The story is told in flashback, beginning just 
after his burial, and starting again upon his unannounced return 
from the work house two weeks earlier, tracing the tumultuous 
events leading to his untimely, and undeserved, death. There is 
plenty of hubris and tragedy to go around, and the play is an 
indictment on everything from white racism to black paranoia, with 
a healty dose of romantic fallacies thrown in for good measure. By 
the end, everyone is guilty of something in the events leading up 
to Floyd's death. 
	As should be expected from one of Arizona's premiere 
professional theatre companies, the show looks great, sounds 
wonderful and is performed tightly and evenly. Director Benny Sato 
Ambush has collected together an impressive cast, and 
choreographed the proceedings wonderfully. All of the actors, lead 
by the impressive acting of Marcus Naylor as the doomed Floyd 
Barton, and Erika Heard as his lovely, lonely and lost Vera, give 
the kind of performances that you'd expect from a Broadway cast. 
Mr. Barton performs the doomed and oppressed Floyd in an antsy and 
nervous fashion, keeping the already knowing audience on edge, 
searching for clues of his fate. Ms. Heard imbues such silent 
strength and passion into her role as to balance her Floyd's 
nervous energy. The greatest charges from the acting comes not 
only during the lilting speeches and melodic singing, but just as 
much from their carefully considered and dense pauses and 
silences. These are actors who know just as much about the power 
of reacting as acting. 
	The supporting cast, lead by the talented Charles St. Clair, 
Tonye Patano and David Downing, power this longish play through 
it's peaks and valleys, nearly managing to keep the audiences 
attention from wavering the entire time, an impressive feat. 
	The visuals of the play match note by note the power of the 
performances. Ken Ellis' recreation of the tiny, cramped backyard 
and garden is incredibly lifelike, and is perfectly and at the 
right times moodily lit by Stephanie Johnson. Myrna Colley-Lee's 
costuming is perfectly period, and enhances the characters 
creations. The only sour note in the evening came from Brian 
Jerome Peterson's sound design, which allowed us to hear the 
actors, music and radio performances, but presented the audience 
with seriously disturbing whining and whistling noises and 
feedback during the performance. 
	In Wilson's trademark style, the inevitability of characters 
and their relation to society leads to the largely unnoticed, 
personal-sized tragedies of life. It's a long and meticulous road 
that must be travelled to set up the harmonies of the seven lives 
that are melodic at times, discordant at others, but once all of 
the notes are in place, the story picks up tempo and swiftly 
unwinds itself. The story may take it's sweet time in getting from 
overture to finale, but the beautiful tunes along the way make the 
travel worth the effort.

Production Details:
"Seven Guitars" by August Wilson
Arizona Theatre Company
Herberger Theatre, Phoenix
252-8497
May 9th-May 25th, 1997

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Title-Theatre-Date	© Goldfish Publishers