Thoughts of a Colored Man — Review
“Thoughts of a Colored Man” by Keenan Scott, II, debuted on Broadway at the Golden Theatre on October 13th. Seven savvy African American men representing Love, Lust, Wisdom, Happiness, Anger, Depression, and Passion share their secret ruminations through poetry, rap, song, and dialog. It turns out that the Colored Man’s musings are pretty much the ponderings of everyone else, methods of coping with disappointments and celebrating successes as they continue to forge onward toward brighter tomorrows.
Reminiscent of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide, assorted vignettes describe the pasts and dreams (some realized and some deferred) of a Colored Man in solos, duets, or in chorus. But unlike Colored Girls, these men laud the beauty, strength, and sass of their sisters. Humorous portraits of Love and Lust are laced throughout the play as they try different approaches to pick up girls. But sometimes emotions collide. Wisdom charges his barbershop patrons a dollar for every curse word, but he throws Lust out of his shop for an offensive disrespect. An ironic reconciliation happens between Happiness, an upwardly mobile, gay, financial investor and Depression, a minimum wage employee that cleans aisles and gathers carts in a Whole Foods Market. Neither tries to mask their disdain of the other, but preconceived opinions evaporate when it’s revealed that Depression turned down a full scholarship to M.I.T. to help his family. My favorite moments were when an actor would drive home a point with an hilarious deadpan expression to the audience… almost every actor did that at least once.
Like many post-quarantine Broadway shows the playwright Keenan Scott II, director Steve H. Broadnax III, and the cast except for Bryan Terrell Clark (Happiness) and Forrest McClendon (Depression), are making their Broadway debuts: Dyllon Burnside (Love), Da’Vinchi (Lust), Luke James (Passion), Tristan Mack Wilds (Anger), Esau Pritchett (Wisdom), Garrett Turner (understudy), Bjorn DuPaty (understudy). Producer Brian Moreland, an actor-turned-producer, says he started his company, B More Now Productions, to increase diversity and make a full spectrum of American stories more accessible to theatre audiences. Thoughts of a Colored Man has a message of love, forgiveness, understanding, unity, and redemption that is right on time.
Originally scheduled to open on October 31st, perhaps the early opening was a subtle dismissal of CP time (Colored People’s time, which generally lags behind established schedules). Or maybe the irony of opening an African-American production on Halloween, a holiday that celebrates mischievous mayhem, was reconsidered because Colored Man, though amusing at times, needs to be taken seriously. It is scheduled to close on March 20, 2022, but time flies, so you won’t want to wait.
Broadway’s Golden Theatre • 252 West 45th Street • NYC