The Politics of Art & Authenticity

About a week ago I went to see Wild With Happy, which was written by and starred Colman Domingo, and I left the show amazed.  The set design was one of the most creative sets I have ever seen in a show, with coffins turning into everything from park benches to car seats.  I commend the set designers for all their hard work and creativity they put into making those props.  It definitely added to the humor of the play, and helped illustrate the irony that was seen throughout the entire play.

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Wild With Happy was successful in making people happy that’s for sure.  I don’t think five minutes went by without someone laughing at a line one of the actors said, or an action that they performed.  They took a very sad scenario of a son mourning the death of his mother, and did everything to make it as happy and joyful as possible.  If there were tears, they were probably tears from laughing so hard that people began to cry.

For Domingo’s first play I would say he’s off to a good start.  There were some points that I would say needed improvement, just with the flow between scenes to make the entire play cohesive.  At times I was confused with what was a flashback and then what was actually going on.  Some of the scenes didn’t seem to have a constant flow, which sometimes made me wonder how much time passed between each scene.  I also think the opening scene should have been a little less chaotic just so I would’ve been able to understand that his mother died.  But at the same time, it is this craziness that makes Domingo an auteur in his play-writing skills and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a similar style in other shows.  Even though the ending was a little cheesy, with Disney World and all, it still had a great meaning and really brought the entire play together.  I wouldn’t say that Wild With Happy is my style of show, but I did enjoy it and left the theatre with a smile.