The Piano Lesson
The piano lesson was definitely a play that I’m glad I didn’t miss. Reading the book, I felt much less emotional about the different events in the play. When I could actually see the different emotions being acted out, I could understand them better and also connect with the problems that they were facing. The whole thing also flowed a lot better because I wasn’t losing focus like I was when I was reading.
One of the best parts about seeing the play live was seeing the set displayed physically in front of me. The set was very well made and was very close to what I had pictured in my head. My thoughts always make things more extreme than they need to be so the living condition of the family seemed a little better than I had imagined. I liked how the lighting worked as well and during certain parts of the play I was paying more attention to the changes in lighting than the actual acting. I feel like this didn’t take away from the overall experience though because the lighting was really important in highlighting different areas and also setting the mood. It was really interesting to see the transition from day to night and the actors definitely did a great job in adjusting to the different time settings.
Another part of the play that I liked was the singing. It was a lot different than I had imagined when the actors actually sang the songs. It is similar to how reading poems in your head is different from hearing the writer read the poems. The rhythm and the emphases are put in unexpected places and it makes it very interesting to see how differently I thought about the lyrics before and after I heard the melodies.
My favorite characters also changed when I saw the play. While reading I liked Bernice the most because of her strength and willpower. I still liked her a lot when seeing the play but a character that was really brought alive for me was Whining boy. The actor made him seem ten times more animated and funny and it was nice seeing the facial expressions of the actor.
I was definitely surprised watching the ending of the play because that was when all of the lighting, sound effects, and actors came together in the most obvious way and I was actually really scared when the ghost was wreaking havoc in the house.
Overall, I’m glad i didn’t skip out on seeing this play. I have definitely developed a greater respect for August Wilson and a better understanding of what he wanted to show people about blacks in America.
Posted: November 27th, 2012 under Reviews, Theater.
