An intriguing drama, Stuart Flack’s “Sidney Bechet Killed a Man” premiered in the author’s home town, Chicago, and won awards when it was produced in Los Angeles. Now it is receiving its East Coast premiere at MetroStage in a sleek and satisfying production directed by Nancy Robillard.
Well-known local actor Paul Morella plays the central character Philip Litwin, a world-class heart surgeon whose second passion is jazz music. He identifies with the work of classic jazzman Sidney Bechet, a contemporary of Louis Armstrong. Bechet took his “surgically precise” style of playing on a clarinet and a soprano saxophone north from New Orleans to Chicago, and produced a number of historic recordings, some of which are heard briefly in Chas Marsh’s evocative sound design.
But this is no musical, not even a jazz musical. It uses the concepts of jazz as a focal point for examining Litwin’s passion for perfection, his pride in what he does, the hubris and arrogance that can accompany oversized success and the consequences of both long-term and one-time lapses from personal or community standards. Such a heavy mix could be dull in the hands of less skilled practitioners. But Robillard and Morella, who is onstage nearly the entire time, keep things moving so smoothly and swiftly that there’s not a dull moment in the nearly two hour performance.
A fine supporting cast backs Morella. Lawrence Redmond plays the doctor’s financial advisor, who has a long history as Litwin’s friend. The two began their friendship decades earlier when they discovered not only a mutual love for listening to and performing jazz but a similar approach to their improvisations, the doctor on clarinet, the financier on piano.
Kimberly Schraf plays the doctor’s wife with a fine sense of style, making the supportive attitude of a devoted spouse of a super-achiever more than just one-dimensional. She makes the sacrifices and even her character’s subordination of her own interests understandable if not particularly admirable.
Woven throughout the play are a series of smaller parts, all played by Michael Jerome Johnson, that give depth to the development of the doctor’s character. Johnson tackles each of the parts with a subtlety that manages to set each one apart from the others, without drawing so much attention that it distracts from the real point of each scene. This is not an easy thing to accomplish and he does it with aplomb.
Marie Page also handles multiple roles and fourth grader Isaac MacDonald makes a smooth professional debut as the doctor’s grandson.
The design team fielded by MetroStage does a fine job overall, although the individual elements are not all of the same quality. The set design by Joseph B. Musumeci, Jr. is an intriguing and efficient assembly of sliding white metal screens and white furniture contrasting with a black floor and background.
It is lit too harshly, however, by Adam Magazine, whose tightly focused pools of light come from almost directly above, creating harsh shadows requiring a deft touch from light board operator Michael George that wasn’t evident at the performance reviewed.
Chas Marsh creates an intriguing sound design that uses jazz as a background, just as Flack uses it in the text. He adds a number of evocative sound effects that deepen the impact of a number of the scenes. LeVonne Lindsay provides a fine collection of costume designs, especially those for the doctor and his wife: he in simple slacks and sports jacket, she in richly styled suits and lingerie appropriate to her economic status.
Where and When
“Sidney Bechet Killed a Man” at MetroStage, 2101 N. Royal St., plays 8 p.m., Wednesday-Sunday evenings, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays through April 6. Tickets are $30-35. More information is available online at www.metrostage.org or by calling 703-548-9044 or log on to. For tickets call 703-218-6500 or log on to www.tickets.com.