http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Nativity
Last week I read BLACK NATIVITY: A GOSPEL SONG PLAY by Langston Hughes. Having read both of Hughes' autobiographies, and much of his poetry and short stories, it surprised me that he would even write about Jesus Christ. Hughes' admitted agnosticism, if not atheism, is well-known, and documented. Thus, it was not altogether surprising that he would thread spiritual and gospel songs together on the sheerest of narrative strings punctuated, perfunctorily, by a brief, vapid, cliche-filled, exhortation by a caricature of a black preacher. Nowhere could I feel him, Hughes, the cadenced writer, and only ephemerally could I hear him, the immortal poet, whose soul has "known rivers, ancient dusky rivers." Yet his craftsmanship is superb, though obligatory, and his substance is lacking. Maybe, the onstage performance, which I have not seen, outshines the written script itself, engaging sight, sound, color and movement. In November 2013, its movie version is slated for release starring Forest Whitaker and Angela Basset; that combination of actors may revive this play!
