We Come From Greatness

This incredible show, written and directed by Lisa Tarrer Lacy with music by Charles Cooper, is the latest in an evolving body of work that addresses the African-American experience, starting with when they were kings in Africa and moving through slavery, emancipation, the Harlem Renaissance (with tributes to performers like Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller and others), the civil rights movement, the inauguration of President Barack Obama and the Black Lives Matter movement.

It is a powerful piece, with a talented 10-member cast, three dancers, and a three-piece band. Leading the group and often acting as narrator is the magnificent Bill Miller, whose “I’m a Man” was a highlight.

On the evening of this review, there were some sound problems, so the moving performance of Elaine Douglas as “The Bones Keeper” that told the story of those tortured and killed on slave ships couldn’t really be made out word for word. Nonetheless, her performance was evocative.

As the production progresses we see plantation life, emancipation, the Ku Klux Klan and the Jim Crow South. Naomi Powell plays the mother of Emmett Till, whose murder sparked the civil rights Movement, and Powell’s depiction of mourning her 14-year-old son is one you will not soon forget. Tribute is paid to Huey Newton and Malcolm X, and the show features a particularly moving performance by William Mininfield as Martin Luther King Jr.