Comments (0) BEST MUSICAL - 2010
Caroline, or Change at Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie's staging of Tony Kushner's volcanic, spiritually ambitious musical struck with explosive force, particularly the breakout performance of Greta Oglesby in the title role. It was, in a sense, a slight story revolving around change left in a boy's pocket and whether or not his family's maid should be allowed to keep it. But it rode currents of memory, loss, despair, and disenfranchisement that resulted in a passionate depiction of the soul's dark yearning. The cast was nothing less than stellar, and Kushner's lyrics (along with Jeanine Tesori's tunes) wound through bittersweet pathways of the heart. Finally, it was impossible to see and hear Oglesby perform "Lot's Wife" without ending up tear-streaked, spent, and wrung out with inescapable cathartic power and sadness. This was a brilliant confluence of thought, feeling, and performance.
