Theater review: A powerful 'Change' by Kushner

Playwright Tony Kushner was visibly choked up Friday as he took the stage at the Guthrie Theater for the opening-night curtain call of "Caroline, or Change," his semi-autobiographical opera now making its regional premiere.

No doubt, the celebrated scribe had many reasons to be moved. Chief among them was Greta Oglesby's ravishing and powerful lead performance. Oglesby delivers the best performance on a Twin Cities stage this year in a show about Americans grappling with cultural and personal changes.

Set in Lake Charles, La., in 1963, a time of tumult, "Caroline" revolves around a 39-year-old maid who spends much of her time working in the basement of the Gellman home. Figuring large in her life are her own children, including teenage daughter, Emmie, who has a rebellious streak, as well as her charge, Noah Gellman (Ryan McDowell Poehler), a third-grader whose mother has died and whose father is emotionally removed.

Noah would like Caroline, whom he calls the president of the United States, to assume a more parental role. Their friendship is shaken by an argument arising when Noah leaves money in the pockets of his dirty laundry.

Caroline is heartbroken and heartbreaking, and Oglesby plays her with deep and bitterly affecting honesty. She has a well of a voice full of the hurts and hopes of history. She dips into it liberally to give her character a pathos and poignancy that makes the Guthrie feel as hot as a live wire. She brings down the house on "Lot's Wife," one of several showstoppers in director Marcela Lorca's splendid staging.

Oglesby invests her pessimistic maid with such feeling, such weariness and strength, you can see why August Wilson would pick her to originate the 385-year-old seer who is the center of his play, "Gem of the Ocean."

Much of the credit for "Caroline" being such an engrossing, must-see event is due not only to Oglesby's performance but Kushner's deft handling of the era and intercultural relations. His writing rejects the notion of using black pain to assuage liberal guilt, showing instead authentic characters with differing reactions to events, from civil rights to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

That is one of the strengths of the show, that you feel all parties are respected and invested in it.

Musical director Andrew Cooke brings to life composer Jeanine Tesori's gorgeous music, a gumbo of gospel and classical, klezmer, Motown and R&B. I especially loved some of the quieter numbers, including the poignant "Underwater."

Lorca's production has many stand-outs, including Regina Williams as Dotty; Nikki Renée Daniels as Caroline's determined and optimistic daughter, Emmie; and deep-voiced T. Mychael Rambo as the dryer that torments Caroline. Julie Reiber sings like a bird as Rose, Noah's stepmom.

The design (Richard Hoover, sets; Mary Louise Geiger, lights and Candice Donnelly, costumes) is also impeccable, especially Scott Edwards' crisp sound. There's one costume miscue on Jamecia Bennett's Washing Machine. It's a humdrum carnival outfit with a mammy-esque headwrap, when her character has more sizzle than that.

Even when Caroline is not onstage, she maintains a pull on the proceedings -- a strong presence by Oglesby that is making the Guthrie buzz.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390