Theater is a world that often asks us to "pretend," and the musical "Violet" offers a doozy of an example.
Headstrong and heartbroken Violet has been marred by a brutal facial scar, a relic from a misplaced ax chop by her father. Yet, actor Jessica Lind Peterson wears no scar makeup in her performance for Yellow Tree Theatre. We "see" the wound in the looks Violet receives from strangers, and feel it in every moment of Peterson's performance.
The Brian Crawley/Jeanine Tesori musical is full of intimate moments as Violet journeys by bus from her native North Carolina to Tulsa, where she hopes a TV preacher can take away her scar. On the trip across the South in 1964, Violet befriends a pair of young soldiers: white Monty and black Flick. Each of these three has their own reason to be an outsider, which turns into an unusual love triangle. Still, Violet is oblivious to their feelings as she only has sights on Tulsa and her salvation.
Tesori's score (written before she went on to fame and Tonys with "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Caroline, or Change") comes from a 1964 in which the Beatles didn't happen. It's full of the blues, honky-tonk and American folk — styles where the heart is laid bare. Our characters have a lot to say — about how others see them, or how they fear being sent overseas to a "little war" in Vietnam.
David L. Murray Jr. (Flick) and Mathias Becker (Monty) play the young soldiers with a strong mix of conflicting emotions and, more important, even stronger voices. The company works extremely well as a unit, while director Sean Byrd provides plenty of energy, even when the characters are trapped for long stretches on wooden chairs representing their endless hours on the road.
Ed Huyck writes on theater.
