Stage Review: 'Black Nativity' lacks passion, uniqueness

Gospel singing and liturgical dance feature prominently in Hattiloo Theatre's "A Black Nativity" running through Dec. 27. The concept, created by poet Langston Hughes, originally premiered on Broadway in 1961.

If there’s one thing that local churches do exceptionally well and in some places with the budgetary zeal of a Broadway spectacle, it’s telling the Christmas story. We’ve heard of services with real livestock and choirs of angels so enormous the heavens themselves reserve blocks of pews months in advance.

Local theaters are wise to leave the Holy Family to trained professionals. For the most the most part, they do. Playhouse puts on Christmas-flavored shows such as “Santaland Diaries,” and “Narnia.” Theatre Memphis has cornered the market on Scrooge and Tiny Tim. Germantown annually revives the children’s play, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”

Gospel singing and liturgical dance feature prominently in Hattiloo Theatre's "A Black Nativity" running through Dec. 27. The concept, created by poet Langston Hughes, originally premiered on Broadway in 1961.

But Hattiloo Theatre, the black repertory company downtown, is still looking for its ideal holiday niche (or crèche, as it also turns out). The importance of finding a blockbuster holiday show can’t be underestimated. Folks who wouldn’t normally set foot in a theater any other time will gladly drop $50 to put them in the holiday mood.

That said, Hattiloo’s choice of “The Black Nativity” is going to need a shot of pomp, circumstance and uniqueness if it has any chance at all of paying the bills.

On the surface, the concept is exactly what Hattiloo has the proven ability to do: revive a classic piece of theater using its resources of spunk, intimacy and passion.

As envisioned by Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, “The Black Nativity” is “a celebration” rather than a narrative. It premiered on Broadway in 1961, and it celebrates the story of Christ’s birth through an African-American lens.

When churches put on “The Black Nativity,” and many still do, the show serves a specifically religious purpose. But when a theater does it, especially a theater that wants to keep us connected to history, the production should also give us something to talk about.

Director Ekundayo Bandele’s staging instead comes across as a low-budget version of what most people who celebrate Christmas will be seeing at their churches in a couple of weeks.

The six-member choir, the Bible verses recited by a man in desert robes, the shepherds and wise men reciting Hughes’ poetry: it looks and sounds like a tiny church presentation. Perhaps most disappointing is the musical accompaniment played on a couple of electronic keyboards. An actual piano would have sounded livelier and more complementary to the old-school gospel singing.

Bandele relies heavily on his dancers and singers to create the drama through very sincere performances, and the second act is reminiscent of the recent “God’s Trombones” — preaching interspersed with music.

Some contemporary versions of “The Black Nativity” modernize the costumes, use African drummers and dancers, or have mass choirs. Hattiloo shouldn’t be in the business of trying to out-Nativity a church. It should be turning tradition on its head, as Hughes did, and conceptualizing a Bible story that makes audiences — white and black — take a new look at the relationships between race and spirituality.

“The Black Nativity”

7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 27 at Hattiloo Theatre, 656 Marshall. There is no performance on Christmas Day. Tickets are $10-$22. Call 525-0009.

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