I remember seeing The Piano Lesson as a Saturday afternoon TV movie during my childhood. I usually didn’t watch Saturday TV after it switched from cartoon to live-action, but this must have snagged my attention or maybe I tuned in at an especially engaging point. I remember there was something paranormal in the movie and that in at least one scene the piano was possessed. I don’t think I ever saw the movie again.
Fast forward to the present: I’ve been following the August Wilson Cycle that A Noise Within has been producing and this year’s selection was The Piano Lesson!
The first half was great. ANW always has amazingly complex and authentic set deign. The actors, some familiar from the previous August Wilson plays, some not, were excellent and so comfortable in their characters, I felt like I knew them. And though it followed Wilson’s standard trope - a Black man rushing his way to prosperity only to blame something or someone for standing in his way - The rest of the story was quite interesting and intriguing. I couldn’t wait for the Piano possession!
Act 2 was such a disappointment! It was like the actors were rushing through (Which might have been the case. During the intermission, we overheard a stage hand saying they were running behind). Only some of the same intensity and depth of the characters came through. Then, in the end when the house shakes and the piano is supposed to become possessed by the ancestors or Mr. Sutter’s ghost, it was so anti-climactic. They could have done a better job of bringing that to life without much special effects expense. They didn’t even flicker the lights, which is ghost-on-stage 101! If I could do this over, I’d have another actor playing the ghost showing up in deep background at key points throughout the play. For the climax scene, I would have had the lights flicker and shake, the piano playing by itself, and the ghost flash their way through the scene.
Then it ended and all was well. Hmph.
I still love ANW as a venue and Greg Daniels’ productions of August Wilson plays. But I recognize that this particular night wasn’t anybody’s peak performance.
