“MY LORD, WHAT A NIGHT”: Performances are underway for “My Lord, What a Night.” Written by Deborah Brevoort and directed by Sheldon Epps, the play runs through May 17 at George Street Playhouse. Above: Music, and an act of kindness in the face of prejudice, start a longstanding friendship between contralto Marian Anderson (Rashidra Scott, left) and Albert Einstein (Anthony Cochrane). (Photo by T. Charles Erickson)
By Donald H. Sanborn III
On April 16, 1937, contralto Marian Anderson gave a sold-out recital at McCarter Theatre. One of the audience members was Albert Einstein.
Despite her historic musical success, Anderson — as an African American — was denied lodging at a hotel, because of segregation. In response, Einstein opened his home to Anderson. That act of kindness, as well as a mutual love of music, started a longstanding friendship.
That evening is the subject of a play, My Lord, What a Night (2015). Written by Deborah Brevoort, this sparkling piece depicts an occasionally tense bond between two people who are passionate about their professions — but the work of each finds itself in the crosshairs of sociopolitical developments.
The play’s title is derived from Anderson’s 1956 autobiography, My Lord, What a Morning. Anderson’s autobiography, in turn, takes its title from a spiritual whose text includes the line, “To wake the nations underground.” Given the singer’s eventual impact on the civil rights movement, the line is striking.
In a 2022 interview for Princeton Magazine (a sister publication of Town Topics), Brevoort explained to me that Einstein “was at the Princeton concert, and all we know is that he invited her to stay at his house. My play tries to fill in the details, of the conversations that took place that night.”
George Street Playhouse is presenting My Lord, What a Night. Sheldon Epps directs an exquisite production that blends live performances with (sparing and deliberate use of) historical images to link past events to their present depictions. (To avoid spoilers I will refrain from describing in detail the final tableau, but it is a compelling and beautiful audiovisual encapsulation of the play’s themes.)
Before the performance begins, the friendship between the physicist and the singer is suggested by one of John Narun’s deft projections, a collage of physics formulas interspersed with musical symbols.
After we see brief footage of Anderson performing, the main action begins in Einstein’s study. Einstein (portrayed by Anthony Cochrane) and Anderson (Rashidra Scott) arrive and commiserate about the concert’s aftermath.
However, before the contralto — surely exhausted from both the concert and the trek to the house (Einstein ushers her through side streets and in through the back door to protect her from intrusive reporters) — has a chance to settle in and rest, the duo has two visitors.
The first is Abraham Flexner (Mitch Greenberg), founder and head of the Institute for Advanced Study. Anxious to shield Einstein from any hint of scandal, he tries to persuade Anderson to let him help her find alternate lodging, rather than spend the night at the famous physicist’s house. Eventually, Anderson is willing to consider it, but on principle Einstein is incensed at his colleague for making the suggestion.
Next, Mary Church Terrell (Gayle Samuels), co-founder and first national president of the National Association of Colored Women, arrives. She has traveled to hear Anderson’s concert, but is denied entry into the auditorium, despite holding a valid ticket. Having found a place to stay, Anderson is eager to put the evening’s events behind her; Terrell feels that the incident is symptomatic of the oppression of African Americans in general, and pressures Anderson to pursue the matter further.
One of the many brilliant aspects of the play is this balance of character dynamics, which speaks to a central theme that obviously is too relevant today: how forcefully to respond to injustice, and whether or not to jeopardize limited progress — which has resulted in a problematic but somewhat comfortable status quo — to accomplish more substantial institutional reforms. In short, assimilation debates resistance.
On the side of a moderate, careful approach are Anderson and Flexner. Anderson is encouraged by the response that white audiences are giving her performances, and as a musical artist she is reticent to wade into larger social justice issues. Similarly, Flexner is unwilling to risk offending (or let colleagues such as Einstein risk offending) the Institute’s wealthy donors, for fear of jeopardizing his ability to continue bringing Jewish scholars there (particularly those, like Einstein, escaping Nazi persecution in Europe).
Rightly seeing a stark parallel between treatment of Jews in Europe, and African Americans in the US (a parallel that becomes a major plot point later), the fiercely vocal Einstein wants none of Flexner’s caution. Likewise, Terrell feels strongly that Anderson has a responsibility to use her position as a successful performer to do more on behalf of her community.
Epps’ staging deftly uses physical space to illustrate this division in approach. There is a moving scene in which Anderson sits next to Terrell and sings to her — but then moves across the stage from her when she renews pressure to engage in sociopolitical issues more forcefully.
At a rare juncture in which Anderson and Einstein are alone, there is a lovely moment in which they bond over music. Anderson discusses her favorite spirituals, Einstein his favorite classical composers (and musical note).
The second act takes place two years after the first, and finds the protagonists facing a different, though related, set of problems. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refuse to permit Anderson to sing a concert at Constitution Hall, due to a policy that excludes African American performers.
Einstein, meanwhile, is concerned that Nazi scientists are discovering how to make an atomic bomb. He wants to get a message to FDR, a task made difficult by the fact that his outspoken political activism has led the FBI to monitor him.
To the role of Anderson, Scott brings graceful poise mixed with reserve. She also brings a beautiful alto voice of her own to her character’s repertoire (as a standby for Nicole Scherzinger, Scott played Norma Desmond in the Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard last year).
Cochrane aptly contrasts Scott’s elegance with an amiable rough-around-the-edges demeanor, accented by moments of righteous anger. His sometimes trance-like facial expressions, as Einstein discusses music with Anderson, give the look of genuine connection with the cosmos.
Samuels infuses Terrell with the fire of someone who has been engaged in activism and fighting for decades, laced with prim dignity. Greenberg is suitably smooth and slightly aristocratic as Flexner, a character who is accustomed to mixing academia with careful (read: subordinate) diplomacy. Flexner has one of the most surprising changes in character, which Greenberg beautifully portrays by judiciously understating it.
Costume Designer Karen Perry demarcates the two acts with different outfits for Anderson, both of which are exquisite and, befitting the expressive performer, the most colorful clothes worn by any character. The older Terrell is given mostly black outfits (accented with white), matching many historical photos. Both Flexner and Einstein are mostly given dignified suits, though the latter (sometimes portrayed as an affably eccentric uncle) is given brighter splashes of color. (Wigs are by Cici Campbell.)
Because almost all of the action takes place in Einstein’s home, Scenic Designer Meghan Raham is able to decorate the book-lined (and, due to some of the physicist’s mistaken theories, paper-littered) set in lavish detail. Raham, and Lighting Designers Katy Atwell and Jeff Croiter, give the study a cozy, often pleasantly dimly lit, lived-in look. The capable sound design is by John Gromada.
My Lord, What a Night has an ingenious script that is being given a beautiful voice by George Street Playhouse’s production. It is to be hoped that this staging of the play, easily a highlight of this season, will inspire McCarter Theatre to present the show in the near future. It would be a fitting bookend for this story to be seen unfolding in the venue in which it all began.
Presented by the George Street Playhouse, “My Lord, What a Night” will play at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (Arthur Laurents Theater), 11 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, through May 17. For tickets, show times, and further information call (732) 246-7717 or visit georgestreetplayhouse.org.