Caroline, or Change

Synopsis

Louisiana, 1963, in the immediate aftermath of the Kennedy assassination. Caroline, a black maid to a southern Jewish family, is struggling to keep afloat emotionally and economically, while the young son of her employer tries to make sense of the world following the death of his mother. A musical exploration of human relationships, love, loss and social transformation.

Our Review:

20 October 2006

We are enjoying such a glut of musical theatre at the moment that you could be forgiven for asking, well, what other kind of theatre is there?

It's significant, therefore, that the musical piece that is the most original, beguiling, ambitious and surprising might well turn out to be Caroline, or Change at the National Theatre, a new production by George C Wolfe of the musical by Tony Kushner (book and lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (music) that he first directed at the Public Theater in New York three years ago. The show moved on to Broadway, but closed after only 38 performances, despite several laudatory notices among a general critical disappointment.

The setting is small town Louisiana at the end of 1963, either side of the assassination of President Kennedy on 22 November. The year had begun with George Wallace in Alabama proclaiming “segregation forever”. In August, Martin Luther King galvanised the civil rights movement with his “I have a drea...

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Latest User Review

86.138.26.181) - 2 January 2007:

I enjoyed it the first time around, more for the parts that the whole, but felt one viewing just hadn't done it justice. Second time round, sitting further away, the parts all seemed to join up and provide a more rewarding 'big picture'. Whatever you think, it's original and inventive and staged and performed with impeccable craftsmanship....

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