“Long Way Down” at Olney Theatre Center adapts Jason Reynolds’s sparse YA novel about violence and obligation.
From left, Parris Lewis, Quincy Vicks, Tyrese Shawn Avery, Colin Carswell and Cheryse Dyllan in “Long Way Down” at Olney Theatre Center. The words come dense and quick, as from Shakespeare or one of the Wu-Tang brotherhood, until they don’t come at all anymore and there’s just a mother’s long, musical moan: A son, a brother, another young Black man is dead, and “The Rules” mean somebody’s got to do something about it.by D.C. native Jason Reynolds.
Inside that minute, though, lives a host of ghosts and stories, and as the neighborhood phantoms manifest one by one between floors, their reflections build a mirror in which Will is forced to consider not just Shawn’s death but also the life — the lives, rather, whole generations bound up in vicious cycles — that led to it. And he’ll have to ask whether following the Rules — don’t cry, don’t snitch, get revenge — will mean Will must meet the same seemingly inevitable end.
Style is where The Washington Post covers happenings on the front lines of culture and what it all means, including the arts, media, social trends, politics and yes, fashion, all told with personality and deep reporting. For more Style stories,Sounds pretty dense, doesn’t it? That’s the classic difference between showing readers something and telling them about it, and it’s one of the ways in which this musicalized “Long Way Down” distinguishes itself from the original.
This stage version works in endless diverting ways — in the anagrams and palindromes Will loves, in musical citations of artists such as Biggie and Kendrick and MJ, sometimes in visual arrangements so arresting they might themselves be frames from a graphic novel . It’s bigger and noisier and shinier in most particulars, but somehow no combination of them ever lands with the startling power of Reynolds’s terse image-making.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Magnolia State’s high school baseball has come long, long wayMississippi high schools keep producing top shelf talent, which is why the state's college baseball teams are so successful year after year.
Read more »
Vietnam veteran from Long Island receives long overdue Purple HeartThe 77-year old was wounded in Vietnam back in the '60s. For years, he was unable to receive his medal because of red tape and lack of documentation.
Read more »
Franck Muller’s Goes Long with the Long Island EvolutionFranck Muller—a innovator of many complications—presents a troika expressions of time with the Long Island Evolution collection.
Read more »
NYC cracks down on how long immigrants without children can stay in sheltersNew York City is restricting how long immigrants without children can stay in migrant shelters.
Read more »
Did humans evolve to chase down prey over long distances?Outrunning prey over long distances is an efficient method of hunting for humans, and it was widely used until recently, according to an analysis of ethnographic accounts
Read more »
Kremlin Doubles Down on Long Haul Approach in Ukraine with Cabinet ShakeupSee multiple perspectives from The Spectator World, Financial Times, and The Economist at AllSides.com.
Read more »