Photo Credit: Mark Frohna
In the bleak mid-winter that is Wisconsin in January, there’s a “fire burnin’” on stage at the Skylight Music Theatre, and it’s reached a fever pitch with its red-hot production of The Gospel at Colonus.
Conceived and adapted by Lee Breuer with music by Bob Telson, this retelling of Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus sets the classic Greek tragedy within a black Pentecostal service as Oedipus nears the end of his life. Yes, that Oedipus who killed his father, married his mother and whose sisters are also his daughters. No wonder he’s unwanted near the sacred ground of Colonus.
But the “preaching” in this Colonus is filled with an exuberant score of gospel and blues that is as uplifting as it is foreboding. The excellent 14-member cast under the masterful direction of Sheri Williams Pannell turns Oedipus’ tragic story into a high-spirited homage to the circle of life—and its inevitable aftermath—throughout its journey.
The Skylight stage brims over with some amazing vocal talent: Byron Jones give Oedipus a strong, rich bass that fills the stage with a thunderous presence. Juxtapose that with the pure, clear tenor of Kevin James Sievert as the Balladeer, a tone that is as piercing as it is innocent. Sievert was a standout in Skylight’s Five Guys Named Moe last season, and he once again reclaims that position.
As the sisters-daughters, Tasha McCoy (Antigone) and Raven Dockery (Ismene), play well off each other, vocally and otherwise, McCoy’s strong, throatiness supporting Dockery’s plaintive pleas in “Love Unconquerable.” And as the Messenger (think: preacher), Marvin Hannah’s precise enunciation and exclamatory revelations ground the Gospel to its updated setting.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
There’s still plenty of snow and ice just waiting to show up. In the meantime, The Gospel at Colonus melts away any chance of those winter blues sticking around. After all, who knew that a classic Greek tragedy could be so… well… entertaining?
Through Jan. 26 in the Broadway Theater Center’s Cabot Theatre, 158 N. Broadway.
