The Powerful Winds of Justice Flow Through an Unforgettable ‘Mockingbird’

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Photo by Julieta Cervantes via Marcus PAC

'To Kill a Mockingbird' tour - porch scene

Porch scene from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

The Marcus Performing Arts Center scored an undeniable hit with its first entry in this season’s Broadway series: Disney’s Aladdin. That show sparkled from its first note to its final gorgeous production number. And now, for something completely different, the Marcus Center offers a powerful and unforgettable play, To Kill a Mockingbird. The Tony Award-winning play opened Tuesday and continues through November 12.

The play is led by Richard Thomas, an actor with Broadway and Shakespeare credits who is mostly known for playing John Boy on the long-running TV show, “The Waltons.” Thomas still displays the same youthful energy and upbeat demeanor one recalls from his John Boy days. He shares his star power with a talented cast for a completely absorbing theatrical experience.

Through the performance, Richard Thomas’ controlled, thoughtful movements are stunning to watch. So is the sage like wisdom his character shares freely with those around him. Thomas rarely raises his voice, even when confronted by a group of KKK advocates, or by his two children. 

The kids, nicknamed Scout and Jem, are very smart. They are quick to point out any unfairness they see in the outside world. They grew up without their mother and are tended by their longtime Black housekeeper, Calpurnia (Jacqueline Williams). 

Gregory Peck Featured in Oscar-winning Role

This Mockingbird differs slightly from the novel and the famous 1962 film starring Gregory Peck. For one thing, Scout is only 6 when the novel begins. Now she is fully twice that age, and the children in this production are played by adults. The play’s theme of lost innocence doesn’t only apply to the kids. Atticus, too, must acknowledge that his optimistic motto, “people are basically good,” is challenged and is perhaps unjustified when referring to his neighbors in the fictional Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, in 1934. 

The current stage production of Harper Lee’s 1960 novel was met with controversy from beginning to end. Its first draft was rejected by the Lee estate and a court battle ensued. The producers offered some concessions, and the show went on. It originally starred actor Jeff Daniels (a Broadway veteran who is still best-known for his film role in Dumb and Dumber, with actor Jim Carrey). He played Atticus Finch, a lawyer who is considered one of the most decent men in American literature. When he left the show, Ed Harris (Apollo 13, Top Gun: Maverick) took over the part.

The Broadway show became one of the season’s biggest hits. It closed during the pandemic and its re-emergence was hampered by its association with disgraced entertainment professional Scott Rudin. Still, it remains one of the longest-running plays in Broadway history.

Since the play is set during the Depression, Finch the lawyer is hardly a rich man. He keeps a roof over his head and his children fed, but he can’t afford much else when his neighbors pay him in turnips and a pile of unshelled walnuts left on his porch. In Finch, one sees a man who admirably rises above such hardships in a quest to make things right.

Finch’s life is turned upside down when asked to represent Tom Robinson, a Black man who is on trial for raping a white teenager. At first, Finch begs off. He says he is more apt to write a will for someone or settle a property dispute than to represent someone in a criminal case. But he eventually agrees, despite his realization that someone representing a Black man in the deep South is going to stir up trouble in town. Finch advises his kids that they may be subject to some distain as well. But that doesn’t deter him from gaining justice for this completely innocent man.

Another aspect of this production is that it gives more of a voice to the Black characters, including Tom Robinson (played to near perfection by Yaegel T. Welch, who also appeared in the Broadway cast). He plays Robinson as a slow-talking, slow-moving and amiable man who is happy to help a neighbor.

Mayella lives with her father and six siblings in a house that Robinson passes on his way to work. When asked, Robinson mostly works in the yard, chopping kindling and so forth.  One fateful day, he senses danger when Mayella (Mariah Lee) asks him to come inside the home. Ordinarily, the place is crawling with Mayella’s siblings. This time, there isn’t anyone in sight. What happens next is either a crime or a call for help. In any case, Robinson doesn’t relish facing the electric chair (the punishment at that time for a Black man accused of raping a white woman in Alabama).

Even after Finch is threatened by a large group of hooded men during the trial, he stays true to his principles. “A mob is a place where people go to escape their conscience,” he tells his children. It is Scout who unintentionally dismantles the situation when she recognizes one of the hooded men’s voices.

The character of Scout is nearly as important as that of Atticus Finch, and Melanie Moore does a fine job with the role. Dressed as a tomboy (much to the disgust of a neighbor, Mrs. Henry Dubose), Scout runs wild and free through the town and countryside. She twirls and scampers and mimics boxing moves. She narrates the events in Mockingbird with more maturity than one would expect of a child her age. 

Memorable Characters Transported from the Page to the Stage

Other notable characters borrowed from the novel include Calpurnia the housekeeper (some of the dialogue between her and Atticus Finch is the funniest). She gently points out that she faces numerous challenges that don’t apply to the “white folks” in town. She also brings the racial injustice angle sharply into focus, both during the trial and especially when the family learns of Robinson’s attempted prison escape.

There’s Sheriff Heck Tate (Travis Johns), who appears to be one of the “bad guys” until the play’s final moments. In court, he sides with Ewell until all the facts of the case are presented. The judge (Jeff Still) presides over his courtroom with a sense of the change that is in the wind. He forces each juror to individually recite his/her verdict.

Appearing as Mayella Ewell, Mariah Lee is realistic in her portrayal of a battered young woman. At barely 100 pounds, she seems diminutive when compared to her accused aggressor, the hulking Tom Robinson. Her father, Bob Ewell (Ted Koch), creates a disturbingly unpredictable atmosphere whenever he’s around Atticus and his family. Once he starts drinking, Ewell’s darker personality appears. 

Another figure who is mentioned often but doesn’t appear until the end of the play, is Ian Bedford as the mysterious Boo Radley. Rather than face the shame for an occurrence in Radley’s past, his family has kept him at home behind closed curtains for many years.

Although the lessons taught in To Kill a Mockingbird may have occurred a generation or more ago, this large cast makes the stories seem so relevant to today. This is a classic American novel turned into a riveting stage play, and theatergoers should definitely not miss a chance to see it. 

The national touring company of “To Kill a Mockingbird” runs through November 12 at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, visit marcuscenter.org, or call the box office at 414-273-7206.