Musical Monday: Choir Boy

Saying Tarell Alvin McCraney is talented seems like an understatement. The 38 year old playwright is a winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2013, a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in 2013, and an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Moonlight in 2016 (based off his own play). Mr. McCraney also has a play currently running on Broadway that has been extended multiple times. Choir Boy is currently scheduled to run until March 10, and everyone who has the opportunity to see the play should jump on the chance to see Mr. McCraney’s talent at work.

Choir Boy is a play about masculinity, race, sexuality, and the incredible pressures all of these can put on someone trying to find their identity. Pharus is a young black man who is a student at an all-male, black prep school. Pharus is gay, an open secret known to everyone, and also the newly elected head of the school’s choir—a prestigious position. The overarching plot of the story isn’t where the magic happens—it’s in the performances, dialogue, and complexities of the characters.

Pharus is an incredibly deep portrayal of a young gay man who is struggling with a place that is often simply out to get him as he notes that he is great—it only seems like good because everyone wants him to do bad. He is as funny as he is endearing. He is as pained as he is proud. It is a beautifully written portrait of a young black man trying to exist in a world that is fighting against him. Pharus isn’t a knight in shining armor though, Mr. McCraney writes a character that is both vulnerable but also incapable of stealing the spotlight or making himself the center of attention both good and bad. This complexity and strength is written by Mr. McCraney but it is brought to life in near perfection by Jeremy Pope, a name I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more of.

Another absolute strength of the play is the use of music and step. Yes—the show surrounds a youth choir, but the songs are emotional and moving, the stepping is poignant and powerful. The use of Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child had me wiping away tears. The use of music to separate scenes keeps the pacing so quick that you are ushered from moment to moment in a purposeful cadence that gives the play a rhythm and beat. There is a musicality to the structure of the play that supports the subject matter beautifully.

There are some qualms I have with the play—there is a teacher character that feels mostly out of place and lost. He serves no purpose seemingly to the plot, and I was left wanting him to matter a little more. There is also one small student who is named who doesn’t really serve a strong purpose that I felt wasn’t given the attention the more substantive characters were nor was he given much to work with. It felt I was waiting for him to matter as well. These detractions were not enough to remove the impact of the play or the experience. In fact, they are slight qualms I have only after thinking back about the experience. Sitting in the theater I was taken away in the experience to even largely consider these drawbacks. 

I haven’t gotten deep into the plot of Choir Boy, and that’s purposeful. The beauty of this play is that the plot, while interesting and compelling, is not what I will necessarily remember about the play. What I’ll remember is the intensity, the emotion, the strength and vulnerability that Mr. McCraney pours into every word of dialogue. There wasn’t a word that felt out of place or unintentional. Every word had gravitas, even if humorous, that showed how difficulty navigating masculinity and adolescence can be. Every decision is purposeful and senses of a playwright who has been well lauded for his incredible work.