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The story of blues pioneer Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil at the Crossroads has intrigued and inflamed Black music's history. The Crossroads, where seminal blues artist Robert Johnson exchanged his soul for the gift of virtuosic guitar playing, has been determined to be the intersection of highways 41 and 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. I believe that determination is for tourism purposes. Steppenwolf Theatre's world premiere of playwright Ngozi Anyanwu's Leroy and Lucy takes a metaphysical approach to the legend and turns it on its head. Jon Michael Hill (Leroy) and Brittany Bradford (Lucy) shine in this take on how Robert Johnson mastered the blues guitar.
Leroy and Lucy is set in Clarksdale, Mississippi, known as the Delta. It was the site of slavery and suffering for Black people, and the blues music that emerged from field shouts and gospel music hit on a soul level. This was the music of the juke joints set off the roads in the deep woods. Home-stilled liquor, heat, and sweaty dancing must have been the devil's domain. The Crossroads is where Leroy and Lucy meet on a night in the woods. Lucy is there playing a guitar and singing softly. Bradford is a vision clad in a flowing, colorful dress, bare feet, and dreads down her back. Her body movement is enticing, and her gaze at Leroy is direct and provocative.
Jon Michael Hill was last seen as the prodigal son, Naz, in Purpose—another Steppenwolf world premiere. In Leroy and Lucy, Hill plays another wandering soul seeking something unknown and escaping from an all-too-familiar situation of leaving a family behind. The instability of the Black family was a direct result of slavery. The nuclear family model was not tenable a generation out of enslavement. Hill has a wonderful mix of country charm and determination. One minute, Leroy is all politeness and "yes, ma'am," attempting to flatter Lucy. In the next, he looks her up and down like a meal for a starving man. The chemistry between Bradford and Hill is sizzling as they circle each other.
Director Awoye Timpo steers the production to a languorous rhythm that amplifies the imagined heat of Mississippi. Playwright Anyanwu is from Nigeria, a culture that has succeeded in retaining the orishas and gods of the ancestors. Lucy explains the origins of some goddesses that have been maligned or called "evil" like Medusa and Adam's first wife Lilith, who asked too many questions and had doubts. Elegba the trickster appears to make a deal with the devil myth less straightforward. Elegba can be generous and kind or menacing depending on the lesson being taught. There is a sinister yet spiritual essence in the Robert Johnson legend underlying Leroy and Lucy. The idea that Medusa was a hideous woman with snakes for hair is given a different lore. She was beautiful until Poseidon raped her. Turning men with lascivious thoughts and actions to stone was appropriate in Lucy's mind, as well as a way for feminine power to prevail.
The dialogue is crisp and funny, taking jabs at the mythology that has been one-dimensional with a side of cultural appropriation. Lucifer is an angel cast from the heavenly realm for challenging God and wanting credit for being the illumination upon which his name was based. Leroy and Lucy is a play that gives substance to the delineation between good and evil. The lines are blurred and not so clear-cut.
Andrew Boyce's scenic design is deceptively simple and manages to give the effect of deep woods and heat. Heather Gilbert's lighting design and Connor Wang's sound design are crucial to the storyline and character progression. These two enhance the story and align it with the direction and acting.
Should Robert Johnson's ambition have been punished with a very brief window of success? He is the original, and Leroy and Lucy is the play that puts all that in perspective and removes the stigma around whatever choices Johnson made in his pursuit of mastery. It is beautifully acted and features real musical talent from Hill and Bradford. Anyanwu makes the Crossroads a state of mind and spirit. I highly recommend it.
Leroy and Lucy is now playing at Steppenwolf's Ensemble Theater, 1646 N. Halsted St., through December 15. Running time is 90 minutes with one intermission. Please visit Steppenwolf.org for more information and tickets ($20-$92). Support Chicago's cultural and arts scene!
For more information on this and other productions, see theatreinchicago.com.
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