One of the most beautiful things about legends and myths is they often stem from the truth. Written by playwright and lyricist Angelica Chéri and directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, the new Broadway musical “Wanted” is inspired by Chéri’s great-great aunts, Mary (Solea Pfeiffer) and Martha Clarke (Liisi LaFontaine). These Black women living in post-emancipation Texas decided to pass for white and wield their beauty and guns to save their family’s land and legacy.
Unfortunately, despite the exceptional performances and vocal talent, the play’s actual narrative isn’t as compelling as it could be. According to the Kinfolk, the ensemble that leads the audience into the story, this tale begins in 1893 in Marlon, Texas, in the middle of a cotton field. After struggling and saving with their mother, Tallulah (a phenomenal Ledisi), sharecroppers Mary and Martha are eager to finally buy the land the Clarke family has worked on for generations.
However, the landowner, Mr. Billingsley (Nathan Quay Thomas), has other plans. Fueled by racist fury when the women offer a sum of $200 for ownership of the property, he snaps.
Rejecting their hard-earned money, he claims the Clarkes are behind on rent and demands double, or he’ll evict them. With little recourse beyond their pale skin, courtesy of their long-vanished French father, Mary and Martha set out together beyond Marlon’s country roads to earn money and save themselves and their mother from destitution. Yet as single women traipsing around the 19th-century American South, they become an immediate target.
Armed with Ole Bessie, Tallulah’s pistol, the sisters soon discover that stealing and intimidation earn them cash much faster than any other profession. Though their criminality affords them more than they ever hoped, their carefully laid plans are thwarted when they stumble upon a saloon owned by the infamous Jesse Banks (Bradley Jaden), who immediately sets his sights on Mary. Yet the Clarke sisters aren’t really the outlaws the play tried to make them out to be.
Aside from a couple of stick-ups and some seducing and scheming, the rebel storyline fizzles before it even really gets started. Instead, Mary finds herself enamored with Jesse, a wealthy white man who has no idea she is a Black woman. Meanwhile, Martha reluctantly finds herself charmed by Elijah (Luke James), a Black man employed by Jesse.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
