Theater Review: The Mountaintop

Samuel L. Jackson as Martin Luther King Jr. in a scene from "The Mountaintop" by Katori Hall. (Courtesy of Joan Marcus)

NEW YORKSamuel L. Jackson is a wonder in Katori Halls drama The Mountaintop, now at Broadways Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Playing slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the actors performance soars far above an often lackluster script. The playwright is so intent on getting specific points across, she sacrifices the contextual flavor of the person and specific moment in time shes selected.

The story takes place on the night of April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn., hours before Kings assassination. Returning to his room at the Lorraine Motel after his famous Ive Been to the Mountaintop speech, a tired King tries to prepare for the next days events.

Kings solitude is interrupted by Camae (Angela Bassett), a hotel maid bringing him coffee. Seeking a pretty face and someone to talk to, King invites her to stay and chat while they share cigarettes, a drink or two (all of which she provides), along with some personal secrets.

As a storm rages outside, their talk turns to such subjects as the civil rights movement and the direction it should take, and the fact that King is far from perfect in regard to his personal life.

However, rather than painting a three-dimensional picture of King, Hall instead chooses to follow the lowest common denominator, pandering to her audience while never really delving into Kings personal history. There is almost no mention of his childhood, his early work, ! such as the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, or how he fell in love with his wife, all of which would have presented a much fuller picture of the man at this point in time.

What is talked about are Kings dalliances with women, evidenced early on when he tries to put the moves on Camae. These flirtation scenes come off as unintentionally creepy and awkward, with a scenario and some not so pregnant pauses that go on way too long.

There are some fleeting moments when Hall delves deeper into the subject matter, showing she understands exactly what King was all about. At one moment, we see his disgust when he describes some of the people he was marching with break into a store to steal color televisions. Yet these threads are dropped all too quickly, and what were left with is a mostly truncated Lifetime movie version of King and his work.

The fact the play succeeds at all is due to the absolutely brilliant performance of Jackson, who masterfully plays King as a burnt-out, but still passionate soul; one who instinctively cowers at the sound of thunder, equating the noise to that of a gun shot. He also gets Kings mannerisms down perfectly, if not the vocal tone. Even more impressive, the 62-year-old Jackson is thoroughly convincing as the 39-year-old King. (Kudos to Charles G. LaPointe for excellent work on the hair and wig design.)

Angela Bassett as Camae in "The Mountaintop." (Courtesy of Joan Marcus)

Bassett cuts an interesting figure as Camae, but her character never really clicks in the story, shifting from an aww-shucks southern African-American maid to a cultured speaker at the drop of a hat. ! While r evealing too much about Bassetts character would give away major plot points, its safe to say Camae is more than what she initially seems, something that becomes obvious after her first few lines.

Camae also tosses in several cultural references and initiates a phone conversation thats really not necessary, all of which causes the play to veer dangerously close to sitcom territory before Jackson and director Kenny Leon are able to pull it back.

Leons direction is very strong at points, especially toward the final third of the piece where Jackson assumes the public persona of King and seems to grow bigger with each word he delivers. However, Leon is seemingly helpless to handle the early dead spots of the script, which come off as terribly uneven.

On the other hand, credit must be given to Leon for his masterful integration of the actors into a final montage sequence, (projection design by David Gallo), which while being a blatant attempt to play on the emotions of the audience, allows an uplifting moment for the tormented King. It also serves to lead into the shows very powerful final moments.

Gallos set of Kings motel room is nicely realistic, with a cheap and run-down look. Lighting by Brian MacDevitt and sound design by Dan Moses Schreier work very well together, especially during the storm sequences.

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The Mountaintop offers a stellar performance by Jackson and a decent one by Bassett, but the play itself falls far short of what it could be. Considering the material the playwright had to work with, that is a great shame indeed.

The Mountaintop
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45th Street
Tickets: 212-239-6200 or www.telecharge.com
Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Closes: Jan. 15

Judd Hollander is the New York! corresp ondent for the London publication The Stage.