“The
Secret Life of Bees” Does Not Live Up to the Buzz
"The Secret Life of Bees,"
Directed by Sam Gold
Atlantic Theater Company
336 West 20 Street
From May 12, 2019
Monday & Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday at
8pm, Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday at 2pm.
Tickets: $96.50-$116.50
Closes July 21, 2019
Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons June 29, 2019
Fans of Sue Monk Kidd’s 2002 novel, “The Secret Life
of Bees,” certainly greeted with great enthusiasm the news
that it was soon to be turned into a musical. And considering the
book had spent two years on the New York Times best seller list
and was made into a film in 2008, this news came as no surprise.
However, the musical that was created by Lynn Nottage, Duncan Sheik
and Susan Birkenhead does not completely meet the novel’s
potential or the expectations of its fans.
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| LaChanze, Jai’Len Christine
Li Josey, Vita E. Cleveland, Elizabeth Teeter, Romelda Teron
Benjamin in Atlantic Theater Company’s"The Secret
Life of Bees." Photo by Ahron R. Foster. |
True, Sheik and Birkenhead have created a gorgeous score that mixes
gospel, R&B, blues and a bit of African chant. And the cast
performs it beautifully. But the songs seldom advance the plot.
Sometimes they seem to be more about atmosphere than motivation.
The problems come from several sources. The first is Nottage’s
book.
“The Secret Life of Bees” is a coming-of-age novel set
in the segregated south. It is very much in the style of Harper
Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” or Carson McCullers
“The Member of the Wedding,” works with which Kidd is
no doubt familiar.
The novel is narrated by 14-year-old Lily Owens, and thus everything
that happens is filtered through her eyes. It recounts the adventures
of Lily, who is running away from her abusive father, T-Ray; and
the family’s housekeeper, Rosaleen, who is running away from
racism. With only a honey label picturing a Black Madonna and printed
in Tiburon, S.C., to guide them, they eventually find a group of
enterprising African American sisters, August, May and June, who
have set up a business tending bees and distributing their honey.
And they’ve created their own religion centered on a statue
of a the Black Madonna of the postcard.
But in the musical, Nottage has shifted much of the attention away
from Lily (Elizabeth Teeter) to sisters August (LaChanze), May (Anastacia
McCleskey) and June (Eisa Davis). She also takes considerable interest
in the spunky Rosaleen (Saycon Sengbloh), who has the admirable
goal of voting after President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act,
as well as the fate of Zachary (Brett Gray,) who works for the sisters,
wants to become a lawyer and predictably becomes a first love for
Lily.
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| Saycon Sengbloh, Nathaniel Stampley,
Eisa Davis, Anastacia McCleskey, &LaChanze in "The
Secret Life of Bees." Photo by Ahron R. Foster. |
In fact both Sengbloh and Gray have some of the bestsongs in the
show, Rosaleen’s “All About You” and “Who
Knew?” and Zachary’s “Fifty-Five Fairlane,”
songs which give both performers the chance to knock it out of the
park. Lily has only one song, “The Girl Who Killed Her Mother,”
to call her own, and it presents a very limited view of her. Much
of the time, Teeter, who is excellent when given the chance, stands
around with little to do.
Although Nottage mostly keeps the plotlines loosely together, she
has lost the emotional core of the story. The sisters are interesting
at times. June was disappointed in love and refuses to accept the
marriage proposals of a rather insistent school principal named
Neil (Nathaniel Stampley). May has never recovered from the death
by suicide of her twin and periodically seeks solace at the feet
of the Black Madonna. But none of the supporting characters has
enough of a story to hold the musical together, despite Nottage’s
attempts at enlarging their role.
The second problem is Sam Gold’s direction. “The Secret
Life of Bees” is firmly set in rural South Carolina in 1964.
But you would never know this from the minimalist set, which devotes
more space to the musicians than to scenery. And those hovering
bees held on wires manipulated by actors just get in the way. In
fact all the time devoted to bees and statue-worshipping have the
potential of turning the musical into a cult classic.
It’s easy to see why Nottage was drawn to this novel with
its strong black women. It’s also easy to see why she couldn’t
resist the temptation to go astray.
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