Caroline, or Change review: Sharon D Clarke is magisterial in modern masterpiece

1/13
Fiona Mountford21 March 2018

The more times I see Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s richly textured through-composed musical set in the American Civil Rights era, the more convinced I grow that this is a modern masterpiece of considerable heft. This production, transferring from Chichester, is a rich asset for London theatre.

It’s 1963 in Louisiana and while everything may be changing around her, all is exactly the grinding same for implacable Caroline Thibodeaux (Sharon D Clarke, magisterial), the black maid for a grieving white Jewish family. When it’s suggested that Caroline keep the loose change she finds in young son Noah’s pockets, it proves a problematic way of dealing with an underpaid grown woman.

The score swoops, swirls and swells through passionate conviction and quiet sorrow, as well as a wide range of genres.

Director Michael Longhurst’s work is sinuous and stylish – just look at the fun he has with the personified, singing Washing Machine (Me’sha Bryan), dressed in an exuberant costume of plastic soap bubbles – and amounts to a production of real grace. Abiona Omonua as Caroline’s rebellious daughter Emmie is a constant joy. A very classy show.

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