This outstanding play deserves a bigger stage and wider audience – book your tickets immediately.
'Choir Boy' is luminous. The cast is perfect, the songs are on point and the staging and lighting created a whole world from a minimal set. The use of basic classroom objects as instruments was also inspired. It was difficult to believe at some points that such a young cast could deliver on such mature storylines, conveying incredibly complex emotions for adults, let alone high school students. Particular stand-outs were Quinton Rofail Rich playing an empathetic, protective AJ and Zarif as Bobby. Tony Sheldon as Mr P gave a performance that demonstrated why he is tagged 'Australian Showbiz Royalty'.
While the lead actor, Darron Hayes as Pharus, is American, the rest of the cast are Australian-based, and the non-Americans have soaked up the accent – they sounded exactly like the real deal. Use of the N-word was difficult to hear, but it wasn’t gratuitous, it fit with the story and context, but it was still jarring, as were the other slurs used. But that was the point.
Image © Phil Erbacher
The American context may be a challenge for some Australian audiences, for whom the nuances of African American history and spiritual gospel culture may be unfamiliar. Sometimes it could be hard to tell which era the story was set in, as the school rituals and attitudes seemed so outdated, while the language of the script was very contemporary. This really highlighted some of the tensions in current American political and cultural discourse.
As well as exposing the audiences to different ways of being in the world, the story emphasised the universal themes of seeking love, understanding, recognition and belonging. It was heartbreaking for many characters, but heartwarming for them too. Each emotional gut punch or embrace accompanied by either angelic harmonies, or soul thumping rhythm. The performances and the music let 'Choir Boy' soar.
