REVIEW: Oh Happy Day! (Baltimore Center Stage)
One of my biggest theatregoing crimes was missing out on Jordan E. Cooper’s Ain’t No Mo’.
I never stopped hearing about it basically from its DC premiere at Woolly, to its barnstorming Rialto presence, to its hasty closing there. It sounded like an excellent time that I’ve only ever read about.
So when I heard Cooper is back, again paired with director Stevie Walker-Webb, I jumped up in my seat. Walker-Webb is also the Artistic Director at Baltimore Center Stage, a quality house that I can sadly count the shows there that I’ve seen on one hand. To avoid missing the plane this time, I decided to make the journey, and to do so by public transit only on a Friday night— Baltimore has some good stuff, and we shouldn’t let car-dependent infrastructure ruin it for us. (Stay tuned for how that goes.)
Book
Cooper evokes familiar territory with Happy Day: what if we framed a popular human myth at a Black cookout? Except instead of Hamlet, we get Noah’s Ark; and there’s a far greater self-awareness. While it is favorably comparable to 2023’s Fat Ham, shares similar themes regarding queerness and Black fatherhood, Cooper’s exasperation divides from James Ijames’ flush melodrama via his signature wit and punchy dialogue. And Happy Day’s natural inclination towards a discussion of faith strengthens it further. I’d say it’s pretty easy for a gay Black man to disparage Gnosticism and its frequent role in toxic parenting, so Cooper deftly approaches the idea of God from a personal, humanistic approach, allowing God to take her many forms via his family members. (I’ve seen this device a lot recently, but I’m not complaining.) The underlying, humorously-spoken plot of Keyshawn (the Noah stand-in) crashing his father’s birthday cookout in rural Mississippi is then further enhanced by the conversations of faith floating around it—even if the Ark allegory doesn’t exactly follow the scripture as we know it. Indeed, there’s a grander metaphor about climate change to be had, especially as the South continues to be inundated as of this writing. But it’s not all rain and showers. Narrating the two-hour fable is a fabulous trio of Divines, whose comic relief gives us time to reflect. As does the 10-minute intermission, which was excellently included to prevent the dense dialogue from smothering us. 8/10
Acting
Cooper stars in his own work as Keyshawn, the estranged son of Lewis (James T. Alfred), brother to Niecy (Tamika Lawrence), and uncle to her son Kevin (Justin Sturgis). His breathy delivery and appreciation of his own text is apparent, and works wonders in creating a whirlwind force of redeemed victimhood. In fact, there’s something good to be said about the entire ensemble—but I will add that Lawrence’s snaps and ferocity as a forgotten homemaker are forces to behold. My only complaint is that we don’t get enough of the Divines (Latrice Page, Tiya Askia, and Courtney Monet). 8/10
Production
Walker-Webb’s overall direction is excellent, and Luciana Stecconi’s staging is, too, though it is better appreciated from the mezzanine. Up there, you can see the details of the singular set piece better: the colossal, detailed house is great (and creatively lit up by Adam Honore), and the textured wisps of clouds behind it add a familiar depth that amazes. 8/10
Viz
It’s fine enough to play some modern bangers over the PA as the audience enters, but it’s just great to hear a radio DJ spin the tunes from Laurel, Mississippi, where the show canonically takes place. It also goes well with the sky blue primary on the show art, even if the collage-yness doesn’t quite do it for me. 7/10
Verdict
Jordan E. Cooper is back with a bang: Oh Happy Day is a rumpus retelling of the Great Flood from a particularly Black lens, tackling uncomfortable themes through an exploration of faith, mortality, and revenge. 31/40
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I caught the 6pm MARC Penn line train from Union Station and arrived at Baltimore Penn around 7:03. Baltimore Center Stage is less than a mile walk from the station, and is ADA accessible, even more so if you catch the Baltimore Link bus down St Paul street. (I didn’t because it was a nice evening). My walk got me there at 7:25, and it let out at 9:31. I was easily able to catch the 10:00 Amtrak back to DC, which the metro was still open in.
