At Studio@620, stirring women of colors

By JOHN FLEMINGN, Times Performing Arts Critic
Published January 24, 2008

Leonard Williams is a brave man. Williams, a promising young actor he was in the superb Gem of the Ocean last fall at American Stage, makes his directing debut with For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, playing at Studio@620 Ntozake Shange's celebrated "choreopoem" - a series of deeply personal poems and soliloquies performed by seven women identified only by the color of their costumes - can come across as an orgy of male bashing.

But Williams' production mostly manages to transcend the woeful tales of men because of a spirited cast that tempers its rage with moments of girlish fun. Lady in Yellow (Aleshea Harris) gives a ballerina's spin to her memoir of being a virgin who "gave it up in a Buick." Lady in Brown (Brandii Edwards) delivers a fanciful account of running away from home in St. Louis in 1955 ("not a good year for little black girls") to Haiti.

To be sure, there are horrific stories of rape, back-street abortion and domestic violence. And some of the poetry is tragically sad, as in the lament by Lady in Orange (Brianna Morin) that "I am ready to die like a lily in the desert." Still, there's something liberating about the rough honesty of For Colored Girls, a feminist classic that should be required viewing by high school students.

Tuesday the performers were accompanied by African drumming, which seemed too loud in the hands of Mouhamed Badji.

For Colored Girls has shows at 2 p.m. Saturday (with actor Ranney hosting) and 7 p.m. Sunday (poet James Tokley hosting) at the gallery, 620 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg. $10, $15. (727) 895-6620; www.thestudioat620.org.

CONDUCTOR: Andrew Grams, resident conductor of the Florida Orchestra, is one of eight candidates for music director of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic in Indiana. Grams will conduct two concerts there in the 2008-09 season.

COMPOSER: Kurt Knecht, a composer-organist who did interesting work when he lived in the bay area, will play his newest work, Suite for Organ, at 3 p.m. Sunday at Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church, 3501 W San Jose St., Tampa. Knecht, studying for a doctorate in composition and organ performance at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will be joined by organist David Matthews. Free.

Preview

Florida Orchestra with Xavier Phillips

French cellist Xavier Phillips brings a concerto by one of France's most revered living composers, Henri Dutilleux, to the Florida Orchestra this weekend. Tout un Monde Lointain ... (A Whole Distant World) was inspired by a Baudelaire poem. "The music speaks for itself," said Phillips, 36. "I have read the poem many times, and it is very passionate. You can find that in the music, but a listener doesn't need to know the poetry. The main thing is to be open-minded." The soloist is "like a medium between the orchestra and the audience," said Phillips, who studied under legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom Dutilleux wrote the work in 1970. "I also went to Dutilleux's home in Paris and played the concerto for him." The program, conducted by Stefan Sanderling, also includes Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. Performances are 8 p.m. Friday at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa; 8 p.m. Saturday at the Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg; and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater. $19-$54. (813) 296-2403, toll-free 1-800-662-7286; www.floridaorchestra.com.

[Last modified January 24, 2008, 00:06:26]