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Giant Steps, An UrBEAN Musical
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Giant Steps, An UrBEAN Musical is a contemporary twist on the classic fairytale “Jack & The Beanstalk” that will delight young and old, alike. Set in the inner city of a major American metropolis, Giant Steps is a coming of age story that follows the story of J Johnson, a 15-year-old boy, who lives with his widowed mother in a miserable tenement basement apartment. J escapes the dreariness and sadness of his reality thru comic books and fantasizes about becoming a superhero. A chance encounter with a street vendor leaves J with magical beans that will forever change his fate.
"KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO HIS HEAD"
"The Theatre Centre is to be commended for providing fertile ground for new works to grow and for new creatives to stretch their wings. Take your chance as well and go see something new – you never know what may be growing in our own back yard." The Chattanooga Theatre Centre opened a brand new musical last weekend - here’s my review of Giant Steps: An Urbean Musical It used to be a common practice for new musicals to have several try-outs during their development. A show could be followed and viewed at (and on) various stages and audiences got to see how the work changed and grew. These days the expense of a major production means that the development is done in workshops and readings and the show itself seems to arrive onstage fully formed with few drastic changes being made in most cases. This is why its such a unique opportunity to see a new musical with room to grow premiere on the stage of the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. Giant Steps: An UrBEAN Musical has a book by Eric H. Weiberger with music and lyrics by Chattanooga local Michael Dexter. The musical takes the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and transports it to an inner city setting. Jermaine “J” Johnson and his mother live in a tenement apartment and struggle under the predatory eye of the building’s superintendent Hatchet. After J’s bike is stolen he finds hope in a handful of beans given to him by a street vendor. I have to admit that I expected a much more by-the-numbers adaptation of the fairytale. Instead, Giant Steps embraces its individuality with explorations of urban life, employment, crime and self-reliance. Bringing this show to life is a strong cast under the direction of Louie Marin-Howard who also choreographs the work. Mateo Tibbs plays J and brings tremendous energy to the role. He moves easily from a typical teenager to a hero and exhibits the confidence and control of a performer sure to find even more success on the stage. The same can be said for Charlene Hong White as Nikki, J’s mother. White’s talent as both an actor and a singer make me look forward to what she brings to roles in the future. Jamie Gienapp plays the lecherous super, Hatchet, with the same menace he brought to his role in Lobby Hero a few years ago, but this time her gets to display his strong vocal talent as well. What’s better than a despicable villain? One that can sing, of course! Also impressive is KaShya Dunigan who plays Melody Pastel – a young girl in need of J’s help – but who proves to be quite capable in her own right. Dunigan, like Mateo Tibbs, is a young performer with a bright future. The Theatre Centre is to be commended for providing fertile ground for new works to grow and for new creatives to stretch their wings. Take your chance as well and go see something new – you never know what may be growing in our own back yard. ~Isaac Blevins
"Go see this once in a blue moon opportunity to hear a new, young voice belting out the possibility of life at the top of their lungs for a whole collective to hear and understand." A Guest Review for Chattanooga Theatre Center: It’s always an exciting opportunity to see a work before anyone else. This is one of the many reasons that I was thankful for the opportunity granted by the Chattanooga Theater Center to see GIANT STEPS: An UrBEAN Musical this previous Friday. The excitement in the audience was palpable as the production was buzzing to its opening. A young child in front of my partner and I could barely stay in his seat while the opening theme played before the curtain parted. When it did, I and the audience were embraced by the childhood dreams of playwright Michael Dexter exploding onto a stage of color and light. This story isn’t new, but the trials and struggles of young J (an ease radiates from the performance of Mateo Tibbs) are far from being over-explored in the works of modern musicals. The tapestry is that story of Jack and the Beanstalk with the evil giant atop its magical height. But here the tale has been transported to the streets of an unnamed city populated with friends and foes. The protagonist is a young man on the beat to reach the heights of his superhero idols which populate the comic books forbidden by his mother as being a childish pastime. His world is threatened on a daily basis by the dreaded Hatchet who doubles as the giant in the clouds. J’s mother who nuance is created by Charlene Hong White is an overworked individual who channels all of her energy into her income and taking care of her son. A battle of wills is united around the gift of the magic beans conjuring an image of the impossible in a beanstalk growing in the alley—no sunlight necessary—only faith in the physical change possible with will placed behind it. Thankfully this power battle between Hatchet’s fear mongering of capital and the young J’s courage of fantasy is fought on a fitting piece of ingenuity in a rotating set which illustrates the ever changing landscape negotiated through movement on its orbit. Our cast navigate this treacherous terrain through the songs which give them their energy in the fight against the evil demands of Hatchet (played with strong conviction in Jamie Gienapp) especially in a stand out ensemble number such as “The Climb”. The choreography from Louie Marin-Howard brings these pieces together to create a cohesive whole of resistant music against an environment and structure which appears to be unmoving at first glance. Perhaps the most fascinating experience of this production is the passion placed behind every song to initiate a sense of knowing between performer and audience which endears these well known archetypes to us as the modern viewer. Whereas one might view this fable as an outdated text to be tossed out with many of the other Anglo-Saxon mythologies—Dexter sees this as an opportunity to bring to life the truths of a life lesser seen on the stage. The buzz from the onset of the show could still be felt throughout as the cast stepped out multiple times on the set which overlooks the audience to extol the joy of change through perseverance. Go see this once in a blue moon opportunity to hear a new, young voice belting out the possibility of life at the top of their lungs for a whole collective to hear and understand. ~Michael Knotts
"A strong theater production should not only engross the viewer during the performance but also inspire talk, questions and conversation after the applause." Reviewer Robin Howe found our newly opened production of GIANT STEPS: AN URBEAN MUSICAL provocative and engaging. Check out what she has to say! ***** Writing a review for The Chattanooga Theatre Centre’s Giant Steps is hard. All aspects which absorbed me prior to intermission were quickly eclipsed by the fast moving plot. It was as if I was canoeing on a still lake and suddenly after intermission came upon a rushing waterfall. Many of the production's strengths come forth when the curtain rises and the performance moves relatively slowly. The scenery and costumes- all impressive and provocative. Suddenly, post -intermission, passive laid back observers are jolted by the turn of events as the production roars to its conclusion. This review mirrors the audience’s dual experience. performance’s dual nature The curtain rises and the audience realizes that while clearly aligned to the famed folktale of Jack and the Beanstalk, the setting of Giant Steps is far from a pastoral land with cows and meadows. Instead, a revolving set moves from a ghetto street scene with graffiti and garbage bags to an apartment entry with velvet carpeted stairways, a palladian window bordered by two well manicured topiaries to a cloud heaven of voile draped billowy clouds. Transition between these scenes was seamless and the stage was nothing short of superb. My companion, who has now attended over fifteen plays with me at the Theatre Centre said, “It was one of the best, if not the best scene design I’ve ever seen.” We both puzzled how scenic designers, Shanon Singley and William Spratt, managed to create a veritable climbing wall out of stuffed garbage bags. We have yet to figure it out. The costumes, like the garbage bag bean stalk, also presented a conundrum. The ensemble all wore paint-splattered white t- shirts over long sleeve t’s of brilliant chartreuses, cyans and tangerines. The ensemble looked like the cast from one of many Godspell during the 1970s. Yet, despite the colorful attire, they did not express the joyous ebullience one might expect. The cheerful colors seemed incongruent with their destitute lives. More puzzling: all the ensemble had various seemingly brand new patches of stars, hearts and crosses sewn on their clothes. We wondered what these symbols implied Why does the protagonist, a young 15 year old black boy wear a star akin to a Jew during the Holocaust. His mom, An asian woman, wears hearts on her knees. Tinita Coulter, costume designer, puzzles the audience in a good way; we want to know more. Most likely, Benjamin Tabart who first published the English folk tale, would be surprised to discover that the good hard working mother who supported her family by selling milk and butter has been supplanted by a mom who cleans houses, lives in an unheated basement and calls her son on a cellphone to make sure he is awake for school. The queer little old man with a queer little smile on a queer little face of the folktale is replaced by a gypsy-like West Indian woman dressed in chartreuse with sparkly makeup sells. Lastly, no ogre growls ”Fee-fie-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman.” Instead, the villain is a vile superintendent who sells drugs, hits on women and mistreats those in poverty. Giant Steps, by reinventing these roles, confronts a harsh reality. Jill Chondra, a loyal CTC fan, shared her thoughts as to these most intentional adaptive script changes. “I really appreciated that the show didn’t hide hard topics. Single mother, teenage problems, white men abusing privilege, drugs, the struggle of poverty….things that most of us are fortunate enough to not live with day to day. The more I think on the play, the more nuanced it becomes. In terms of acting, singing and dancing, no one actor overshadowed the other. Nicole Coleman and Dawn Hendrix were most impressive in their powerful operatic voices while Jamie Gienapp successfully repulsed his audience as a totally evil brute who seemed ready to provide favors for sex (I really did hate him). Mateo Tibbs in his cartwheels, somersaults and street dancing moves shines as 15 year old Jermaine Johnson, and Cherokee Ellison, as a self defense master, clearly has an impressive mastery of martial arts and hip hop moves. Johnson’s performance impressed me enough to send me down a rabbit hole where I learned more about his Move N Groove programs for kids within Chattanooga. He is something else. Giant Steps asks many questions. Does it share the moral of the Jack and The Beanstalk that fortune comes to those who take risks? I am not so sure. Perhaps it suggests that those who are cruel, selfish and greedy deserve punishment. Another option: those in poverty will likely never rise out of it without a miracle. A strong theater production should not only engross the viewer during the performance but also inspire talk, questions and conversation after the applause. This performance does just that. Go see our local performers and think about the directors choices. Offer up your explanation as to the costumes and your interpretation of the moral. Ask yourself if an English fairy tale centuries old remains relevant today. ~Robin Howe
