| Caroline, or Change | |
|---|---|
| Music | Jeanine Tesori |
| Lyrics | Tony Kushner |
| Book | Tony Kushner |
| Productions | 2003 Off-Broadway 2004 Broadway 2006 London 2009 Guthrie Theater |
| Awards | Olivier Award Best Musical |
Caroline, or Change is a through-composed musical with book and lyrics by Tony Kushner and score by Jeanine Tesori that combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, and Jewish klezmer and folk music.
The show ran both Off-Broadway and On Broadway as well as in London.
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The musical was first workshopped in May 1999 at New York's off-Broadway Public Theater. Director George C. Wolfe continued to workshop the musical at the Public Theater, where it opened on November 30, 2003 and closed on February 1, 2004.[1][2]
It transferred to Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on May 2, 2004 and closed on August 29, 2004 after 136 performances and 22 previews. The musical starred Tonya Pinkins in the title role, Anika Noni Rose as Emmie Thibodeaux, Harrison Chad as Noah Gellman, Veanne Cox as Rose Stopnick Gellman and Chandra Wilson as Dotty Moffett. (all both off-and on-Broadway). The choreographer was Hope Clarke; scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez; costume design by Paul Tazewell; and lighting design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer. Despite its relatively short run, it was critically acclaimed[3] and nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Opening in October 2006, a London production at the National Theatre on the Lyttelton stage, also directed by Wolfe, ran in repertory with Marianne Elliot's production of Thérèse Raquin to January 2007. The production did not transfer to the West End but did win the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The opening night cast in London starred Tonya Pinkins as Caroline. Other cast members included Pippa Bennett-Warner as Emmie Thibodeaux, Anna Francolini as Rose Stopnick Gellman, Hilton McRae as Mr. Stopnick, Perry Millward, Jonny Weldon and Greg Bernstein alternating as Noah and Clive Rowe as the dryer/bus.[4]
In regional theatre, Pinkins and Anika Noni Rose (Emmie Thibodeaux) reprised their roles in late 2004 at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, California[5] and in early 2005 at the Curran Theatre, San Francisco, California.[6] The Chicago premiere at the Court Theatre in fall 2008 earned 4 Jeff awards,[7] for director Charles Newell, Musical Director Doug Peck, star E. Faye Butler, and best production of a musical at a large scale theater. Other productions include Center Stage, Baltimore, Maryland, in December 2008-January 2009 with E. Faye Butler;[8] the Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April–June 2009,[9] and the Gallery Players, Brooklyn, N.Y., January–February 2010.
The musical is set in 1963 in Lake Charles, Louisiana during the American civil rights movement, November–December 1963, encompassing the time of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Caroline Thibodeaux is a black maid for a Jewish family, the Gellmans, spending her days in their dank basement doing the laundry for the pitiful sum of $30 a week. The Gellmans' young son, Noah, has a strong emotional connection to Caroline, a single parent who remains stoic amid the sweep of change she sees around her. Regardless of the circumstances, whether it is the death of a president, her daughter's growing activism and misunderstood dismissal of what she perceives to be Caroline's choice to remain a maid, her son's enlistment in Vietnam, a fight with a newly college-bound friend, or a spin with the dryer, Caroline remains unflappable. She provides stability during Noah's grief at his mother's death from cancer, and her constant anger appeals to his constant sorrow. Noah's new stepmother Rose, unable to give Caroline a raise, enlists Caroline's help in a plan to teach Noah a lesson about leaving change in his pants pocket. Rose tells Noah and Caroline that Caroline should keep the money Noah leaves in his pockets. Caroline loathes the unintended humiliation of taking money from a child—but her own children lack money for toys, sweets, dentistry, and Christmas presents, and she is late with the rent because her salary has gone toward two special meals for her children. As an experiment and while fantasizing to exchange his isolating family for the imagined compassion of hers, Noah deliberately leaves money in his pockets, dreaming that Caroline's family now talk about his generosity over dinner.
The lesson goes awry when the ownership of a $20 bill is contested in the laundry, and Caroline's relationship with eight year-old Noah is irrevocably ruptured. After a week of reflection, with deep regret for harsh words spoken in anger, Caroline decides to return to her dehumanizing work as a maid. In a furious and broken prayer to God, she acknowledges that she'll never escape her circumstances, and she vows to crush her soul so that she can resist the pride that would grant her change but cost her the money that she needs to support her family. Against a background of the death of JFK, the Vietnam war, and the non-violent direct action protests organized by Martin Luther King, the tide of change continues to define Caroline's liminal place in history, a working mother, bearing up under a broken marriage, economic hardship, and racial inequality. Forever a maid, her tragic destiny sears the memories of the two parted principals. The tragedy is ultimately offset by an epilogue, a heroic solo sung by her daughter Emmie, laying claim to the hope and determination for a better life for Caroline's appreciative and proud children.
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Caroline, or Change will have a three-week run at The Human Race Theatre Company (www.humanracetheatre.org) November 4–20, 2011.
The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in Hartford,Conneticut has been announced to be the first high school to perform "Caroline, or Change". The production will run December 9-17, 2011.
The Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists in Saint Paul, Minnesota has been announced to be the second high school to perform "Caroline, Or Change". The J-Term production will run January 21st and 22nd, 2012 at The History Theatre.
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Obie Award | Outstanding Performance | Tonya Pinkins | Won |
| Special Citation | Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori | Won |
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Musical | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Book of a Musical | Tony Kushner | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Tonya Pinkins | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Anika Noni Rose | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Director of a Musical | George C. Wolfe | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Music | Jeanine Tesori | Won | ||
| Lucille Lortel Award | Outstanding Musical | Won | ||
| Outstanding Lead Actress | Tonya Pinkins | Won | ||
| Outstanding Featured Actress | Anika Noni Rose | Won | ||
| Outstanding Choreographer | Hope Clarke | Won | ||
| Outstanding Costume Design | Paul Tazewell | Nominated | ||
| Tony Award | Best Musical | Nominated | ||
| Best Book of a Musical | Tony Kushner | Nominated | ||
| Best Original Score | Jeanine Tesori | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical | Tonya Pinkins | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical | Anika Noni Rose | Won | ||
| Best Direction of a Musical | George C. Wolfe | Nominated | ||
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best New Musical | Won | |
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