By Aaron Schoepf
First, Darkness. Silence. Nothing. Then a chirp, almost background noise. Suddenly it gets louder, and the sounds of Cicadas invade your ears, never allowing you to hear anything else. Then nothing once again. Appropriate by Brandon Jacobs Jenkins depicts a family dealing with the aftermath of their father's death. Currently being performed on Broadway, Toni(Sarah Paulson) and Bo( Corey Stoll) must clean the house left in disarray before it is auctioned off. Then their estranged brother Frank, now going by Franz(Michael Esper), shows up out of nowhere with his young fiance River(Elle Fanning). The final straw is the finding of racist and disturbing memorabilia in their father’s house. The family must determine the secrets of their father, especially after Rachel, Bo’s wife, says, “Your father was somebody long before you came along. And he sure was a different person when you weren’t in the room.” However, Toni, and all the siblings, deny this at some point. They don’t want to admit their own internal racism, and the other mistakes they have made as people, and as parents. All of their children, aged from late teens to six years old, and all of these children are exposed to the racism of their grandfather.
The set itself is one of the most memorable parts of the production. Although it is stagnant, it changes exponentially from scene to scene. We can see the mess, and the amount of boxes and miscellaneous items strewn about. We also see the definition of appropriate, and how the word can also mean appropriate, as a means to “steal” the culture and shared trauma of a minority group. If your reader hasn’t seen the production yet, they might not understand what you mean by being able to see the definition of the word. We also see this as a way to ignore the true horrors that have been inflicted to minority groups in America, especially African Americans. The picture book is found among their father’s belongings within easy reach. As a hoarder, there must have been items he had not used in years, unable to be reached because of the mess. Therefore, he must have looked at these pictures often in order for it to be in easy access after his death. I don’t think you want to give this much information to the reader of the review. The lighting of the production also had a critical role. The use of actual lamps on stage gave the feeling of intimacy to the audience and allowed us to see ourselves in the character's shoes, or at the very least, relate them to someone we may have in our own family. The lighting depicts natural times of day as well, showing us the passage of time in an otherwise unmoving set.
When attending the production of Appropriate on January 30, 2024, was more than a little disappointing. I believe that the production team did a wonderful job in portraying Jenkins’ message, but the audience almost refused to see the message Jenkins was showing us through the realm of the Lafayette’s. The audience however only chose to see the comedy in some of the very dark things Jenkins was portraying. It almost felt like I was in an echo chamber where Jenkins's message was only seen at the surface level, and not on the deeper level that he was intending. That is the very reason that this show is being played on Broadway. There are millions of “Lafayettes” across the country who believe racism is just a “product of the times” and refuse to grow and learn. As a white person, I could never understand the fear and pain the African American community has faced in this country. But the laughter, although lessened from earlier, of the audience as Ainsley, Bo’s six-year-old son, runs down the stairs in a KKK mask sent chills down my spine.
Again, I think you are giving away too much information to your reader.