Choir Boy – Bristol Old Vic

Alistair Nwachukwu, Terique Jarrett, Michael Ahomka-Lindsay, Jyuddah Jaymes and Khalid Daley in Choir Boy at Bristol Old Vic. Picture: Camilla Greenwell

Choir Boy continues at Bristol Old Vic until 11 November 2023.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

New Yorker Nancy Medina, in the post of artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic for a year now, has in no way played it safe with her choice of debut production personally at the helm: Academy Award-winning writer Tarell Alvin McCraney’s musical study of Black masculinity, Choir Boy.

In a pre-first night interview, Medina suggested ten years should be a good enough time to completely change the direction in which a theatre had been operating. But after boldly labelling Bristol as a city ‘completely segregated racially, economically and by class’, she has plunged straight in at the diversity deep end.

McCraney’s narrative centres around Pharus, a late-teens, Black, gay student played with a mix of sensitivity and ebullience by Terique Jarrett, one of five young male actors whose presence owes much to the production’s links with Chuchu Nwagu Productions. He leads the gospel choir at an elite, African-American school, providing an obvious setting in which to explore race, sexuality and coming-of-age.

At times, this scrutiny comes over as altogether too verbose (Pharus’ Act I dissertation on spirituals seems never-ending). It tends also to be disconnected from what in any case is a decidedly thin plot. However, McCraney’s insertion of a sense of humanity and humour lightens what otherwise might have seemed something of a sermon – especially in a musical.

It is on this musical side that Medina, her musical director Femi Temowo and the boys in the choir play their strongest hand, with a raft of exhilarating songs, mainly of the a cappella gospel variety, with ‘Keep Your Eyes On the Prize’ and ‘Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child’ the highlights. You may not leave the theatre singing the lyrics, but the likelihood is that you will be in better spirits than when you went in.

Aside from Jarrett’s commanding performance, Jyuddah Jaymes is both chirpy and understanding as his roommate (the scene where he grooms Pharus’ hair is particularly touching) and Khalid Daley, Michael Ahomka-Lindsay and Alistair Nwachukwu step out of the choir to make the most of their solo moments. Meanwhile, Daon Broni is the gruff but well-intentioned headmaster; but it is difficult to understand the role in the proceedings of former teacher Mr Pendleton, played by Martin Turner, in building the boys’ creative confidence.

Medina, who worked as an usher and a bartender at the Theatre Royal when she first came to Bristol 15 years ago, has already announced that the Christmas offering will be a modern reimagined version of Arabian Nights about the changes people want to see in the world. She certainly isn’t hiding her own changes under a theatrical bushel.

Jeremy Brien