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| (l-r) Chuma Gault and Jason DeLane in 'HYMN' |
By Darlene Donloe
Lolita Chakrabarti's 'Hymn' is a soul-stirring exploration of Black male friendship, set to the rhythms of R&B and the bruised optimism of two men's lives.
The play unfolds like a slow-burning jam session, with Jason DeLane's ‘Benny’ and Chuma Gault's ‘Gil’ trading fides in a potent mix of humor, vulnerability, and desperation.
The setup is elegantly simple: two 50-year-old men who meet at a funeral, united by a presumed familial bond, forge an unlikely alliance in the shadow of mortality.
Gil (Chuma Gault) grieves his father's passing, while Benny (Jason DeLane) believes they're long-lost kin – Gil's half-brother, to be exact. Once the fraternal connection is confirmed, they play catch-up, cramming a lifetime of bonding into their remaining years.
Gil is the charismatic go-getter, and Benny is the introspective anchor. Together, they are an odd couple, but, for the most part, Chakrabarti's writing finds the beauty in their discord.
As they brawl, banter, and bond, Gault and DeLane inject a palpable physicality into their characters' dynamic, their chemistry crackling like live wires.
A bromance in the making, whenever the two men connect through their love of old school music, the play has high-energy.
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| (l-r) Chuma Gault and Jason DeLane |
The play's structure, with its nifty time jumps and R&B-infused interludes, keeps the energy high, even when the plot veers into predictability.
Gregg T. Daniel’s direction, ably assisted by live-mixing wizardry, keeps the story hurtling forward, though occasionally, the whys of Gil and Benny's deepening connection feel a tad rushed.
When the play is bogged down in heavy dialogue, sans action, the show slows.
Still, 'Hymn' resonates, thanks to its occasional crackling dialogue, witty repartee, and – most crucially – its two stellar leads.
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| (l-r) Chuma Gault and Jason DeLane |
Gault and DeLane are revelatory, imbuing their characters with a sense of lived-in reality that's both heartbreaking and heartening.
‘Hymn’ is an Odyssey/Lower Depth co-production.
‘Hymn,’ directed by Gregg T. Daniel and written by Lolita Chakrabarti, stars Jason DeLane and Chuma Gault.
The creative team for this production includes scenic designer Stephanie Kerley Schwartz, lighting designer Donny Jackson, sound designer Alma Reyes-Thomas, costume designer Wendell C. Carmichael, properties designer Jenine Macdonald, choreographer Toran Xavier Moore, and dialect coach Paul Wagar. The stage manager is Jenny Nwene.
‘Hymn’ is produced by Sally Essex–Lopresti for Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and Drina Durazo for Lower Depth Theatre.
‘Hymn’ comes in at 95 minutes with no intermission.
‘Hymn,’ Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, plus one Wednesday performance at 8 p.m. May 27, through June 14, $35. A $3 fee will be added to each ticket purchased with a credit card. Discounts are available for students and seniors. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 477-2055 or go to OdysseyTheatre.com.
On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likable), O (oh, yeah), and E (excellent), ‘Hymn’ gets an O (oh, yeah).
