"CHOIR BOY" SINGS UP A STORM AT YALE REP

Being a teenage boy is not easy. Being a Black teenage boy raises even more issues. Being a gay Black teenage boy embraces complications galore. Come meet Pharus Jonathan Young, a junior at an elite prep school for Black youth, who has much more than his academic subjects to overcome successfully. The choir is his life and he sings with the joy of redemption, especially now that he is the choir’s leader. His struggles for acceptance at the Charles R. Drew Preparatory School for Boys make him work determinately to become an ethically proud and honest Black man. That goal has been the school’s tradition for the past five decades. What happens to Pharus when as a talented gifted singer, with exceptional skills, he wants to take his well deserved place as the choir’s distinguished head? Tarell Alvin McCraney and Christopher D. Betts are Yale Repertory Theatre’s Playwright-in-Residence and Director respectively. Tarell now serves as the Co-Chair of the Playwriting Program, having graduated from the David Geffen School of Drama. Betts will graduate with an M.F.A. in May. “Choir Boy” will play with harmony and histrionics at the University Theatre, 222 York Street, New Haven until Saturday, April 23. Israel Erron Ford is outstanding as Pharus, trying to live up to the standards of his school, trying to ignore the taunts and bullying by fellow students like Bobby (Anthony Holiday) who takes pleasure in tormenting Pharus as he sings at graduation. The fact that Bobby is the nephew of the headmaster, a dedicated Allen Gilmore, makes Pharus’ tightrope walk of not being a snitch that much harder to sustain. People can freely admit to loving basketball, their pet puppy , even egg salad sandwiches. It is much harder and more complex to admit to loving another human being of the same sex. Being accepted is a difficult road to travel. Come watch Pharus navigate the mine fields as he earns lessons he never anticipated and grows into the man he is destined to become. While he wants to keep his personal life private, that goal seems impossible. His other fellow students David (Aaron James McKenzie), AJ (Malik James), Jr (Jarrett Anthony Bennett) along with an ensemble including Gilbert Domally, Denzel DeAngelo Fields, Darian Peer and Wildlin Pierrevil, provide the energy and spirit that pervades this musical. The entrance of a former professor Mr. Pendleton (Walton Wilson) sends the boys into an exploration of thinking outside the box. Pharus takes the opportunity to examine spirituals and their meaning as related to slavery. Numbers like “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," and “Rockin’ Jerusalem” exhibit the exuberance of these boys, especially with Allen Rene Louis as Music Director and Vocal Arrangements, Amy Hall Garner as Choreographer and Anna Grigo as Scenic Designer. For tickets ($10-65), call the Yale Repertory Theatre at 203-432-1234 or online at www.yalerep.org. Performances are Wednesday to Saturday at 8 p.m. plus Saturdays at 2 p.m. and Wednesday at 2 p.m. on April 20. Please bring your vaccination card or a recently negative COVID test and a mask to wear. Join Pharus as he learns much more than academics, as he comes of age and takes his rightful place in adulthood.