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It’s a rainy night – April 3, 1968 in room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has just delivered what will be the final speech of his life. He has come to Memphis to support the sanitation workers’ strike and that night he told an overflowing crowd that there would be “difficult days ahead,” and went on to say, “but it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop – I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”
Dr. King enters room 306 not so much the venerable icon we are familiar with, but simply a 49 year-old man in a somewhat run down motel room, missing his wife and family, and seeking a little room service and a cigarette. He’s sent Ralph Abernathy out in the storm to buy his Pall Malls and places a call to room service. They no longer offer it but he charms them into sending him up just a cup of coffee. Enter Camae (short for Carrie Mae), a sassy, earthy, young maid on her first day of work – delivering a cup of coffee to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.! She calls him Preacher King and is both starstruck and oddly at ease in his company, treating him almost like a dear uncle. She teases him about his smoking and the holes in his socks, disarming him with her charm, familiarity, and eventually her own brand of wisdom – even giving him advice on giving a speech!
This Patricia McGregor directed production of Katori Hall’s innovative play is a truly unique, theatrical experience and one of the best things I’ve seen all season. It is fascinating to imagine this last night of King’s life and to see a behind the scenes version of him – nervous, thoughtful, chain-smoking – a man – although we do get flashes of his oratory skills as he practices his forthcoming speech.
As Camae interjects her unvarnished opinions about the movement, his place in it and his tactics, King begins to question himself, his leadership role and his own mortality. Playing the feisty Camae is Amanda Warren in a transcendent performance that is staggering. She has charisma and beauty for days and terrific chemistry with Jon Michael Hill as a very charming and fragile MLK Jr. Warren’s performance is revelatory – she has a devastating monologue late in the play that she delivers exquisitely – you could hear a pin drop. Which is saying a lot as the opening night audience was very verbal in their enthusiasm throughout the show.
In a prophetic ending to his Mountaintop speech, King revealed he was not afraid to die, telling the crowd, “I would like to live a long life – longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will…and so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”.
However, in his hotel room this night, we see a King who is not ready to meet his maker just yet. He has work to do, speeches to give, marches to organize, and a people to lead. It’s difficult to play a real person, especially one as known as King, but Hill does a remarkable job at showing King’s affable, playful, and human side while giving us glimmers of the great orator. Pulling off a two-hander like this is also no easy task but Hill and Warren are exceptional and watching them go toe to toe is worth the ticket price alone.
The Rachel Myers set is evocative of a specific place and time while all the design elements allude to something more, something timeless.
Hall’s writing is illuminating and thought-provoking, taking us on a journey back to a moment in time as well as one through time. “The Mountaintop” is an irreverent, audacious cry that inspires us to take up the baton, knowing there is more work to be done.
“The Mountaintop” runs through July 9, 2023 at the Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse located at 10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Tickets currently priced at $30.00 – $129.00. Available by phone at 310.208.2028 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org.
Rush tickets for each day’s performance are made available to the general public one hour before showtime at the box office. $35.00 General/$15.00 Student.
