It is surely stipulated in J. Harrison’s Ghee contract: “They must steal the show.”
As it was with their history-making Tony Award-winning performance in the 2022 Broadway revival of Some Like It Hot—becoming the first non-binary performer to win Best Leading Actor in a Musical—so it is in Saturday Church (New York Theatre Workshop, to Oct. 19), in which Ghee plays two roles so visually different yet so convincingly you may wonder why one of those characters, Pastor Lewis, is apparently missing during the curtain call.
As a fabulously dressed, never under-sequined “Black Jesus,” Ghee begins the show addressing the audience: “Can I show y’all what collective love looks like? What collective joy looks like? What collective healing looks like?”
That is the core aim of this musical, a crackling thunderstorm of drama, humor, sass, and trauma—with some fantastic songs by the pop star Sia; additional music by Honey Dijon—in which Black Jesus attempts to help teenager Ulysses (Bryson Battle) as the latter struggles to come out as their true self. Pressing down on Ulysses are feelings of loss and abandonment; their dad is dead, and mom Amara (Kristolyn Lloyd) is an overworked nurse trying to provide for them both.
There is also the shadow of a domineering and judgmental aunt, Rose played by Joaquina Kalukango, who won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for her role (and standout singing) in Paradise Square the same year as Ghee. At the outset, Rose makes clear that she despises what she perceives as Ulysses’ flamboyance, especially at the conventional church they attend, and so Ulysses is left feeling unmoored and desperately alone over both how he (later they), can express who they really are…