Walter Mosley is a consummate story-teller, a wordsmith without peer. His "Easy Rawlins" novels, his short stories and magazine pieces, are delightful tales of magicians and miscreants, tellers of the tallest of stories. He celebrates men who use their abilities to rail against situations and people who would impinge on their freedom.
Men like Tempest (Bryan Terrell Clark), a hustling black man from Harlem..
He's one of several heroes of "The Fall of Heaven," a charming play by mystery writer Walter Mosely that opened at the Rep last night and will be on the main stage through Jan. 30.
Tempest also is dead, shot numerous times by presumably white policemen. But Tempest, who has been a pretty decent guy, given the handicaps of growing up black in the United States, thinks he deserves a better fate than Hell, and he tells St. Peter, "Hell, no, I won't go." Tempest, a consummate hustler, doesn't work much but has both a wife and a girl friend, handling several scenes in which he deals with both of them simultaneously in a glorious manner.
Mosley's God is more liberal than most of the Gods running around this country these days, and he sends Tempest an advocate, an angel named Joshua (Corey Allen), to try to convince him to cop a plea. Joshua hasn't spent much time in Harlem before his angelic virginity falls prey to one of Tempest's girl friends, the charming Bronwyn (Kenya Brome), and the plot thickens.
Seth Gordon, the Rep's new associate artistic director, directs with style in his main stage directorial debut. He understands Mosley's graceful writing and his sense of humor, and he brings fine performances from his cast.
Joshua soon realizes that Earth is not Heaven, nor is every moral decision divided into stark opposites of black and white. The many shades of gray confuse him, especially when he falls in love with Bronwyn, more especially when he meets Basil Bob (Jeffrey C. Hawkins), whose black suit and red tie and pocket square make it easy to pronounce his name as Beelzebub. Hawkins, with a little help from sound designer Rusty Wandall, also serves as the voices of St. Peter, Mr. Chin and Mr. Akbar. The latter two are accountants and the employers of Joshua, who discovers that living on earth requires jobs and things. The former needs no introduction.
Just to emphasize his credentials, Hawkins shows up at one point in a pair of truly excellent red shoes.
The story of an angel being beset by doubt and confusion is not new. The situation has been a dependable plot for writers for centuries. Mosley adds some new twists, and the Rep's cast is delightful, with powerful performances from Clark, Allen, Brome and Hawkins. Rachel Leslie delights as several women who are easily bedded by Clark, who apparently never met a woman who could resist his charms. And yet "The Fall of Heaven," based on Mosley's "The Tempest Tales," is a lot more than a bedroom comedy. Behind Mosley's many laugh lines are stories of pain and mistreatment handed out more or less casually to black Americans, and a plea for social justice.
As usual, the Rep's tech work is outstanding, with Robert Mark Morgan's Harlem street corner offering a backdrop for the action, and Myrna Colley-Lee and Michael Lincoln providing costumes and lights that are splendidly complementary.
The Fall of Heaven, by Walter Mosley, is a production of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and will be on the main stage of the Loretto-Hilton Center through Jan. 30
—Joe