An Asian guy I knew in college used to say this about weed: "Enough is enough, but too much is just right." Michael R. Jackson must have heard him when writing White Girl In Danger, an absolutely brilliant satire of Black representation in American culture proving that his Pulitzer Prize and Best Musical Tony for A Strange Loop was no fluke. His perceptions, accompanied by the kind of catchy pop tunes that belie his race and time but perfectly synchronize with his themes, come at you so quickly that I'm pretty sure that I missed more than I got. Where are supertitles when you REALLY need them?
No matter that the show could have used some judicious pruning: it's never dull and the cast and production team fluidly deliver profundity in a candy-colored package that mines every soap opera cliché and then some. Jackson's takeaway on "centering Black joy," sung by Tara Conner Jones, an incredible find from regional theater who brings down the house twice, and a tear-inducing monolog on the playwright's inner demons, deliver the most powerful messages I've ever heard on how to be seen.
Alas, I'm not sure White Girl In Danger's appeal is mainstream. Look no farther than the relatively early closing of A Strange Loop on Broadway which probably lost ticket sales due to its explicit acknowledgement of butt fucking in the gay male community. Although Jackson's new musical doesn't face that challenge, like Slave Play, another production that might have lasted longer on Broadway if quality mattered, it does ask that mostly white ticket buyers come to grip with centuries of cruel and clueless behavior. That can be a hard sell for people who can afford today's ticket prices, including members of the "Black bourgeoisie." Like Chris Rock, Jackson is an equal opportunity satirist if a much kinder one.
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