**** Recommended Twisted Melodies is the story of Donny Hathaway, a songwriter and soul music legend who struggled with mental illness his entire adult life. Kelvin Roston, Jr. wrote and stars in this play with music, a tour de force performance as the tortured songwriter. By the way, in addition to singing Hathaway’s songs, he also plays the keyboard accompaniment. It’s hard to watch Hathaway’s struggles, but kudos to Roston for a nuanced performance. 4 Spotlights
R & B afficionados will recognize Donny Hathaway’s iconic sound throughout the show, as Roston plays and sings enduring hits like More Than You’ll Ever Know, The Ghetto, and The Closer I Get to You.
In a motel room somewhere, Hathaway is working on a song, but it’s not quite right. Just when he thinks he found the right sound, his tape recorder didn’t record. His struggles with the recorder, then his frustration when the tape broke/unspooled was totally on point. I remember doing exactly the same thing – although I wasn’t trying to write music, just listen to it!
Hathaway wasn’t just trying to write a song, he was trying to hold himself together while fighting off his own personal demons. When he had trouble concentrating, he took a pill. When someone knocked on the door, he hid in the closet. When the phone rang, he hid in the closet. When his demons took over, we all saw the lights turn to flickering silver; we all heard them buzzing.
Eventually, he talked about his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and what it’s done to his life. His doctors’ answers to his illness – a bag of prescription bottles filled with lots of different colored pills he pulled out of a drawer. When he got angry, he dumped the bottles on the bed, picking them up one by one and naming them while emptying the pills and scattering them around the room. As he names a drug, lithium for example, the name of the drug is projected in random patterns on the wall.
It is difficult to portray mental illness in a play. Kudos to Director Ron OJ Parson and the production team, Lighting Designer Jason Lynch, Sound Designer eric Backus and Projection Designer Rasean Davonté Johnson, for their sensitive handling of the subject.
Kelvin Roston, Jr. started writing Twisted Melodies in 2015 for Congo Square Theatre. It has had several stagings over the years. In fact, B.J. Jones, Northlight’s Artistic Director, saw it on stage in 2019 at the Mosaic Theatre in Washington D.C.
Northlight Theatre’s production of Twisted Melodies runs through August 10th at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie. Parking is free. Running time is about 90 minutes, no intermission.
Performances are: Wednesdays at 1:00 & 7:30 pm; Thursdays & Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 2:30 & 7:30 pm; and Sundays at 2:30 pm (7:30 pm August 3rd only).
Accessible Performances are: Audio Description/Touch Tour: Saturday, August 2nd at 2:30 pm; Open Captioning: Friday, August 1st at 7:30 pm, Saturday, August 2nd at 2:30 pm.
Tickets range from $49-$91 (before fees). FYI (847) 673-6300 or www.northlight.org.