Review: “King James” at GableStage
The Season’s First Production at GableStage is a Slam Dunk
Is basketball a metaphor for life? Is allegiance to a basketball team a fulfilling experience or a vapid guilty pleasure? How important are celebrity icons to our social lives? These and other questions are probed in the witty, engaging premiere production of GableStage this season, “King James.”
We arrived at the theater wondering how any playwright could fill two hours with compelling conversations between two sport fans. But Pulitzer finalist Rajiv Joseph manages to do just that in this clever comedy about two unlikely friends whose bond is forged through their reverence for hoops and their mutual obsession with LeBron James.
Set in James’ hometown of Cleveland, “King James” spans the 12-year arc from when “King” Lebron James joined the Cavaliers, then left them for the Miami Heat, then returned to fulfill the promise of a championship. The play stars actors Melvin Huffnagle and Gregg Weiner, both veterans of GableStage – Huffnagle in August Wilson’s “How I Learned What I Learned” and Weiner in “The Price” – and both consummate thespians. Together, they bring to life a brilliant script that takes the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions and shifting balances of interpersonal power, a ride through a turbulent relationship that sometimes goes dark but is never without amusement.
What is surprising about “King James” is how much you can grok of the passion for b-ball without knowing anything about it. The stage crew also adds a fun, frivolous element by wearing striped referee shirts and sporting whistles to bring theatergoers back inside after the 15-minute intermission.
The play is directed by Miami Springs High School graduate Ruben Carrazana, who returned from Chicago to take the helm of “King James.” He was living in Miami when the Heat won their championships in 2012 and 2013, something which GableStage Producing Artistic Director Bari Newport considered a requirement for the job. “I wanted to hear first-hand experiences about Miami absolutely erupting when the Heat won in 2012 and 2013,” says Newport. “I also wanted to hear about what happened when LeBron left the Miami Heat in 2014. I wanted to hear about the burning of the jerseys and the utter despair!”
Those emotions are served up with deft direction under Carrazana, in a production that makes you appreciate what live theater is all about. It’s also a homecoming for Carrazana, who spent high school summers building sets for the theater company. “When I was in high school, GableStage introduced me to the kind of work I have spent the past decade building a career with. It’s a dream to come back home and direct this at a theater and a community that means so much to me.”
The opener for GableStage’s 26th season is a potent audience pleaser, with humor, pathos, and a wry take on the human condition through the eyes of basketball fanatics. “King James” is a well written, well directed, and well-acted play that holds your attention without letup. Bari Newport, now in her fourth season as maestro of the GableStage, hits her stride with it.