On & Off Broadway

‘Eclipsed’ and ‘Bright Star’

Review by Elyse Trevers

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Two superb performers are making their Broadway debuts this season. Lupita Nyong’o (“Twelve Years s Slave”) stars in Eclipsed, the engrossing drama about four captive Liberian women. Carmen Cusack makes her debut singing her way into our hearts in the Steve Martin - Edie Brickell musical Bright Star, about a young woman whose tragic loss changes her life.

Written by Danai Gurira (Michonne on TV’s "Walking Dead”), Eclipsed is set in a shack in Liberia at the end of the Second Liberian Civil War. The women are all “wives” of the commanding officer who is fighting to depose Charles Taylor, president of Liberia. They no longer go by their given names but are known only by their numbers in the hierarchy and relationship to the CO. Early on, their personalities become quite distinctive. Maternal, controlling Wife #1 (Saycon Sengbloh) and pregnant childlike Wife #3 (Pascale Armand) try to keep The Girl hidden from the CO but sadly, he finds her one night and she becomes Wife #4.

Prodded by Wife #2, Wife #4 Nyong’o transforms from a young innocent to an emboldened warrior. She must steel herself to become a fighter, often subjugating other women to what she went through herself. Although horrified at rounding up “fresh meat” for the soldiers, she begins to do it. Slight and delicate, Nyong'o looks like a child playing soldier. She is impressive especially when she tells of a young woman who has cursed her. When shouting and menacing her rifle, the audience feels her pain.

Despite the horror of their lives and captivity, Gurira injects a great deal of humor into the play. When the CO brings back spoils from the battle, he gives them a book that the literate Wife 4 reads to the other two. It’s the biography of Bill Clinton, which the women find extremely entertaining and thought-provoking, especially about Wife 2, Monica.

Nyong'o is a fresh-faced innocent forcing herself to be heartless and strong. Yet she bears a great deal of guilt. Her impressive performance will undoubtedly garner her several Tony nominations this season.

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