Mint Theater Company’s NYC premiere of the 1925 coming-of-age story Sump’n Like Wingsby Lynn Riggs – whose Green Grow the Lilacs, written in 1930, and first produced in 1931, served as the basis for the classic 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! – offers theater-lovers the opportunity to see this rarely presented family drama. Set in Riggs’ native state from 1913-16, and written in the local dialect (as indicated by the title), the narrative follows the journey of sixteen-year-old Willie Baker, a willful girl who decides to break free from the confinement of her home, family, and work to live her own life, in a struggle of independence gained, mistakes made, and lessons learned.
The show opens in the dining room run by her iron-fisted church-going widowed mother Mary Baker at the St. Francis Hotel, owned by her loving Uncle Jim Thompson. We hear Willie, locked in her room, banging on the door, screaming and yelling to get out, and setting the tone for all the tensions, conflicts, and confrontations to come, in a young life defined by bad decisions and bad relationships, accusations and mistrust, and a disregard for reasonable limits and personal safety.
Under the direction of Raelle Myrick-Hodges, we meet the family, staff, and locals who frequent the place, portrayed by a cast of eleven (three playing dual roles), actively moving around the stage, gossiping and expressing their unsolicited opinions, losing their tempers with each other, and making moves on the wild but naïve Willie, beginning with the married “Boy” Huntington, with whom she makes her escape out of town. She returns for a visit two years later, with a new set of circumstances, and, after coming back once again the following year, reaches a hard-won (and still resonant) realization about the treatment of women and the need to be secure. We are left thinking, from a 21st-century perspective, that if only her mother had talked to her more sensibly, with love and respect, and explained why she needed to be careful instead of forcefully oppressing her, things might have turned out better. But in the final scene, her situation is no different than it was at the home she left to be free.
Mariah Lee turns in a powerful performance as Willie, filled with genuine emotion, believable reactions, and growing awareness and maturity. As her tough-as-nails mother, Julia Brothers nails the no-nonsense attitude and body language, with pursed lips and a generally dour and judgmental facial expression. By contrast, Richard Lear as Uncle Jim is kind, supportive, and pleasant, with a loving nature, bursts of laughter, and an understanding of his niece that he expresses to his sister: “You cain’t keep her in a place that’s got a lid on it. She’s got sump’n inside of her like wings, and she’ll beat off the cover, and she’ll go away” (though he does lose his temper over a nightly game of checkers with his friend Graden, played by Buzz Roddy). All master the personalities and the old mid-western vernacular, as written by Riggs (with expert dialect coaching by Amy Stoller), and inject some touches of humor to lighten the serious subject.
In the role of the frequently unemployed Boy, Lukey Klein repeatedly asserts his devotion to Willie and his determination to marry her (once he’s divorced), until he does, though there is little chemistry between the two and it seems she only goes with him because of her limited options to get away from her suffocating mother and life at home. The unfortunate Elvie Rapp, menacingly played by Lindsey Steinert, is taken in by Mrs. Baker to work in the dining room after being jailed for stealing food and committing other questionable acts while in prison, then tells the young Willie, who doesn’t want to hear it, that she’s just like her, while warning her about men.
Rounding out the cast are Joy Avigail Sudduth as Uncle Jim’s affable housekeeper Hattie, who, Willie says, never liked her; Leon Pintel as her daughter Opalena; Traci Hovel as Mrs. Baker’s busy-body friend Mrs. Clovis; and Andrew Gombas and Mike Masters as Loomis and Bill Wade, two of the men Willie comes into contact with at the rooming house where she chooses to live rather than with her family, by whom she’s finally (and unwittingly) convinced that she needs to protect herself (with intimacy direction by Leana Gardella).
Junghyun Georgia Lee’s scenic design is suggestive of the era, with vintage wooden furniture, an organ, and victrola (both used to define the characters’ opposing tastes in music), and shifts easily from the dining room to the office to an upstairs hall in the hotel and the rooming house where Willie ends up (and perfectly visualizes the distressing conclusion that she needs to be more vigilant and less trusting). Period-style costumes by Emilee McVey-Lee and props by Chris Fields further establish the decade of the 1910s, with the times of day and moods of the story enhanced by Isabella Gill-Gomez’s lighting and sound by Sean Hagerty.
As always with productions by The Mint, Sump’n Like Wings gives audiences a look at an obscure play from the past, with a design that transports us to the period and themes that remain relevant in the present – here, most notably, the predatory treatment of women.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 55 minutes, including an intermission.
Sump’n Like Wingsplays through Saturday, November 2, 2024, at Mint Theater Company, performing at Theatre Row, 410 West 42ndStreet, NYC. For tickets (priced at $39-99, including fees), goonline.