Thirty years ago, playwright Leslie Lee's flashback-driven story of a multigenerational black family was a Tony nominee for best play. Based on this revival, it's virtually impossible to tell why. Director Sam Nickens' desire to celebrate the piece's anniversary is a misstep at every turn. The production is embarrassing. Musical miscues abound, and what passes for lighting (credited to Sandy Lee) is rudimentary at best. Blackouts range from momentary power outages to one, following the lead character's death, during which a cast member keened incessantly in the darkness for well over a minute. Meanwhile a white-shirted assistant stage manager wandered through the house, script in hand, even reaching through a supposedly second-story window to put pillows on a bed for an upcoming scene.
Lee's script relays the past and present of one Lucretia Edwards, a black matriarch whose personal history consists of three illegitimate children born of different fathers. Of her two surviving progeny, son Milton is a construction subcontractor whose own children, Nate and Lou, are struggling to pursue better lives. Regina Randolph as the elder Lucretia provides sporadic moments of inspiration. Unfortunately, her youthful counterpart, played by Nadjah M. Dabney, occupies a stage-right elevated bedroom in which she and her trio of suitors struggle futilely to lend credibility to this melodrama.
Supporting players run the gamut from palatable to pointless. Only Peter M. Karlin rises above Nickens' sluggish direction. Karlin's single appearance in Act II as a white housing developer negotiating for Milton's services is indeed the first breeze of fresh air to grace this stuffy venue. Conversely, in one sequence, the family's minister, Reverend Mosely (Mark Ridley), launches into a stereotypical living-room revival that disintegrates into directionless cacophony under the weight of dropped lines and off-key singing.
In the show's outlandish conclusion, Lucretia gives deathbed endorsement to her life's worth of baser instincts. Angered grandson Lou tries to strangle her. And everyone reminisces about grandma while the title event finally transpires courtesy of an offstage fan that sounds like a Cessna flying over Van Nuys.
Presented by Upward Bound Productions at the Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Thu.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. Jul. 27-Sep. 3. (323) 960-7792.