The problem with these hilarious send-ups is that they are followed by more serious “message” monologues. When the rest of the family shows up, it turns into a song and dance number that has to be seen to be believed. Enoch King portrays the aforementioned “angry black man,” who denounces God and get’s a beat down from couch-bound mama (Jo Nie Flemming). Although Madea wasn’t around when Wolfe wrote the play, there are echoes of her, as well as a little “Mama’s Family,” in this frenetic set piece. Right behind “The Hairpiece” for audience reaction is “The Last Mama-on-the-Couch Play,” which brings the ensemble together to portray every stereotype in the book. At the root of the argument is how African American women have tried to assimilate by taming their hair to look more “white.” The message comes across, but it’s the astonishing actresses and their pitch-perfect comedic timing that makes the following vignettes pale in comparison. The highlight of the exhibitions is “The Hairpiece,” where Amber Iman plays a women getting ready to break-up with her two-timing boyfriend while her wigs – a wild Afro played by Yakini Horne and a straightened-and-dyed flip played by Danielle Deadwyler – argue over which hair has the most power. With a pulsing disco beat, sassy go-go boots and hot pants, King (last seen in True Colors’ “Broke-ology”) so perfectly inhabits the character, it’s a shock to see him later in another exhibition where he’s cast as an “angry black man.” As the cocktails loosen Miss Roj’s tongue, the issue of living as a gay men in the black community is portrayed with both outrageous humor and pathos. Enoch King brings down the house as flamboyant gay barfly, Miss Roj, who can strike a man dead with her finger snaps of doom.
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