While Michael R. Jackson’s musical A Strange Loop is decidedly risky, The Secret Life of Bees at Atlantic Theater Company, based on Sue Monk Kidd’s best-selling novel, is an unsurprising musical where racial conflict is cast in absolute terms of black and white (forgive the pun) and ambiguity has no place. Set during the early 1960s in the rural South, Bees chronicles the adventures of white girl Lily (tender and moving Elizabeth Teeter) and her black housekeeper Rosaleen (fiery Saycon Sengbloh) as they escape Lily’s abusive father (smoldering Manoel Felciano). They discover a spiritual home and secrets of their past with a trio of mysterious African-American beekeeping sisters (charismatic LaChanze, prickly Eisa Davis and compassionate Anastacia McCleskey).
Bees is the kind of show A Strange Loop and the Pulitzer-winning Fairview are poking fun at—safe and conventional with the inspiring, integrated heroes overcoming redneck racists. Sam Gold delivers a sleek, proficient production, and the book by Lynn Nottage, music by Duncan Sheik, and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead are properly uplifting and entertaining, but the show lacks surprise and danger.
