It's only fitting that "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," a tale steeped in Southern charm and decadence, makes its musical debut 30 years after the original book's publishing. According to a review by GPB, the Goodman Theatre in Chicago has managed to encapsulate the essence of Savannah, complete with cicada soundscapes and gothic angel statues known from the region's famous Bonaventure Cemetery.
Bringing the story to life, J. Harrison Ghee steps into the heels of The Lady Chablis, capturing her defiant spirit with enough sass to back it up. "We gotta be ready for a higher-type clientele," one of the characters tells her, to which Chablis responds with a brazen disregard for the status quo, highlighting a resistance against gentrification that is watered-down by attempts at 'class,' as reported by GPB.
The plot unfurls around the mysterious death of Danny Hansford at the hands of Jim Williams, yet this musical iteration skimps on courtroom drama. It seemingly chooses instead to focus on spirited performances and characters over the grit of legal intrigue, as discussed by GPB's Benjamin Payne. Williams, portrayed by Broadway veteran Tom Hewitt, sidesteps the haunted interpretation seen in Clint Eastwood's film, going for a more theatrical and less somber approach to the Southern accent.
Director Rob Ashford has given the production an unexpected twist by ditching an author character, inviting the audience to play the narrator and directly engage with the show. This removes layers of narrative distance but, according to Ashford,
The show's message, underscored by powerful original numbers from Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown, echoes through the finale belted out by Ghee. "It's time to bust open that chrysalis / And spread your wings and fly, butterflies!" is a call to own one's identity, an anthem especially resonant amid the political strife surrounding LGBTQ rights in places like Georgia, where hostile bills threaten to undermine these communities, as per GPB.
While the Goodman Theatre's curtains are set to close on this Savannah homage come August 11, the buzz suggests that Broadway—and even Savannah itself—could be the next stops. For those enchanted by the Hostess City of the South and its layered stories of love, crime, and identity, there's hope yet to catch this narrative brought to life with a modern twist. As Ghee noted in an interview with GPB, the musical is an opportunity for growth, a reflection of the South that looks forward with an eye towards understanding and embracing all identities.
