The White Album

Prepare to enter the time tunnel and be transported to the late 60s. The world was alive with a very different energy than it runs on today. It was the birth of the baby boomers entering and transforming the culture, the primal scream of which continues to echo today. There are few works that capture these moments as clearly and as vividly as Joan Didion’s The White Album.

What we are offered in our 90 minutes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater is an astonishing literal interpretation of Ms. Didion’s masterwork. This is brought to us by an extraordinary performance by Mia Barron who brings this work to life on it’s 50th anniversary in a way that perhaps even the author didn’t imagine. Ms. Barron delivers every loquacious, pithy, succulent phrase with unflappable confidence and spirit. The written word is electrified and dances before us.

Mia Barron

This evening of theater is nothing short of mesmerizing. As the prose is presented with amazing clarity, we are treated to a surreal vision of the Haight-Ashbury 1960s that enhances our time travel audibly and visually. A white box of a room behind our narrator holds the three-dimensional interpretation of these words with, in turn, humor, emotion, intrigue, and terror. An additional dimension is the audience within the audience. Special volunteers sit on stage and shift around as directed to create an eddy of movement and reaction.

To say that the story moves quickly is an understatement. This is sound at the speed of light. I was compelled to purchase the book on the way out.

Why We Went: Special invitation from the talented and charming Jacqueline. Thank you.

JMG