Comic comfort food in Theatre UCF’s ‘Chicken & Biscuits’ | Review
Nothing brings out the worst in a family than a special occasion. Well, so I’ve been told. My family seems to get along fine at reunions, weddings and graduations but every movie and TV sitcom about a gathering of kinfolk will tell you it’s a recipe for disaster.
Or in the case of the comedy currently onstage at the University of Central Florida, it’s a recipe for “Chicken & Biscuits,” which ran for about two months on Broadway in 2021.
The play by Douglas Lyons definitely takes a familiar squabbling-family path, this time setting it at a funeral. The patriarch of a Black family — the former minister of the church where the play is set — is being buried, and here come the stock characters to see him off.
Uptight Baneatta and freewheeling Beverly are the deceased’s mismatched daughters. In the next generation are Beverly’s wanna-be rapper teen daughter La’Trice, whose defining characteristic is she’s hungry, and Baneatta’s children, also mismatched. They’re brittle Simone and easy-going Kenny, who has brought his white boyfriend, Logan, into the fray. Rounding out the characters: Baneatta’s husband, Reginald, who is the church’s new pastor, and Brianna, a woman who unexpectedly speaks at the service.
Everything plays out exactly as you would expect, although there are a few elements that set this play apart. For one, it’s refreshing to see onstage a Black family that’s not dealing with serious drama (although among those dramas are some of the finest works in the theatrical canon). And even more interestingly, it’s a play about a religious family — ministry is the family business — that for the most part doesn’t treat religion as a joke but something of value.
The highlight of “Chicken & Biscuits” is the impassioned and joyful sermon about getting to heaven by Reginald (Fired-up Jonathan Sommervil, who’s given little else to do by the playwright).
But the play is all over the place. Characters can be unforgivably dumb: Educated Logan has never heard of call-and-response in Black worship services? Some seemingly act at odds with their character: Why would highly devout Baneatta make a blasphemous joke with God while praying? Or with her obsession with propriety, deliberately address Logan with incorrect names like a playground bully?
The goodwill of the cast, directed by Felichia Chivaughn, goes quite a ways to mitigate the shallowness of the play. And as they lean into the laughs, you’ll find yourself laughing along. Dominique Marshall gets the showiest role as flask-sipping, cigarette-sneaking Beverly, and she rises to the occasion with a devilish glint in her eye.
Single-named actor Phoenix has an appealing natural quality as Kenny, and Jake Perez deservedly gets laughs for his fish-way-out-of-the-water. Olamide Oladeji is wound so tightly as Baneatta, and the character’s homophobia so nasty, that it comes as blessed relief when she finally loosens up; a glimmer or two of that spirit earlier on might help the audience empathize more with her.
Chivaughn’s pacing could use more variety; the inevitable sentimentality might feel more poignant if some of the comedy that preceded it clipped along a little faster.
Vandy Wood and Sonya Smith-Tembe have created a handsome church. And kudos to one unseen star: Matthew Lynxwiler, who is heard as the church organist — adding a fun note to this play that’s ultimately more a snack than a full meal.
‘Chicken & Biscuits’
Length: 1:40, no intermission
Where: Theatre UCF, 4000 Central Florida Blvd. in Orlando
When: Through Oct. 1
Info: The show is sold out, according to the online box office. For more information, call Theatre UCF at 407-823-1500.
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