An internal journey- Dance Informa Journal

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Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY.
April 25, 2025.

They certainly didn’t have electric guitars and fog machines back in Shakespeare’s day, but audiences got to see what might happen if they did with Macbeth in Stride, the brainchild of Whitney White, at Brooklyn Academy of Music in late April. The story of Lady Macbeth, told by her very own self, utilizes both modern English, actual Shakespearian text and a whole lot of rock and roll…and R&B, gospel and rap. She takes the audience on an inner journey that frequently broke the fourth wall, and the walls of perception we may have about ourselves. Or not.

A cast of five, plus musicians, drive this tale of self-discovery through the eyes of a Black woman in the framework of the Shakespearean classicism that originally paid little attention to either. White wrote and directed this show, as well as played the title role of “Woman.” In her version, that which was hinted at in the original (the conflict and tension between Lady Macbeth and her husband) becomes the central theme.

Before the show started, the scene was set with the stage ready for an epic concert. Haze hung in the air and the lights onstage simmered low, ready to explode. The light design for the entire show was spectacular and provided a necessary, but esoteric element structuring the show when it occasionally meandered. Woman was most certainly the star, but her three back-up dancers/witches/guides more than held their own vocally and by executing the continuous and almost unnoticeable dance moves by Raja Feather Kelly – seamlessly integrated into the action. Man (Macbeth), for his part, was less of everything and if the stage doors opened into Bushwick instead of Fort Greene, he would have slipped unnoticed into the night, made anonymous by the many others just like him.

Macbeth in Stride tackles a big story, and twists it in ways that, arguably, should be twisted. Hearing the perspectives of other or lesser characters from classic works is a very interesting pursuit. In this case, I wasn’t really sure what conclusions were drawn or what Woman really wanted. It may have been due to the toggle of Shakespearian text with modern English. It was hard to latch onto a linguistic rhythm. On the eve of my attendance, I felt like the music was overpowering the vocals to the point where I missed some lyrics. While most of the elements of the production were strong, I left not having a sense of what White was trying to convey with the work, despite the deep talent onstage. That said, it was entertaining, fun and a good reminder that hearing the perspectives of those lesser actors of history has great merit, even when the message is a bit muddled.

By Emily Sarkissian of Dance Informa.

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