“Why we gotta wear black, huh? We already Black!”

So grouses Beverly, the kind of woman who features aquamarine hair and a peek-a-boo pushup bra at a funeral.

To be specific: her father’s funeral. “We should be honoring my Daddy in style, color!” she proclaims. Certainly the deceased — the pastor of a New Haven, Connecticut, church — has complied; he’s heading to the pearly gates in a canary-yellow tie.

“Canary yellow was his favorite,” Beverly explains. “And he wore it like a pimp!”

As I sat alternately laughing and cringing in the audience of “Chicken &amp;&nbsp;Biscuits,” a play by Douglas Lyons that opened on Sunday at Circle in the Square Theater, I couldn’t help thinking that Beverly was voicing more than a personal, sartorial truth. In her impatience with tragedy, her gaudy antics and her beeline for fun, she was also delivering what may be the play’s mission statement. This family comedy, with its cheek and secrets and eulogies and amens, wants to offer audiences living in bad times an old-fashioned good one.

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-money-is-the-real-reason-why-adele-shifted-from-london-to-los-angeles-read-details-inside-419975" hreflang="en">Money is the real reason why Adele shifted from London to Los Angeles; read details inside</a>

Whether it succeeds for you will depend largely on your taste for Broadway comedies of a type that otherwise went out of style a few decades ago. These were supposedly heartwarming domestic stories in which “ethnic” families like the Italian American Geminianis in “Gemini” and the Jewish Chamberses in “Norman, Is That You?” aired dirty laundry (typically involving a gay son) while reaffirming the notion that love conquers all, among kin no less than country.

Sidestepping the traffic of somber, formally inventive new plays about Black life, “Chicken &amp;&nbsp;Biscuits” eagerly boards that rickety old bus. To start, there are the requisite squabbling siblings: Beverly (Ebony Marshall-Oliver) and her sister, Baneatta (Cleo King), representing opposite ends of the bawdy-to-churchy continuum. Beverly resents Baneatta’s attitude of superiority; Baneatta, whose tenured professorship seems to be in Disapproval Studies, scorns Beverly’s down-market outfits and outlook.

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-not-james-bond-or-marvel-this-chinese-film-is-the-worlds-fourth-largest-film-of-2021-419967" hreflang="en">Not James Bond or Marvel, this Chinese film is the world's fourth largest film of 2021</a>

Theirs is but one of the thin and mild conflicts that the production, directed by Zhailon Levingston, stirs mightily to bring to a boil. On the day of the funeral, Baneatta’s husband, Reginald, will be delivering the eulogy, hoping to prove himself a suitable successor to his father-in-law in the pulpit. (With Norm Lewis in the role, could there ever be any doubt?) Reginald is also hoping that family hysteria will not overtake family healing in the process.

Apparently, he has not met his family, or even his own children: the tightly wound, high-achieving, 30-something Simone (Alana Raquel Bowers) and her younger brother, Kenny (Devere Rogers), a struggling actor and the de rigueur gay son. Each comes factory supplied with a pressing problem. Simone has recently been dumped by her fiancé, who took up with a white woman instead. Kenny’s problem is also white: Logan Leibowitz, the Jewish boyfriend (and fellow struggling actor) he has brought to the funeral unannounced.

Though Simone repeatedly refers to the couple, with a smirk, as “thespians,” and Baneatta simply ignores the interloper, no one disapproves of Kenny’s gayness deeply enough to prevent a happy hug of an ending. All of the characters’ characteristics are red herrings, and usually stale ones at that. Beverly’s outrageousness recalls that of innumerable stock characters from Tyler Perry’s plays, Black sitcoms of the 1970s and chitlin’ circuit farces. Logan (Michael Urie) is a gay stereotype so flittery he cannot follow the service; as he flips madly through the Bible, he asks: “Where’s Corinthians? Is this in alphabetical order?”

You will detect in Logan and Beverly — and in Beverly’s sarcastic Gen Z daughter, La’Trice (Aigner Mizzelle) — a kind of equal opportunity minstrelsy. In some ways, trotting out laughable stereotypes of a modern Black family and its white appendages seems almost daring on Broadway today. One of the highlights of Levingston’s production, which can otherwise feel bloated at two hours, comes when Simone, apologizing for her knee-jerk hostility toward Logan, says, “Since the breakup, it’s been real hard for me not to see red when I see white people.” Levingston lets this moment sit a good long time, waiting for the (mostly white) audience to get the joke. Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/squid-game-korean-web-series-netflix-Ali-anupam-tripathi-south-asians-419968" hreflang="en">Opinion | Squid Game reignites debate on stereotypical representation of South Asians</a>

Such insight and provocation is otherwise rare in “Chicken &amp;&nbsp;Biscuits.” So is any real tension. Whether the family will accept Logan, whether the sisters will reconcile, whether the mystery guest at the funeral (NaTasha Yvette Williams) will be explained are barely even questions; they’re more like a packing list. In that sense, the play feels dramatically complacent and underdeveloped, suggesting that its trip to Broadway after a pandemic-foreshortened run at the Queens Theater in 2020 might have benefited from a stop along the way.

Yet it’s at least a little unfair to look at a family comedy that way. Lyons, an actor himself before turning to playwriting — this is his Broadway debut as an author, and Levingston’s as a director — is operating here in a different tradition from most contemporary fare, which is built on ideas and argumentation.

“Chicken &amp;&nbsp;Biscuits” is built on sensation, more like a musical or even an opera. In the long scene of the funeral itself, the eulogies by several family members function as arias, delivered in the old-school park-and-bark style. They are not concerned with forwarding the action so much as bringing aural pleasure, and indeed Lewis’s satire of a preacherly stemwinder, with drawn out vowels and pounced-on syncopations, is more than halfway to song.

In any case, Lyons is more interested in the family’s moment-by-moment byplay — its laugh track and tear track — than in drawing realistic character portraits or scoring sociological points. The cast, including five actors also making their Broadway debuts, for the most part fills in the characters’ outlines confidently. As for sociological points, you could hardly say more in a treatise than Dede Ayite does with the costumes and Nikiya Mathis with the wigs.

So if “Chicken &amp;&nbsp;Biscuits” isn’t a profound work, that doesn’t mean it’s pointless. Its gravy is just another name for schmaltz. Thinking back, as a Jew, on the Jewish families that Broadway audiences learned to love in not-very-sophisticated, high-cholesterol comedies, I have to admit that even as I alternately laughed and cringed at their caricatures, I felt relieved of the more pernicious problem of otherness.

Representation matters. I see many great and necessary new works about the problem of Blackness in a racist society — or rather, the problem of whiteness. They are filled with anguish and unfunny funerals. What I rarely get to see are works about Black American life that are defiantly not problem plays. Their sunniness is just as necessary, however garish the aquamarine and pimped-out the corpse.

&nbsp;

"Chicken &amp; Biscuits"

Tickets: Through Jan. 2 at Circle in the Square Theater, Manhattan; 212-239-6200, chickenandbiscuitsbway.com. Running time: 2 hours.

Credits: Written by Douglas Lyons; directed by Zhailon Levingston; sets by Lawrence E. Moten III; costumes by Dede Ayite; lighting by Adam Honoré; sound by Twi McCallum; hair/wig and makeup by Nikiya Mathis; associate director, Bianca Laverne Jones; production stage manager, lark hackshaw; company manager, Susan Keappock; technical supervision, Hudson Theatrical Associates; general manager, RCI Theatricals. Presented by Pamela Ross, Hunter Arnold, E. Clayton Cornelious, Leah Michalos, Kayla Greenspan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Nick Jonas, Mapleseed Productions, Curt Cronin, John Joseph, John Paterakis, Invisible Wall Productions/Blaine Hopkins.

Cast: Cleo King, Norm Lewis, Michael Urie, Alana Raquel Bowers, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Aigner Mizzelle, Devere Rogers and NaTasha Yvette Williams.

“Why we gotta wear black, huh? We already Black!” So grouses Beverly, the kind of woman who features aquamarine hair and a peek-a-boo pushup bra at a funeral. To be specific: her father’s funeral.

“Why we gotta wear black, huh? We already Black!” So grouses Beverly, the kind of woman who features aquamarine hair and a peek-a-boo pushup bra at a funeral. To be specific: her father’s funeral. “We should be honoring my Daddy in style, color!” she proclaims. Certainly the deceased — the pastor of a New Haven, Connecticut, church — has complied; he’s heading to the pearly gates in a canary-yellow tie. “Canary yellow was his favorite,” Beverly explains. “And he wore it like a pimp!” As I sat alternately laughing and cringing in the audience of “Chicken & Biscuits,” a play by Douglas Lyons that opened on Sunday at Circle in the Square Theater, I couldn’t help thinking that Beverly was voicing more than a personal, sartorial truth. In her impatience with tragedy, her gaudy antics and her beeline for fun, she was also delivering what may be the play’s mission statement. This family comedy, with its cheek and secrets and eulogies and amens, wants to offer audiences living in bad times an old-fashioned good one. Also Read: Money is the real reason why Adele shifted from London to Los Angeles; read details inside Whether it succeeds for you will depend largely on your taste for Broadway comedies of a type that otherwise went out of style a few decades ago. These were supposedly heartwarming domestic stories in which “ethnic” families like the Italian American Geminianis in “Gemini” and the Jewish Chamberses in “Norman, Is That You?” aired dirty laundry (typically involving a gay son) while reaffirming the notion that love conquers all, among kin no less than country. Sidestepping the traffic of somber, formally inventive new plays about Black life, “Chicken & Biscuits” eagerly boards that rickety old bus. To start, there are the requisite squabbling siblings: Beverly (Ebony Marshall-Oliver) and her sister, Baneatta (Cleo King), representing opposite ends of the bawdy-to-churchy continuum. Beverly resents Baneatta’s attitude of superiority; Baneatta, whose tenured professorship seems to be in Disapproval Studies, scorns Beverly’s down-market outfits and outlook. Also Read: Not James Bond or Marvel, this Chinese film is the world's fourth largest film of 2021 Theirs is but one of the thin and mild conflicts that the production, directed by Zhailon Levingston, stirs mightily to bring to a boil. On the day of the funeral, Baneatta’s husband, Reginald, will be delivering the eulogy, hoping to prove himself a suitable successor to his father-in-law in the pulpit. (With Norm Lewis in the role, could there ever be any doubt?) Reginald is also hoping that family hysteria will not overtake family healing in the process. Apparently, he has not met his family, or even his own children: the tightly wound, high-achieving, 30-something Simone (Alana Raquel Bowers) and her younger brother, Kenny (Devere Rogers), a struggling actor and the de rigueur gay son. Each comes factory supplied with a pressing problem. Simone has recently been dumped by her fiancé, who took up with a white woman instead. Kenny’s problem is also white: Logan Leibowitz, the Jewish boyfriend (and fellow struggling actor) he has brought to the funeral unannounced. Though Simone repeatedly refers to the couple, with a smirk, as “thespians,” and Baneatta simply ignores the interloper, no one disapproves of Kenny’s gayness deeply enough to prevent a happy hug of an ending. All of the characters’ characteristics are red herrings, and usually stale ones at that. Beverly’s outrageousness recalls that of innumerable stock characters from Tyler Perry’s plays, Black sitcoms of the 1970s and chitlin’ circuit farces. Logan (Michael Urie) is a gay stereotype so flittery he cannot follow the service; as he flips madly through the Bible, he asks: “Where’s Corinthians? Is this in alphabetical order?” You will detect in Logan and Beverly — and in Beverly’s sarcastic Gen Z daughter, La’Trice (Aigner Mizzelle) — a kind of equal opportunity minstrelsy. In some ways, trotting out laughable stereotypes of a modern Black family and its white appendages seems almost daring on Broadway today. One of the highlights of Levingston’s production, which can otherwise feel bloated at two hours, comes when Simone, apologizing for her knee-jerk hostility toward Logan, says, “Since the breakup, it’s been real hard for me not to see red when I see white people.” Levingston lets this moment sit a good long time, waiting for the (mostly white) audience to get the joke. Also Read: Opinion | Squid Game reignites debate on stereotypical representation of South Asians Such insight and provocation is otherwise rare in “Chicken & Biscuits.” So is any real tension. Whether the family will accept Logan, whether the sisters will reconcile, whether the mystery guest at the funeral (NaTasha Yvette Williams) will be explained are barely even questions; they’re more like a packing list. In that sense, the play feels dramatically complacent and underdeveloped, suggesting that its trip to Broadway after a pandemic-foreshortened run at the Queens Theater in 2020 might have benefited from a stop along the way. Yet it’s at least a little unfair to look at a family comedy that way. Lyons, an actor himself before turning to playwriting — this is his Broadway debut as an author, and Levingston’s as a director — is operating here in a different tradition from most contemporary fare, which is built on ideas and argumentation. “Chicken & Biscuits” is built on sensation, more like a musical or even an opera. In the long scene of the funeral itself, the eulogies by several family members function as arias, delivered in the old-school park-and-bark style. They are not concerned with forwarding the action so much as bringing aural pleasure, and indeed Lewis’s satire of a preacherly stemwinder, with drawn out vowels and pounced-on syncopations, is more than halfway to song. In any case, Lyons is more interested in the family’s moment-by-moment byplay — its laugh track and tear track — than in drawing realistic character portraits or scoring sociological points. The cast, including five actors also making their Broadway debuts, for the most part fills in the characters’ outlines confidently. As for sociological points, you could hardly say more in a treatise than Dede Ayite does with the costumes and Nikiya Mathis with the wigs. So if “Chicken & Biscuits” isn’t a profound work, that doesn’t mean it’s pointless. Its gravy is just another name for schmaltz. Thinking back, as a Jew, on the Jewish families that Broadway audiences learned to love in not-very-sophisticated, high-cholesterol comedies, I have to admit that even as I alternately laughed and cringed at their caricatures, I felt relieved of the more pernicious problem of otherness. Representation matters. I see many great and necessary new works about the problem of Blackness in a racist society — or rather, the problem of whiteness. They are filled with anguish and unfunny funerals. What I rarely get to see are works about Black American life that are defiantly not problem plays. Their sunniness is just as necessary, however garish the aquamarine and pimped-out the corpse. "Chicken & Biscuits" Tickets: Through Jan. 2 at Circle in the Square Theater, Manhattan; 212-239-6200, chickenandbiscuitsbway.com. Running time: 2 hours. Credits: Written by Douglas Lyons; directed by Zhailon Levingston; sets by Lawrence E. Moten III; costumes by Dede Ayite; lighting by Adam Honoré; sound by Twi McCallum; hair/wig and makeup by Nikiya Mathis; associate director, Bianca Laverne Jones; production stage manager, lark hackshaw; company manager, Susan Keappock; technical supervision, Hudson Theatrical Associates; general manager, RCI Theatricals. Presented by Pamela Ross, Hunter Arnold, E. Clayton Cornelious, Leah Michalos, Kayla Greenspan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Nick Jonas, Mapleseed Productions, Curt Cronin, John Joseph, John Paterakis, Invisible Wall Productions/Blaine Hopkins. Cast: Cleo King, Norm Lewis, Michael Urie, Alana Raquel Bowers, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Aigner Mizzelle, Devere Rogers and NaTasha Yvette Williams.

Review: In ‘Chicken & Biscuits,’ a sweet but dated comedic recipe

Broadway alum Nick Jonas and actress-wife Priyanka Chopra Jonas have joined the production team of Broadway comedy ‘Chicken &amp; Biscuits’.&nbsp;

Douglas Lyon’s Broadway comedy is currently in previews at Circle in the Square Theatre.&nbsp;

The deal materialised post <a data-ctorig="https://www.wionews.com/topics/nick-jonas" data-cturl="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=006054055338965708568:09spwrlibei&amp;q=https://www.wionews.com/topics/nick-jonas&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiJiO67kKbzAhVGxzgGHc-kCQQQFnoECAYQAQ&amp;usg=AOvVaw0PQ6Qn7R9B0a7opl-fKehV" dir="ltr" href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/nick-jonas" target="_blank">Nick Jonas</a>'&nbsp;visit to the cast and creative team at the theater. Incidentally, it includes two from his upcoming 2022 Jersey Boys Live! streaming project -- producer E. Clayton Cornelious and cast member Michael Urie.

Another cast member Norm Lewis appeared with Nick Jonas in the 2010 Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary.

On the new association, Nick Jonas issued a statement that reads: “Broadway has always had a special place in my heart. It helped launch my career. And after the last year and a half, Broadway is exactly what we need in this world. This play highlights the importance of love, laughter, and family. It’s got energy, it’s got style, and it’s got heart — the kind of vibe that is so unique to live theatre.”

Meanwhile, <a data-ctorig="https://www.wionews.com/topics/priyanka-chopra" data-cturl="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=006054055338965708568:09spwrlibei&amp;q=https://www.wionews.com/topics/priyanka-chopra&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwig7OrJkKbzAhWmwTgGHYLvBb04FBAWegQICRAB&amp;usg=AOvVaw0rFVpoNpSbtXgVPsePkEwR" dir="ltr" href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/priyanka-chopra" target="_blank">Priyanka Chopra</a> said, “Broadway is back, but this time it’s a new Broadway. It’s time we see some more diversity on the stage, and this cast and production team is making history on that front. This is a monumental moment for the industry, and I’m overjoyed to be a part of it. This is also my first foray into Broadway, so to bring this show to audiences with my husband Nick, who has so much experience in the medium, and at a time when we need it most, is a very proud moment for me.” 
Priyanka recently starred in and produced ‘The White Tiger’ that even got an Oscar nomination. She will next be seen in <a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-the-matrix-resurrections-trailer-keanu-reeves-returns-as-neo-priyanka-chopra-pens-emotional-note-411922">‘The Matrix 4’ </a>with Keanu Reeves and ‘Text For You’ and Russo Brothers’ ‘Citadel’ series that will stream on Amazon Prime.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-priyanka-chopra-jonas-becomes-a-member-of-producers-guild-of-america-expresses-gratitude-413402" hreflang="en">Priyanka Chopra Jonas becomes a member of Producers Guild of America, expresses gratitude</a>

As for ‘Chicken &amp; Biscuits’, it was written by Black playwright Lyons, stars a largely Black cast and is directed by Zhailon Levingston, who at 27 becomes the youngest Black director in Broadway history.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/lifestyle/news-priyanka-chopra-jonas-looks-regal-as-she-poses-near-the-eiffel-tower-pics-416108" hreflang="en">Priyanka Chopra Jonas looks regal as she poses near the Eiffel Tower; pics</a>

The production’s ensemble cast includes Cleo King &nbsp;in her Broadway debut as Baneatta Mabry, the eldest daughter in a large family that’s gathering for the funeral and life celebration of a family elder. Playing her sister Beverly is Ebony Marshall-Oliver, who recently appeared in Shakespeare in the Park’s Merry Wives. Also in the cast: Lewis and Urie, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Devere Rogers, Aigner Mizzelle and Alana Raquel Bowers.

The production team apart from the Jonas-Chopra duo is Pamela Ross, Hunter Arnold, E. Clayton Cornelious, Leah Michalos, Kayla Greenspan, Mapleseed Productions, Curt Cronin, John Joseph, John Paterakis, and Invisible Wall Productions/Blaine Hopkins.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-jennifer-aniston-is-ready-to-date-again-its-time-416726" hreflang="en">Jennifer Aniston is ready to date again: It's time</a>

Broadway alum Nick Jonas and actress-wife Priyanka Chopra Jonas have joined the production team of Broadway comedy ‘Chicken & Biscuits’. Douglas Lyon’s Broadway comedy is currently in previews at Circle in the Square Theatre.

Broadway alum Nick Jonas and actress-wife Priyanka Chopra Jonas have joined the production team of Broadway comedy ‘Chicken & Biscuits’. Douglas Lyon’s Broadway comedy is currently in previews at Circle in the Square Theatre. The deal materialised post Nick Jonas' visit to the cast and creative team at the theater. Incidentally, it includes two from his upcoming 2022 Jersey Boys Live! streaming project -- producer E. Clayton Cornelious and cast member Michael Urie. Another cast member Norm Lewis appeared with Nick Jonas in the 2010 Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary. On the new association, Nick Jonas issued a statement that reads: “Broadway has always had a special place in my heart. It helped launch my career. And after the last year and a half, Broadway is exactly what we need in this world. This play highlights the importance of love, laughter, and family. It’s got energy, it’s got style, and it’s got heart — the kind of vibe that is so unique to live theatre.” Meanwhile, Priyanka Chopra said, “Broadway is back, but this time it’s a new Broadway. It’s time we see some more diversity on the stage, and this cast and production team is making history on that front. This is a monumental moment for the industry, and I’m overjoyed to be a part of it. This is also my first foray into Broadway, so to bring this show to audiences with my husband Nick, who has so much experience in the medium, and at a time when we need it most, is a very proud moment for me.” Priyanka recently starred in and produced ‘The White Tiger’ that even got an Oscar nomination. She will next be seen in ‘The Matrix 4’ with Keanu Reeves and ‘Text For You’ and Russo Brothers’ ‘Citadel’ series that will stream on Amazon Prime. Priyanka Chopra Jonas becomes a member of Producers Guild of America, expresses gratitude As for ‘Chicken & Biscuits’, it was written by Black playwright Lyons, stars a largely Black cast and is directed by Zhailon Levingston, who at 27 becomes the youngest Black director in Broadway history. Priyanka Chopra Jonas looks regal as she poses near the Eiffel Tower; pics The production’s ensemble cast includes Cleo King  in her Broadway debut as Baneatta Mabry, the eldest daughter in a large family that’s gathering for the funeral and life celebration of a family elder. Playing her sister Beverly is Ebony Marshall-Oliver, who recently appeared in Shakespeare in the Park’s Merry Wives. Also in the cast: Lewis and Urie, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Devere Rogers, Aigner Mizzelle and Alana Raquel Bowers. The production team apart from the Jonas-Chopra duo is Pamela Ross, Hunter Arnold, E. Clayton Cornelious, Leah Michalos, Kayla Greenspan, Mapleseed Productions, Curt Cronin, John Joseph, John Paterakis, and Invisible Wall Productions/Blaine Hopkins. Jennifer Aniston is ready to date again: It's time

Nick Jonas & Priyanka Chopra turn producers for Broadway’s ‘Chicken & Biscuits’

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Review: In ‘Chicken & Biscuits,’ a sweet but dated comedic recipe

Nick Jonas & Priyanka Chopra turn producers for Broadway’s ‘Chicken & Biscuits’