Photos by Lore Photography
Ensemble Theatre Company has opened the final production of its 46th season at The New Vic Theatre in Santa Barbara with the Southern California premiere of Justice, aptly described by its playwright Lauren Gunderson as an “inspiring feminist musical” with music by Bree Lowdermilk and lyrics by Kait Kerrigan.
On opening night, June 5, the 294-seat theatre was packed with an audience that rewarded the talents of the four women onstage with frequent applause and appropriate laughter, as well as a standing ovation. While three are listed as cast members—Heather Ayers as Sandra Day O’Connor, Julie Garnyé as Sonia Sotomayor, and Valerie Perri as Ruth Bader Ginsburg—the fourth member of the ensemble—music director Sio Tepper, credited in the program on piano and guitar as “The Band”—contributes equally to the success of the production.
All four, as well as their director, ETC veteran Jenny Sullivan, treat the material with reverence and a bit of awe, as perhaps befits a musical about the first women on the U.S. Supreme Court. And if we were in almost any other time, I might agree with this approach. After all, treating fierce female justices with the same reverence school children were taught to have for our fierce founding fathers has a certain ring of equality to it.
Gunderson has created a stirring, historical narrative reminiscent of Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me; the actors most often directly address (or sing to) the audience using phrases like “injustice for one is injustice for all” and “every day is a battle when you’re on the losing side.” This mind-boggling history lesson about legal strategy, crushing defeats, and hard-won victories is gripping and provocative in its book and musical moments.
The most surprising of these moments, however, breaks the production’s generally deferential air to give Ginsburg the spotlight. Perri gamely leaves the stage to interact directly with audience members, and in the penultimate musical number “Notorious” practically breaks into a soft-shoe routine (as befits Ginsburg’s iconic nature, which here is graciously mocked). It’s a moment of levity and brightness that the show could use a little more of.
That’s not to disparage the force of a couple of other tunes that come about halfway through the 90-minute show (there’s no intermission). “Blaze” featuring Garnyé and “Sonia Sotomayor” with Perri and Ayers as backup to Garnyé allow the performers to show off their glorious, full-throated voices.
Otherwise, it’s in the non-musical and non-pedagogical moments—the occasional dramatic vignettes between the justices that take place mostly in judges’ chambers—where we get the most insightful glimpses into their personal lives and personalities. And it’s in those moments that we appreciate the skills that Perri, Ayers, and Garnyé bring to the table in addition to their outstanding vocals. Each actor brings strength, empathy, and warmth to her individually-nuanced portrayal.
Ayers presents the toughest front, singing “Never explain, never complain” as she projects O’Connor’s no-nonsense attitude of the song “Get It Done” throughout her performance. Garnyé, whose justice enters the national spotlight after the other two, carries the bulk of the exposition with charm and grace. Perri has the Ginsburg twinkle in her eye at all times.
Costumes by Alex Jaeger and the lighting design by Jared A. Sayeg are excellent, as is the sound design by Randall Robert Tico—the last with a clarity that is always so important (and so annoying if not spot-on) in a musical production.
François-Pierre Couture’s scenic design is elegant and also respectful of the material, bringing a stately black-and-white ambiance (plus spare office furniture and a regal red carpet) to the proceedings. The phrase engraved above the front entrance of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington D.C.—”Equal Justice Under Law”—is displayed on the proscenium above the action, serving as a reminder of just why you have chosen to be here, in this theatre, for this performance, at this critical juncture not just in our nation’s history but to its future state.
Justice is eye-opening and entertaining and very much worth seeing at a time when we need to be reminded of the importance of the Supreme Court to our democracy. But sometimes reverence for the material and an homage to equality just aren’t enough. Could this production be a little less straight arrow, a little more strident, a little more of a call to action? Yes, but . . .
Kudos to ETC, which according to Artistic Executive Director Scott DeVine is only the third company in the country to produce this show. It presents the challenge to all of us to heed the words of a song like “Dissent Is Not Enough” and to absorb Sotomayor’s defiant words “We will not be written out of the story.” Seeing Justice might just be one of the most inspiring and empowering decisions you can make if you intend to show up and defend our democracy now.
Justice has a very limited run at ETC, with evening and matinee performances scheduled only through June 22.