Oh Happy Day!

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Oh, Happy Day!, Jordan E. Cooper’s second play at The Public Theater, is very different from his first, Ain’t No Mo’. While the earlier play was a series of satiric sketches about being Black in America today, the new play is a modern parable on the Bible stories of Noah and the Ark as well as Job. It is handled in a magical realism fashion which makes the play supernatural and surreal. Set in Laurel, Mississippi, the play at first seems to be the latest dysfunctional family story, and then becomes a quasi-religious story of finding God and redemption when everything seems to be going against you.

Beautifully directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, artistic director of the Baltimore Center Stage who also directed both New York productions of Ain’t No Mo’, it again stars Cooper who has given himself the central role. We know we are in supernatural territory when the play begins with three fabulous women, called the Divines who tell us that they are four thousand years old and are guides to the other side when humans die. They sing some impressive original gospel songs by Grammy winner Donald Lawrence. Either due to the pitch at which the women sing or Taylor J. Williams’ sound design, it is very hard to understand the words though the trio makes beautiful music together.

When the story actually begins, the Johnson family, daughter Niecy and grandson Kevin, are making a BBQ birthday party for patriarch Lewis who doesn’t want any fuss. Who should show up but estranged son Keyshawn, who unknown to them has been fatally shot to death earlier that day. He claims to be there to offer his birthday greetings. However, that is not his only reason for being there: God has told him that there will be a flood and it is his obligation to build a boat to save his family.

From the conversation between the inflexible Lewis and unrepentant Keyshawn, it is revealed Lewis threw his son out as a teenager and he has been living as a male sex worker selling himself to men ever since. Lewis blames Keyshawn for causing him to lose his job at the church over a video Keyshawn has posted of Pastor Ray and himself after having sex. However, Keyshawn’s story which his father doesn’t know is much more complicated.

Thunder soon occurs, and Keyshawn realizes that he doesn’t have much time though no one will give him a ride to rent a boat. The voice of God tells him to look around for items to use for building. When he begins tearing the wood shingles off of his father’s house, Lewis attempt to attack him with a hammer. Lewis’ own story is pretty grim: he went to prison for killing his wife’s drug dealer and Keyshawn grew up without a father’s presence. When the storm actually arrives, the play turns into a supernatural fantasy set in either heaven or hell where several of the characters come to terms with their pasts.

The dialogue is sassy, brazen, smart-mouthed and often hilarious. The Divine singers dressed in Qween Jean’s lavender gowns are a treat for the eyes, while her hats or headdresses have to be seen to be believed. Much of it is funny often for the wrong reasons. However, if you don’t like plays in which you have to suspend your disbelief – or bring your faith to the fore, this is not for you. There are many supernatural or religious (take your pick) events going on which cannot be explained in a realistic manner. By the end of the play, we have learned the entire story behind the Johnson family and it is not a pretty picture.

The cast make a meal of their roles though Cooper doesn’t give any of them a break but piles on the pain and suffering in their lives. As Keyshawn Cooper is bold, insolent and combative, giving a bigger than life portrayal of a man who has lived at the bottom of society. As his father Lewis, one of two roles he plays, Brian D. Coats is angry and cantankerous and is given a great many rants to declaim. Tamika Lawrence as Keyshawn’s sister Niecy is feisty and self-sufficient. As her son obedient Kevin, Donovan Louis Bazemore has the healthy curiosity as well as the impertinency of all teenagers. As the Divines, Tiffany Mann, Sheléa Melody McDonald and Latrice Pace demonstrate that they are musical stars with big personalities.

Visually, the play is a bit of a disappointment. Luciana Stecconi’s set for the back porch of the Johnson house is rather minimal and as is the second set seen in the second act. However, the final moments which take us somewhere else make up for the lack in the other scenes. Adam Honoré and Shannon Clarke’s lighting along with Williams’ sound design make the coming storm very real. Jean’s casual costumes for the family BBQ are perfectly suitable for such an occasion.

Oh Happy Day! demonstrates an advance of technique over Cooper’s eight-scene sketch evening in Ain’t No Mo’. However, the new play is much too talky and seems to cover some of the same material more than once, even though on another level it deals with our relationship with God. The play is an interesting entertainment but one assumes Cooper meant it to be more than that. It is, however, an artifact of the difficult times we live in.

Oh Happy Day! (extended through November 9, 2025)

The Public Theater in association with Baltimore Center Stage

Anspacher Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.publictheater.org.

Running time: two hours and 15 minutes including one intermission