Mosaic Theater’s ‘Bars and Measures’ Review: Caged Bird

metroweekly.com:

Bars and Measures (★★★★☆), in a gripping Mosaic Theater production, metes out its clues and secrets with well-measured slowness, as Bilal, in solitary confinement, awaits his next court hearing.He stays loose and lucid by practicing his bass in his head, his hands running up and down the imaginary fingerboard.

We hear the music as he plays, while, behind him, light strips lacing the cracks in the concrete walls pulse in time to the tune.His abject physical confinement and resilient creative mind are vividly captured in the blend of scenic design by Paige Hathaway, spry lighting by John D.

Alexander, and original score by D.C.-based jazz musician and composer Kris Funn.The music sparking Bilal’s mind is from his dream composition, an original piece he’s been practicing, then passing along to his classical pianist brother Eric (Joel Ashur) during their weekly visits in the jailhouse.Goodwin’s play, told in non-linear sequence, was inspired by the real-life story of incarcerated jazz musician Tarik Shah and his brother Antoine Dowdell, whose visits inside a New York correctional facility were similarly filled with music-making.Eric’s visits with Bilal — whom he persists in calling by his pre-convert name, Darryl — form the spine of the show.

They drum and scat bars of Bilal’s composition, catch each other up on news of the case or of Eric’s potential romance with Sylvia (Lynette Rathnam), a vocalist he’s been rehearsing with, and clash constantly over their differences.Their visiting room scenes, well-played by Davis and Ashur, are set with just a table and chairs, and the constant, mostly silent presence of prison guard Wes (Afsheen Misaghi) standing watch over the brothers’ every move.