Changing it up with Brandi Bigley at Black Theatre Troupe

Noah McNeil and Brandi Bigley
photo by Laura Durant

by Jennifer Haaland

When is a washing machine not a washing machine?  Black Theatre Troupe reveals the answer and so many more important changes in their current musical production of Caroline or Change.  Brandi Bigley, who plays Rose, visited with Phx Stages about some of those changes.

Caroline or Change had a brief run on Broadway in 2004 and focused on the transformations that literal pocket change can make in the lives of those who jingle it. Namely, Caroline, is a black woman working as a maid, doing the laundry, for a Jewish family in 1963 Louisiana.  That Jewish family has recently suffered a death, and Rose arrives in the aftermath.

"My character, Rose, is trying to assimilate into a family she's not accustomed to. She's been a 'daddy's girl' from the Upper West Side. She seems to marry this guy more as a favor than out of love," said Bigley. "Mostly, it's really important to her to make everyone like her. She's overwhelmed but wants to be a good new wife and mother. So she focuses on making this one little change..."

Rose's attempt to make her stepson Noah more responsible directly affects Caroline, who is allowed to keep any change she finds in Noah's pockets. Blurring the line between man (no, woman) and machine, inanimate objects like the washer and dryer are played by humans as the plot develops.

"Caroline's job is in the basement and the washer and dryer and radio all have human counterparts down there," Bigley said. "They are sort of narrating her thoughts. The washer sings. The dryer is this devilish, ominous voice inside her head. My favorite basement machine is the radio. It is played by these three actresses who are sort of The Supremes. They have tight, tight harmonies and glamorous costumes."

From blues to klezmer to gospel to jazz, Caroline's score changes up the music to reflect the characters' heritage and lives.  Beyond blending Jewish and African American sound, the numbers reveal character changes that don't get verbalized.

"Rose is a pretty uptight, closed character. But the rhythm of the music usually shows her mood. Even if her words or lyrics don't announce it, you can hear it in the score, how worried and nervous she is," Bigley said.

For Black Theatre Troupe, changing the theatre's physical space to accommodate a live 'pit' has been a fantastic puzzle to solve.  According to Bigley, the company has solved it creatively.

"There's a challenge in that we do have live music, an orchestra for the show,  which I love," said Bigley. "But there's no pit at this theatre, so the live music is being piped in from a different room in the building."

Bigley noted that she "fell in love with this show...by just listening to the cast recording." Bigley, with Caroline or Change at Black Theatre Troupe is harnessing the power to transform, and inviting us to share in it.