Do you love basketball? Is it Basketball, capital “B” to you? Then get your tickets now to the latest at George Street Playhouse, “King James” by Rajiv Joseph. This is the show for you.
Starting with music to get your blood moving and projections of highlights from the career of NBA legend LeBron James, we first meet Matthew (Doug Harris) and Shawn (Blake Morris) when each is at a personal crossroad. Matt is in need of cash from yet another failed but brilliant idea and Shawn has just come into some cash after the success of a recently published story. They are about the same age, and are each lifelong basketball fans with an astonishing grasp of the game. These two die-hard fans are on a collision course to life-long friendship, with all that entails.
There are vignettes as we witness the first meeting of this dynamic duo and their negotiations and conversations sketch out what we’re about to see. Rajiv Joseph’s gift is in giving us lines through which we easily read to learn what we need to know from how Matt and Shawn speak to each other. Mr. Harris and Mr. Morris make use of every part of themselves in a masterful way. We see how Matt feels when Shawn speaks of Matt’s parents and how each man grows to understand more about himself as seen through the eyes of his best friend, and sometimes most gimlet-eyed companion.
The multi-media spectacle in this two act wonder is thrilling for fans and not-fans alike. All around me I could detect the different factions and we were all rapt in the spectacle. Frank J. Oliva’s set design is dazzlingly detailed and Azalea Fairley’s costumes are spot-on. Amara Payton McNeil’s lights, Christopher J. Bailey’s sound and Doug Sharf’s video design makes for a full evening, full sensory experience that is 4D in scope, as we feel as well as see the passing of time. Ryan George’s direction is sculptural, leaving us to see the warp and weft of the relationship these two friends weave. This show is the real deal.
The show runs through April 6 only, so give your favorite basketball fan a thrill https://www.georgestreetplayhouse.org/events/detail/king-james for tickets today.