Hit It! Reopens at The Knox Center for the Performing Arts at Contra Costa College through Sunday, July 23

Jared Crawford, Wanda Sabir and André Andréé photo credit: Wanda Sabir

Though the “Hit It!” production at Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Stanley Williams, was certainly wonderful, it was Jared “Choclatt” Crawford’s performance along with the all-star rhythm section, choreography and dancers which was most memorable – not the story perhaps because its hard having two leading men, two stars on stage simultaneously, Idris Ackamoor as “Henry,” and Crawford as “J.R.”

In this production, the central character, portrayed by Crawford is a young man wants to play music professionally. He wants to quit school and follow his dream, an idea in direct opposition to what his grandmother wants. In the able hands of this slightly different cast, most notably Clara “Clarae” McDaniel as “Grandmother” and Graham Cowley as “Henry,” a ghost who leads J.R. on a journey, the story is much tighter and clearer.

In director Clay David’s careful hands the grandmother grows larger than I recall her role, even though David said, the script except for a few additions stays absolutely the same. This grandmother’s life is full, not empty, her worries for her high school age grandson warranted, not frivolous, her faith in her Lord solid and unwavering.

Actress, Clara “Clarae” McDaniel’s character has this deep bluesy voice, her face mirroring J.R.’s intensity and passion. This softer J.R. is in response to the stronger depiction of the woman whose daughter died, and now she has to raise her child’s son. When we meet the family, her journey as parent should be over; she is prepared at this point to celebrate her grandson’s transition from child to adult when he tells her he wants to drop out of school and play buckets at his “spot” in Harlem for spare change?!

Now what sane parent would agree to this?

Hit It! at the Knox Center is full of surprises, some of them touching like JR’s tenderness toward his grandmother: he gets her a coke and glass before she asks, and when she takes off her shoes, moving them after fetching her slippers – his grandmother fussing the entire time.

Other stage directions, additional lines, and/or props move grandmother off the porch, out of the kitchen into the world – a world where she is not helpless or incapable of taking care of business and finding her grandson.

The two characters’ duet in separate subway cars towards the end of the play, the light conversation with a church sister before Grandmother goes out looking for J.R., the company song, “Have You Seen Him,” added to new show, plus other musical interludes, even additional lines keep the thread on the loom, each moment reinforcing and deepening the “coming of age” theme.

Many of the original cast members were present, such as the choreographer, Trina Maltsberger, and many of the dancers, except the King of Carnaval 2006, who was in the audience but not on stage. The new addition to the dance team, Nathan Greenberg, did a wonderful job also, especially on the lifts where his partners literally floated out of his arms, but he didn’t have the moves in the Tito Puente number, though. I missed the King, Antonio Naranjo – he just oozed “sexual feeling.”

The director, Jared and the writer, his dad, André Andréé, were so pleased with this production, especially Jared, who said, Graham Cowley’s “Henry” was the way he envisioned him. “Henry,” J.R.’s alter-ego, his tour guide, his voice of reason, enters the play singing Bill Wither’s hit, Lovely Day and at the end of the long day where J.R. is treated to African dance, Latin Jazz, a performance with Chick Webb’s band, and Tito Puente, Jared Crawford performing on djembe, drum set and timbales – equally well, everyone is if not on his or her feet, is definitely thinking about it.

The star-studded band is fabulous, just because the men worked so well together and with the expanded cast. Though it’s not always the case, this time bigger meant better. My favorite parts were the sections in the subway, maybe for stories as well as lives these cars carry, especially when André Andréé is train announcer. (You might also know him from Lorraine Hansberry’s “Black Nativity.” He is the narrator.)

The train is the place where story lies open to interpretation or abandonment. It’s J.R.’s choice which is what the journey, Hit It! is all about.

J.R. chooses to examine his life. In some ways, he doesn’t have a choice – Henry is that persuasive. The bum by his very presence keeps the street life real for the kid – Henry doesn’t exude success, a bottle up to his lips more than once along the journey.

He also shows J.R. one of the consequences of choosing art as his sole source of income. If one’s hands get stiff, there goes the only reliable source of income one has, or at least he had. In the end, J.R. knows what he has to do, and as in life sometimes, the pieces come together magically.

When “Henry” leaves, we all cry a little…. Growing pains are just that, painful even if in the long run they are worth it.