'Caroline' remount a hit in (upstate) New York

Greta Oglesby as Caroline. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Twin Cities-based actor Greta Oglesby still retains the vocal and emotional power that she demonstrated in the title role of "Caroline, or Change" three years ago at the Guthrie.

Oglesby is starring in director Marcela Lorca's remount of the Tony Kushner musical at the Syracuse (New York) Stage. She plays a black maid working for a white family in 1963 Louisiana as the civil rights movement gathers steam. The cast also includes Twin Cities actors Michelle Barber as Grandma Gellman and Regina Marie Williams as Caroline's best friend.

The reviews have been breathless, calling the production "compelling" and "masterful."

"Greta Oglesby is a revelation," said one critic. "With a simplicity of movement and emotional calibration she envelopes the audience with the strength of her herculean abilities. The voice, the body, the soul is laid bare."

Another reviewer, for the area's public radio affiliate, said "Oglesby shows us every facet of this complex and troubled character. The emotional and vocal power of her Act II song Lot's Wife just about stops the show and left me weeping."