Diary of a Chambermaid, which opened last night at the Walker Space in Downtown Manhattan, was a show featuring the lighting design of an old friend from high school, G. Benjamin Swope. Going to friends’ shows is part of life here in the city. Sometimes they’re even good, as was the case with this show. The story of a young chambermaid and her degraded life as she hops from bed to bed at her various jobs, the moral message is depressing at best. Lowerclass women are destined to be ruined, shamed monsters because they have no choice. At the end of the show, she goes off and marries a fearsome man, possibly a rapist/murderer (whether or not he is indeed is left unclear). They steal from their employers, and then turn around to be the abusive upperclass beasts that had tormented them throughout their lives. Teaching us that money corrupts.

The program note is interesting, stating that this play is relevant today as America is rapidly separating into two different countries; one for the rich, and one for the poor.

The production design was simple and creative, and incredibly functional. They just used giant bales of hay. They served as table tops, as beds, and sometimes even as hay bales. Moving them around the stage over the course of the 2.5 hour show created quite a mess, which got all over the actors’ costumes, which made them look even dirtier and messier than they were, which suited the tone of the play. People are dirty.

Good job Ben on the lighting design! Particularly the scene in which they were sitting by a window, overlooking the ocean; you could see the sunlight streaming in on their faces. I could imagine the difficulty of lighting that space, it was one long, narrow room, with seats on either long side of the room. I’ve never seen a space like that, and despite its limitations, all technical aspects worked.

Lastly, the acting was truly first rate. The problem with playing characters from Europe in the 1800s is that it is hard to bring a modern sensibility to them without seeming overtly modern American. On the flipside, if you play them too “period,” they come off as phony and silly. People use stupid accents and it just doesn’t work. These actors had a perfect balance between the two aspects; I believed they were people from another place and time, yet they were real and their situations were relevant today.

Lael Logan as Celistine, the maid, was close to perfect for the role. Innocent yet depraved. And the ensemble cast were all strong. Many of them had to play several characters, which, with strong acting, and costume changes, were all incredibly different. Well done all.

Caroline, or Change is Tony Kushner’s first musical. The well loved wordsmith, famous for his epic “Angels in America,” has done well, considering his prior work was so un-musical theatery. The show follows the life of Caroline, a poor black woman in Lousiana in 1963. She is a maid to a middle-class white family, and the show depicts her relationship with that family and with her own. Noah, the little boy, keeps leaving his change in his pants pockets. As punishment, his stepmother tells Caroline that she can keep any change that she finds. The characters are all well crafted and multi-layered. The problem with the show, ultimately, is that Kushner is so wordy, and the music so complex (not particularly melodic), that much of the poetry is lost. It comes flying out so quickly that we miss most of it. I would have appreciated the show much more had I the opportunity to listen to it a few times before viewing. Which is fine; Sondheim often feels the same way.

The music, by Jeanine Tesori, reminds me of LaChiusa, specifically that of Marie Christine. She uses the same type of soulful tribal beats that he does in that show. The music is an interesting mix of musical theatre, soul, but all presented operatically. Almost the entire show is sung, which surprised me. I hadn’t expected it to be an opera. And it is certainly not a catchy, show-tuney score. However, I plan on buying the CD as soon as it is released. The music was powerful and beautiful.

Tonya Pinkins is brilliant and mesmerizing as Caroline. Tony-worthy performance (she would have won, had Idina Menzel done Wicked, say, next year!) And Ankia Noni Rose as her eldest daugher was the most charming and interesting I’ve ever seen an ingenue, which is something to be said (generally I find ingenues to be the most boring part of any show).

I can guarantee that the show was better when it was off-Broadway; much of its power lies in its intimacy, which I’m sure was lost in its transfer to the larger theatre. The show is very good, but after all the hype, I was a little disappointed. Perhaps, had I seen it on opening night, I would love it the way others seem to.