The Fall of Heaven

Friday night is date night and I took Anne out to dinner and a show. Dinner was at the Big Sky Café (our favorite restaurant in Webster) and the show was at The Rep, The Fall of Heaven. This play is at the end of its run. All our other Rep going friends have already seen it. Now we will finally be able to talk about it with them, but now they are going to want to discuss Macbeth, the next show. The following is The Reps’ descriptive blurb about The Fall of Heaven:

Celebrated crime novelist, best known for his Easy Rawlins mystery series (including Devil in a Blue Dress), Walter Mosley has adapted his novel The Tempest Tales into his first play. When street wise Tempest Landry is accidentally killed in a shooting, he finds himself at the Pearly Gates. Sentenced to hell for his misdeeds, Tempest has only one thing to say: No. Hell, no. So it’s back to earth for a second chance that leaves the fate of heaven and hell resting in his hands.

Eve and then Adam first took a bite of the apple and then gained self-awareness. This play begs the question, what does a second bite earn? The protagonist, Tempest, is a man caught between heaven and hell and life here on earth. The play manages to overcome its racial foundations and ascend to a theological argument. The cast is all black, except for Bob, aka Beelzebub. Fundamentally, the play questions the extent of Man’s free will, with the exploration of one man’s attempt to test his freedom’s bounds. Can the devil cast a contract for a man who has freed himself? Thankfully, the answer is no, but neither can heaven either. Free will frees man to choose his fate. We liked it.

Chris sent us the picture for this post, of the Fish Hopper on Cannery Row. This building was once just another sardine factory along Cannery Row, now it is a fancy restaurant. It sports a great view of the bay too. This looks to be another dawns early light, before going to work, photograph.

2 thoughts on “The Fall of Heaven

Leave a Reply