One Night at the Lorraine Motel
With his legendary eye for a good-looking woman—Martin is intrigued, more than intrigued, and not just by what’s in the cup.
Martin Luther King Jr. crumples onto his bed at the Lorraine Motel. Played by Jon Michael Hill, he’s just delivered his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech to the Memphis sanitation union workers. He’s exhausted. He badly needs a cigarette, but his friend is no where with that promised pack of Pall Malls. Corretta doesn’t answer his phone calls. At loose ends, he orders a cup of coffee from room service so he can finish writing yet another speech.
So begins Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop” now playing through July 9th at the Geffen Playhouse. Need we say it’s April 3rd, 1968, the night before King will be assassinated—outside this very motel room.
Jon Michael Hill and Amanda Warren in rehearsal for The Mountaintop. Photo by Jeff Lorch.Coffee comes, courtesy of Camae, the first-night motel maid played by Amanda Warren, who brings more pizzaz that any three maids. With his legendary eye for a good-looking woman—Martin is intrigued, more than intrigued, and not just by what’s in the cup. In time, Camae adds a few generous shots of whiskey from her flask. Could this be more than room service?
But “Mountaintop” is hardly a fractured love story. The pair dance back and forth, he alternatively the charismatic dreamer and then a common man worried about the many dangers surrounding him; she coquettish, yes, but confident and forthright and at times overpowering—challenging the revered civil rights leader for the slow pace of his nonviolent approach. In time, Martin wonders if there’s more to Camae than meets the eye. Could she be an FBI plant?
No, she’s much more interesting than that.
Read Ed Rampell’s fulsome review here.
The Mountaintop is being performed through July 9, 2023, at the Gil Cates Theater, The Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90024. Tickets and info; 310.208.2028.
