Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Gamm Theatre’s opening show of their 39th season is “Topdog/Underdog,” the 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Suzan-Lori Parks, the first African-American woman to win the prize. In 2023 this show won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. This play is about brotherly love, sibling rivalry, and surviving the American Dream. The story centers on two fiercely competitive African-American brothers with a troubled past who share a room in a squalid boardinghouse. The two brothers are Lincoln and Booth. Lincoln is an ex-card shark now working a “straight” job impersonating Abraham Lincoln at an arcade, while Booth is a petty thief set on surpassing his older brother’s reputation as a notorious three-card Monte hustler. Director Cliff Odle casts these two roles splendidly and elicits multilayered performances from both actors. They fully embody these two characters, displaying what makes them the way they are. The audience discovers where they’ve been and how each has either changed or stayed the same. It examines how these two brothers live in dire economic circumstances and how they try to navigate them differently. As Lincoln and Booth, Anthony Goss and Marc Pierre display great depth of emotions as these two siblings. Their brilliant performances propel the audience to their feet at the end of the show. Bravo on jobs well done.

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