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Jeannette Bayardelle’s Shida is a Triumph

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It’s Theatre Thursday! Today’s show is Shida, playing at The Vaults theatre until October 13.

The biographical musical Shida premiered off-Broadway six years ago, the summer of 2013, when I still lived close enough to NYC to see shows almost every single weekend and considered myself pretty in the know and yet this show wasn’t on my radar so like WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH ME? Don’t be like me – if you are close enough to see the London production of this impeccable, heart-breaking, soul-building show before October 13, you must see it. Oh I just checked my travel spreadsheet (yes of course) and apparently I was in Croatia for some of the NYC run but GUYS this show is BETTER THAN CROATIA so no excuses.

Okay obviously saying a show is better than a country is not the hill I’m going to die on (but also all musicals are better than all countries? because musicals are the magic of life and we shouldn’t have international borders anyway? I didn’t expect this review to get here) but Shida is truly special. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen something that reinforced the power of the art form AND that I didn’t have any critiques of. I’ve always got some little improvements or changes I’d love to see made, even for my favorite shows! I could not find anything to change in this show if you paid me.

(Okay except that it started like 15 mins late but then it was immediately so good that I DIDN’T EVEN CARE!)

Shida, written and performed by Jeannette Bayardelle, follows a young black girl named Shida growing up in the Bronx, her mother, her mother’s boyfriend, her new best friend Jackie, her favorite teacher, and more characters shaping Shida’s childhood and influencing her future. Except all these well-defined characters are all played by Jeannette, a master at dipping in and out of characters as seamlessly and fully as if there were a full cast up there. It begins by showing grown-up Shida as an addict on the streets of New York and then circling back to her childhood and the trauma that led to her that point so you know from the start that you’ll be getting stabbed in the heart. Musically. And yeah it took more energy that I’ve expended in months to keep myself from ugly crying in that loud disruptive manner that sometimes (often) happens to me in the theatre where if I were in your audience you’d be like ‘SHUT UP GIRL THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU’ but man alive is this show beautiful.

A lot of the flawlessness is owed to director Andy Sandberg (not that one) (it’s actually Samberg, the one you’re thinking of (I know I don’t like that either)) helping maneuver the many changes in and out of the various characters and making a one-woman show feel fuller than most West End musicals with large ensembles. And I don’t know who is responsible for the smooth change that occurs whenever Shida is handed her special bracelets but it’s probably god, that’s how powerful a tiny movement was. As for Jeannette, I’m simply in awe. Her nuanced facial expressions and vocal inflections, telling so much so efficiently, would be enough to grant her a medal from me (for whatever, I don’t know, ‘Most’) but her singing?? and her acting?? and her humo(u)r! AND SHE WROTE THIS! I can’t deal with her brilliance. I’m not going to spoil the post-show reveal of who the real people involved were because it’s too much to handle.Maybe I shouldn’t recommend that you all go because anyone weaker emotionally than I am would probably explode and that’s just gross for everyone.

INFORMATION

Shida is at The Vaults, which is behind Waterloo Station and a little tricky to find if like me you don’t realize that you can’t walk through the brick walls surrounding the station. Aim for the intersection of Launcelot and Lower Marsh and it’s on that block.

It’s pretty small (one central aisle) and there are no bad seats, although the seats themselves feel like they might break.

Programmes are $5 (that’s in pounds) and they’re also selling CDs for $10 (pounddollars).

I’m not sure if she stagedoors; she didn’t come out in the 15 minutes or so it took me to return to normal breathing, buy a programme, and use the bathroom but it’s probably for the best because I would have been like WHAT HOW WHAT.

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