Jimmie LeRoy is a white tap-dancing male impersonator performing in London in 1939. Claire her accompanist, who is also her girlfriend, is black. They’ve discreetly been able to carry on an affair as a mixed-race, lesbian couple for three years. But England is on the verge of war, and they’ve been ordered to return to the US – a country that has Jim Crow laws and is even less accepting of homosexuality.
The play deals with race, gender, sexuality and politics*. It works best when it tackles race. Race can’t be hidden. Love however, doesn’t trump the prejudice and fear the couple faces from both the world and from within themselves.
Unfortunately, I found their relationship hard to believe. Maybe it was the fact that Jimmie was supposed to be older and wiser yet the two seemed close in age. Maybe it was the lack of chemistry between the two actors. Or maybe it was the trite way they solved the conundrum that faced them in the US.This is a no frills production in a small theater and I while I applaud the effort of Margaret Morrison – who not only plays Jimmie but also wrote Home in Her Heart – I found the play lacking. LAR
Stage Left Studio, 214 W 30th Street
Ticket prices: $22
Discount tickets: $11 http://www.goldstar.com/events/new-york-ny/home-in-her-heart-1 and thru the papering companies
Running time: 85 minutes
Runs thru: March 10, 2015
* Not recommended for children – includes adult topics and nudity
