A Free Man of Color

By showing these confrontations the reader is able to learn about significant historical data such as the Yellow Fever, Napoleonic tactics, and the slave rebellion that nearly took over Santo Domingo's government.

[7] The original cast featured Jeffrey Wright in the lead role, Mos Def as Cupidon Murmur, Reg Rogers as Princepousse/Tallyrand, Joseph Marcell as Dr. Toubib, Arnie Burton as James Monroe, Robert Stanton as Georges Feydeau, Paul Dano as Meriwether Lewis, John McMartin as Thomas Jefferson, Veanne Cox as Mme.

Some of the themes noted include immorality which is demonstrated through Cornet's lack of empathy toward individuals after obtaining a large sum of money and becoming one of the most influential figures in New Orleans.

The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout wrote in his review, "If neatness is what you expect from John Guare's "A Free Man of Color," you'll be doomed to disappointment.

Mr. Guare's ambitious new play, which tells the fantastic tale of Jacques Cornet (Jeffrey Wright), a 19th-century millionaire playboy from New Orleans who happens to be black, has a cast of 33 and runs for 2½ crowded hours.

Yes, it sprawls, but for all its hectic messiness, "A Free Man of Color" is one of the three or four most stirring new plays I've seen since I started writing this column seven years ago.".

Finally, after 2 ½ hours of brain-blurring historical asides, strenuously costumed artifice and luxuriously overpopulated incoherence, the point and resonance of this crazy-ambitious collaboration between playwright John Guare and director George C. Wolfe fall deeply into place.

Veanne Cox and Peter Bartlett comically contrast as aristocratic refugees upset by New Orleans' raffish society while Nicole Beharie is winsome as a spunky country girl who soon comes to love it.