'Moments of Joy' made up of local references, soaring tunes

"Moments of Joy" would more aptly be titled "Extended Riffs and Passages of Joy." Joy Vandervort-Cobb, using her incredible talent for voices and faces, fills the stage of Theatre 220 in Simons Center for the Arts with the spirits of her grandmother, her mother, her children, her therapists and countless others.

The play, part of the Stelle di Domani Series, begins with a prologue of her having the "horrors" in her dressing room, where she prays for her muse to come. But when the muse arrives, it is the spirit of her dead grandmother, and the spirits of other family members. The lightning-fast, back-and-forth dialogue is astonishing.

The first act consists of her memories of her early life, her college days at University of Southern California ("the real USC," as she explained) and her days in touring theatrical companies. She sings "Phenomenal Woman," a setting of a poem by Maya Angelou, to great effect.

There are many local references and the College of Charleston, where Vandervort-Cobb is associate professor of African -American theatre and performance ("if only they paid by the letter," she said). But don't let the local material keep you away; it's funny no matter how far "from off" you happen to be.

Her children come in for quite a bashing, culminating in "The Mother's Song," which is a rip-snorting tirade sung to "The William Tell Overture." Maida Lipkin turned the Yamaha into a pretty fair orchestra for it.

The pain of separation and the prospect of divorce drive much of Act Two, taking the show to a deeper level. The turning point was perhaps her unaccompanied singing of "Fill My Cup, Lord."

The unexpected closing number was "I Am What I Am," from "La Cage aux Folles." It worked perfectly.