
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 22, 1992                   TAG: 9203230179
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

`PIANO LESSON' WAS WORLD-CLASS

I SAW Mill Mountain Theatre's production of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Sandwiched between white people, I nevertheless stayed to the end. It was, in a phrase, a world-class production.

The play itself needs no encomiums or defense from me - in the same sense that "Hamlet" and "Death of a Salesman' need none from me. The production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, on the other hand, deserves and might need the approbation of all us theatergoers here in the Roanoke Valley. Not only did they present to us one of the major works of our generation, they did so with the highest level of professionalism, taste and art.

Chris Gladden was on the mark when he praised the production and its poetic language. It's a tremendous happening for Roanoke theater - reflections of other "experienced" playgoers to the contrary notwithstanding. NICK FLOURNOY VINTON

by CNB