It's 1972 Arkansas. Venus (Chelsea Ricketts) faces discrimination when auditioning for Romeo and Juliet. A black boy named William Ward is completely taken with her. Mr. Mountain (Graham Greene) is her father and they are part of the Lightning Clan. Separately, an old man (Danny Glover) struggles after a lost.
The starting racism is a little over the top but it's at least memorable. The problem may be that she is not so outrageously talented that she deserves a Tony right on the spot. A montage of inferior auditions would help a lot for the comparison. The young romance is relatively bland. The meet cute isn't much although the two young leads are charming enough. Quite frankly, they're more good looking than powerful. Graham Greene is way too stoic which limits his emotional range. There is a magicalism which isn't that well explained. The dividing between the past and present day doesn't add much of anything. Glover feels stranded on his own island and could have played William's father giving it more power. It should stay mostly as a period piece with the two young leads and two powerful veteran actors as their dads.
