"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" at Geva Theatre Center

When Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was released in 1967, half a century ago, the issue of an interracial couple being depicted on screen was revolutionary. In fact, until that year, when the Supreme Court decided Loving v. Virginia, anti-miscegenation laws were still on the books in many states. Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924 was designed to maintain white supremacy, and criminalized marriages between whites and non-whites. Who would have thought that, fifty years later, America’s racial landscape would still be so divided, and that this play’s issue would still resonate. In his pre-show talk, Artistic Director Mark Cuddy reminded us that as recently as 2013, a Cheerios commercial with a mixed race couple elicited racist rhetoric from a (what one hopes is just a) small segment of the population.

I took my friend Glen to opening night, and we were both enthralled (as was the rest of the audience) with the incredible set – remarks ran mostly along the lines of, “can I live there?” Like many who know the film, starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, and Hepburn’s forgettable niece, Katharine Houghton, I was worried that my memories of the movie would interfere with my enjoyment of the show (especially since I’m such a fan of Hepburn that I have a whole shelf in my library devoted to books about or by her, and I have every publicly available movie of hers (and some not…) on either VHS or DVD). But Director Skip Greer did a great job casting the roles, especially Linda Gravatt, in the scene-stealing role of Tilly Binks. And it’s always a pleasure, of course, to see Rochester’s own Brigitt Markusfeld (Skip’s wife) on stage. And many will remember the wonderful Nora Cole from other recent Geva productions.

pre-show toast

Todd Kreidler’s stage adaptation has made subtle changes that make the plot more convincing in 2017, even though it is still set in 1967. But one of the central themes of the play still asks: can love conquer prejudices? In this simplistic tale, the answer is, “yes.” Let’s hope, in 2017, we can work toward the answer in real life being the same. 

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner runs through March 12. And if you go, it's worth taking your playbill home to have time to read Jenni Werner's (Literary Director / Resident Dramaturg) thoughtful essay about the play and prejudice. For tickets, visit www.gevatheatre.org