Gospel Play: “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child”

A Mildred Summerville Production

DVD: RT 2 hours, 25 minutes

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog

Ann and Regina McCrary of the McCrary Sisters lead a cast of gospel singers and actors in a DVD presentation of Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child, a gospel musical written and produced by Mildred Summerville of the J&L Summerville Academy in Wilson, North Carolina.

A morality drama peppered with comedy and traditional gospel singing, Spare the Rod follows the Fosters, a modern African American family wrestling with a portfolio of social ills—from the dangers of drugs and alcohol to rape, pregnancy, and illness.  The family is anchored by a praying grandmother (Ann McCrary) steeped in mother wit and the Word.  She can cite biblical passages to suit all occasions.  Her influence is omnipresent but not embraced by her petulant daughter-in-law and angry grandchild, who frequently question Grandma’s unerring fealty to the Most High.

The focus of the story is the grandchildren, who are young adults struggling against the push of society and the pull of the family.  Despite the title, the play is not about aggressive discipline but how a family that prays together stays together.

Regina McCrary steals the show as feisty Aunt Mamie, a sanctified Moms Mabley whose malapropisms, homespun humor, and happy church mother cool the drama with comedy whenever it reaches the boiling point.  Other gospel artists in the musical are Leanne Faine, who plays the preacher; Melvin Williams as the assistant pastor; Tracy Worth as the high school principal; and Evelyn Turrentine-Agee, who speaks to the youth about the dangers of addiction.  Each has an opportunity to sing songs for which they are well known, especially during the concluding church scene, which is essentially a vehicle for an all-out gospel concert. 

Of special note is pianist Dana Kristina Joi Morgan, whose performance of a medley of classical and sacred melodies is a tour de force of technical brilliance.

While not all of the several dramatic motives are resolved by the conclusion—one wonders, for example, whether the young man who wanted to play the piano instead of football got to realize his dream—Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child is earnest in its sympathetic depiction of the complexity of modern life.

The two-disc DVD set captures the troupe in a live September 2009 performance at Fike High School in Wilson, North Carolina.  Recommended for high school students.