‘Bubbly Black Girl’ musical covers not so bubbly themes

Erin Washington

“Bubbly” is not a word usually associated with growing up as a young black girl during the Civil Rights Movement. After all, this is the period in which black girls were choosing white dolls as more beautiful than black dolls.

But “bubbly” appears to work in the case of Kirsten Childs.

“The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin,” now playing at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Calderwood Pavilion, is partially based on the life of Kirsten Childs, who wrote the musical’s book, music and lyrics. She grew up in Los Angeles in the 1960s and ’70s, and moved to New York to become a dancer. Like Childs, the main character defies prejudice and goes against the odds to try to become “the greatest dancing star in the world.”

Jacqui Parker directs a stellar cast in this SpeakEasy Stage Company production, including some Boston Conservatory students. Third-year student Stephanie Umoh plays Viveca, the titular “bubbly black girl,” superbly portraying the character’s difficult development from innocent little girl to experienced grown woman. Fellow third-year student Anich D’Jae, who plays Emily, Nilda and Tallulah, is probably the best dancer in the show, although much of the dancing could use a little more rehearsing.

While “Bubbly” is often light, it does touch on several important and traditionally dark themes. During one haunting song, Harriet Tubman tells Viveca that she is an “Oreo.” Later, three people dressed in Ku Klux Klan garb join the song in a child’s nightmarish hallucination.

The song raises the issue of a person being “black on the outside and white on the inside,” a theme that continues throughout the play: that a black child growing up in the ’60s and ’70s wanted more than anything else to be white. Viveca plays with her white doll, gets her hair straightened, and even dates a white hippie. As Childs said in a recent interview, “Why wouldn’t you want to be white? It would be easier.”

At one point, Viveca and her friend Gregory are walking home when the police stop Gregory in a case of mistaken identity. The policemen rough him up quite a bit before they realize he’s not the culprit. Viveca feels so enraged over the encounter that she vows to not let it happen again. Gregory replies, “How you gonna stop it? By puttin’ on a phony smile and pretendin’ it doesn’t happen?” At this turning point, Viveca realizes that being bubbly all the time is not always the answer to life’s troubles.

Not to be outdone by Umoh, BCA veterans like Jaime Cepero III, Brian Richard Robinson (previously seen as The Bus and The Dryer in “Caroline, or Change”), and John King (as Director Bob, loosely based on theater legend Bob Fosse) provide stunning performances, suspending our disbelief and elevating the caliber of the show. Umoh and Robinson sing wonderfully, and Cepero plays a very lovable Gregory. Trecia Reavis, making her SpeakEasy debut, adds the comical but realistic Granny, right down to miming the action of shelling peas. And the choreography of David Connolly is commendable for the men in a ’70s school dance scene (“Give It Up”) and for Viveca’s jazzy solo song, “Pretty.”

“Bubbly” is a jazzy, funky show chock full of meaningful poetry and melodic voices. While the show would benefit from better-executed choreography, the story, song, costumes and acting give the audience more than enough reason to root for Viveca as she explores what being bubbly means and how to make it in this world — in her career and in life.