Tony Kushner’s “Caroline, or Change, ” from 2004, used the toppling to shed light on a key character’s frustrations. The subplot resonates powerfully today.
A monument to the Confederacy enrages a group of young people. Late one night, they topple the statue. Trouble ensues.
Scenes like that are now playing over and over on the nightly news. But two decades ago, the rebellious destruction sprang from the imagination of the playwright Tony Kushner, who presciently placed a Confederate statue-toppling in his powerful musical, “ Caroline, or Change, ” which ran briefly on Broadway in 2004 and has been widely performed since.
To revisit the show’s story and lyrics is to gain another vantage point on the longstanding frustrations and impatience fueling much of today’s agitation and activism over the removal of statues, flags and street and building names that honor the Confederacy. In “Caroline, or Change, ” which Mr. Kushner first drafted in 1997 and which is set in 1963, an African-American high school student named Emmie Thibodeaux — impatient with the pace of civil rights and chafing at what she sees as a local tribute to segregation — joins a group of friends in destroying a monument to Confederate soldiers in Lake Charles, La.
As they topple the statue, its head falls off; the body is later found in a nearby bayou, but the head is missing.
“It was meant to be shocking — it would have been very daring in 1963, ” Mr. Kushner said in an interview on Friday. He said he could not have anticipated the events of the last few days, but added: “I really hoped it would happen someday. I did take my best shot at guessing what might be of lasting significance, and I’ m proud of that.”
The statue toppling is an important and resonant subplot in the musical, which traces the relationship between a black maid, Caroline, and a white boy, Noah, in the home she cleans. The show, with music by Jeanine Tesori and a book and lyrics by Mr. Kushner, is set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Emmie is Caroline’s adolescent daughter, who has conflicted feelings about her mother’s job and a piercing hunger for change. The role brought a Tony Award to Anika Noni Rose.
Mr. Kushner said the statue described in the show was a real part of his own childhood: He grew up in Lake Charles and passed the South’s Defenders Monument regularly on his way to school. There have been repeated efforts to have the statue removed or relocated — including in 1995, before he wrote the musical. But the statue is still standing in front of the Calcasieu Courthouse today, to Mr. Kushner’s frustration.
“I hate all this statuary — it felt to me my entire life that it was essentially no different than a monument to members of the Wehrmacht or the SS, ” he said.
In the years since the Broadway production, “Caroline, or Change” has been performed in most big American cities, on many college campuses, and even at a few high schools; a production is planned in New Orleans this fall. And this spring, there was a well-received revival in England; Mr. Kushner said he is hopeful that revival might transfer to the West End. “Of anything I’ ve ever done, I’ m proudest of ‘Caroline, or Change,’ ” said Mr. Kushner, best known as the Pulitzer-winning author of the play “Angels in America” and as the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of the movie “Lincoln.”
Below are the lyrics, as sung by the original Broadway cast, describing the statue subplot, along with Mr. Kushner’s commentary and links to audio of the songs:
“Dotty and Caroline ” lyrics:
Observations from Mr. Kushner:
“They’ re two friends. Dotty is a maid, like Caroline, but going to night school, getting educated, working to move herself out of her circumstances. She’s excited about this news about the statue, and Caroline is frightened by it. Change doesn’ t move all people, even people in like circumstances. I’ ve always been interested in people in revolutionary or protean times, when a lot of shifting is happening, who get left behind by that moment. It’s a collision of the political and the personal.”
Listen to “Dotty and Caroline ”:
“Dotty and Emmie” lyrics:
Observations from Mr. Kushner:
“My father loved that line, ‘Hey, Cracker Joe! Lee surrendered!’ I wish he was here to see these statues coming down, because my father adored Lincoln and was repulsed by the whole ‘Noble Cause’ Confederacy. He would have been very moved.”
Listen to “Dotty and Emmie”:
“Epilogue” lyrics:
Observations from Mr. Kushner:
“In the original version, the statue came to life, in a shout-out to ‘Don Giovanni.’ The head appears and wants its body back. But we got rid of that because it just didn’ t work, and it turned into the monologue at the end. The end is a big moment for Emmie, where she says, ‘I’ m the daughter of a maid.’ She’s understanding her mother’s sacrifices, and the strength and resistance shown by people whose resistance is not immediately identifiable as that.”
Listen to “Epilogue”:
