Buen Camino: My Walk through 540-Miles of Rain, Resentment, and Redemption
Written and Performed by Susan Edsall; Developed with and Directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson
Theatre Row | 410 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
March 27th & 29th
United Solo lists Buen Camino as “A solo show told through 27 captivating characters and dynamic multimedia, explores themes of grief, surrender and meaning.” Reading that after the show, I thought, “27 characters!?!” Solo shows are inherently difficult – you’re alone, no one is coming to help, you’re up there flying solo. Of late, Eddie Izzard has done two epic solo shows Off-Broadway; Sarah Snook is on Broadway with a solo Dorian Gray, and I recently reviewed Shelley Mitchell’s Talking with Angels: Budapest 1943. In all of these cases, there is some jumping back and forth between characters, the key making each incredibly distinct. I had the privilege of seeing a DC Fringe production of Erin Joy Schmidt’s My Name is Norma as a 2023 work in progress. In the half-light between scenes, I could just make out Schmidt on stage, and would see her body slowly morph between scenes, a true master class in character work.
Susan Edsall has taken on so much in this solo show much like the trek she undertook in real life. It is a fascinating story of how life changes in an instant, and the need to keep moving forward. Had she sat on a stool center stage and just told the story in a bare-bones fashion it would easily hold our attention. The current production lacks direction. It is neither stylized nor realistic. Characters jump around without enough definition and it’s easy to lose track of who is speaking. In all the characters coming and going, I lost focus on how all of this was affecting Susna herself. One voice, Love, was British; Morticia was midwestern; Grace was Southern. But these felt like affectation or artifice. It didn’t get me to the heart of these characters.
The soul of this show is a beautiful story trying to get out, but gets lost along the way. Much like the trek, the road to development is long, with many lessons to be learned. Buen Camino.
Review by Nicole Jesson.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on March 30th, 2025. All rights reserved.