#Genius: aretha cast series#
But with too much else to cover, that initial burst of horror is about all the series affords this momentous event in her life. For one example: the shock of men taking advantage of a young Aretha on the gospel circuit, leading to her getting pregnant at 12 years old, hits hard in large part thanks to the casting choice of Jordan, a child, instead of an older actor. The result is a confounding hodgepodge of unrelated themes and ideas, as if the creative team looked at everything it had and embarked on a frantic copy/paste effort to jazz it up.Īnd as with so many other biopics, “Aretha” walks right into the trap of depicting too much, and somehow not enough, of its subject’s life.
#Genius: aretha cast full#
(More so than the writing, the costuming, production design, hair and makeup, near impeccable across the board, root the narrative in a more immediately tangible history.) In a smaller but nevertheless revealing bit of aesthetic confusion, the pilot’s gambit of contrasting the past’s fraught moments in black and white with happier ones in full color continues in future episodes at random, with terrible and triumphant moments alike presented in both forms. Instead, it flashes between Aretha’s past and present so frequently and with such little connective tissue that it often takes half a scene to remember where and when we are. But that’s not exactly what happens as the show continues. The first episode flashes between her childhood and her being crowned - quite literally, as is maybe not well remembered - the Queen of Soul, setting up parallel narratives of a shy Black girl gaining agency through her talent alongside her doing the same as a Black woman challenging an oppressively white industry. Whenever “Aretha” broadens its scope outside the performer’s clear musical gifts, however, it succumbs to a baffling series of structural decisions that tangle the characters and storytelling in frustrating knots. A scene toward the end of the first episode in which the young singer gets her first real opportunity to show her church what she can do - as the black-and-white flashback explodes into color - is a moving portrayal of a master in the making. Vance), pushes her into the spotlight, and Erivo unleashing her astonishing voice unto Franklin’s greatest hits and dearest gospel anthems, is powerful stuff.
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#Genius: aretha cast how to#
Watching Jordan as a young Aretha, slowly learning how to own her presence after her enigmatic preacher father, C.L. Played as an adult by Erivo and as a child by newcomer Shaian Jordan, Aretha’s undeniable talent is the crucial pulse of the series bearing her name. While inconsistent overall, the series shines brightest when it gives Aretha time and space to take the stage, whether that be in a recording studio, on a variety show, or at the pulpit of a Baptist church swelling with the joy of grateful prayer.
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Throughout the first seven episodes of Suzan Lori-Parks’ “Aretha,” which spans eight installments in total, it’s moments like this that demonstrate the singer-songwriter’s genius in action with the straightforward narrative and confidence it requires. And so she does, placing the box meticulously back at its previous angle, sitting at the piano, and pounding out the opening notes of a new hit record with the focused determination and staggering voice that made her the Queen of Soul. He hands it over to an unsmiling Aretha, who just wants to get on with her work.
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“Where is it?”Ī lanky member of the band scurries off-screen to retrieve it, presumably from the depths of a wastebin.