Broadway Review: ‘Choir Boy’

Honestly, I was afraid that “Choir Boy” — the sweetly exuberant account of a gifted prep school boy’s coming of age, written by “Moonlight” Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney — would be swallowed up in a Broadway house, after winning us over in an Off Broadway staging in 2013. But aside from the odd set piece (a back wall of big bricks painted red and meaning … what?), the play transfers nicely, under the surefooted direction of Trip Cullman, from Manhattan Theatre Club’s smaller studio space. The new venue also gives the show’s sensational young lead, Jeremy Pope, more room to spread his wings and soar.

Pope plays Pharus Young, a Junior at the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys who’s refreshingly candid about being gay — so candid that Headmaster Marrow (Chuck Cooper, a rock-solid presence) is concerned that he might provoke the school bullies. “You gotta tighten up,” he advises Pharus. “Like all men hold something in.”