Invisible Thread
Much of the action of this new musical takes place in Africa, but don’t expect bird puppets flying overhead (like in The Lion King ) or wonderfully acerbic satire (like in The Book of Mormon ). Instead, Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews ’s Invisible Thread is a personal tale of a young African-American man getting in touch with his roots. Griffin (played by Matthews) is a gay man, a tenor who likes singing in his church choir. He is in a committed relationship with Ryan ( Corey Mach ), a Jewish white guy. When Griffin comes out to his pastor and the church, he is shunned—and stunned. With Griffin looking for direction, Ryan playfully offers that the Jews will take him. Griffin grimaces, but thinking about the Birthright trip, he decides to go to Uganda and connect with his people. He is staying at a compound, where his job is to help build a school, but one day, he meets a group of teenagers who challenge him to become their teacher and, unsurprisingly, end up teaching him a les...