Review: The Sound of Silence is Haunting in New Musical Private Jones

Sometimes a lot can be said with silence.

That’s especially true in Signature Theatre’s world premiere production Private Jones, which incorporates American and British Sign Language alongside spoken English in what is being called a “trilingual” musical.

The innovative show is written and directed by Marshall Pailet, best known for the off-Broadway satire Who’s Your Baghdaddy. It’s a fascinating look at the experiences of a 16-year-old deaf boy from Breconshire, Wales, who is gifted with pin-point accuracy with a rifle, yet needs to hide his hearing loss or won’t be allowed to join the army as a sniper in World War I.

The musical begins with the introduction of Gomer Jones (Johnny Link, who is hard of hearing), whose father somewhat forcibly teaches him to shoot, and has him fire at a feral dog who had killed one of the family’s flock of sheep. Link displays both innocence and boyish charm as Gomer questions why this needs to be done, and even as he becomes a skilled marksman, his righteousness remains.

So much so, that upon hitting, but not killing a dog with one of his bullets, Gomer takes the suffering animal to an army hospital. The dog is presented on stage as an intriguing puppet, designed by Nicholas Mahon, and handled by the captivating Amelia Hensley, who also signs different parts of the action of the show.

Once at the hospital, Gomer meets head nurse Gwenolyn, who can tell right away that he’s hiding his deafness and introduces him to sign language. Leanne Antonio is lovely in the role of the strong woman who consoles the young man after not being able to join his fellow teens in the war, but presents him with a safer, yet vital alterative, getting him a job in a factory with others who cannot hear.

Antonio returns later in the show as Sgt. Evans, a fellow soldier once Gomer manages to fake his way through his hearing test and is sent to fight. In fact, the production is flush with mixed gender roles, with some men playing World War I nurses and several women in the trenches. The most notable is Erin Weaver as a foul-mouthed soldier named King, who becomes Gomer’s must trusted friend and spotter for his sniping. Weaver is a hoot, providing much of the humor in the show, and though it’s hard to ignore some of the chemistry between the actress and Link, the bond the characters share as brothers-in-arms is heartwarming. Weaver, with a pitch-perfect Welsh dialect, also delivers the show’s most memorable number in the song, “Bastards,” and she is a powerhouse among the harmonious cast.

Vincent Michael plays Gomer’s adversary, tough SOB Edmund, who brilliantly flexes his singing muscles on the haunting “Fantasy.” The character is not all that he seems, and though he has his unscrupulous moments, Michael brings out a real sense of humanity in his portrayal. David Aron Damane, as Gomer’s father and later drill sergeant is also top-notch combining humor and sternness.

Sound—and sometimes the lack of—plays an important role throughout the production. Early on, Foley artists create sounds of flapping birds using umbrellas, utilize a cowbell when Gomer hits a target, and use a cranking noise for each time he cocks his gun.

Then, there’s the moments where Pailet brings you into the world of Gomer and the silence that he must live with. When the doctor hides his mouth with a mask, the audience experiences the same nothingness that Gomer does. It holds true for a devastating battle scene, where the eerie quiet takes on heavy dramatic weight, so much so that you could hear a pin drop.

War is said to make boys into men, and though Gomer loses some of his boyishness, Link retains so much innocence, as his character really doesn’t understand the consequences of becoming a “bastard,” and he’s just searching for what his life is worth as he snuffs out all the noise around him.

An incredible set by Christopher and Justin Swader, with timely lighting by Jen Schriever, bring the War to life, which isn’t always easy to do on stage. Several digital screens also display captions and song lyrics for the duration of the show, which in truth, helps everyone in the audience understand some of what was said by the Welsh-speaking characters.

Private Jones is being staged at Signature Theatre through March 10 and this inclusive production is one that needs to be seen, even if not always heard.