In Doctorow's novel, the narrator intentionally keeps an emotional distance from the characters, perhaps to help readers see the big picture. But when these fictional people are fleshed out on stage by actors with idiosyncratic shapes, intonations and ways of walking, a different point gets made.
When Coalhouse Walker Jr. (the assured Quentin Earl Darrington) is the victim of bigotry and refuses to abandon his pursuit of justice, it's impossible not to get emotionally involved. The consequences of the stance he takes are disastrous. What happens to him looks like, feels like, unadulterated tragedy.
And yet, there's that four-tier scaffolding that the characters can't see, but that we can.
