I revisited The MOUNTAINTOP and Found it an Arduous Journey, Again

I first saw the play "The Mountaintop on Broadway with Academy Award nominees, Angela Bassett and Samuel Jackson.  Even with their talents, watching this one act, two characters play felt like being in purgatory. Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Katori Hall this is a fictitious account of Rev. Martin Luther King (MLK) on the eve before his assassination on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis in April of 1968.  MLK had just delivered a speech to local sanitation workers to inspire and enlist them in his peaceful crusade for change.  Seeing it for a second time at the 222 in Healdsburg a decade later didn't change my dismal regard  for this garrulous play.  It is overly long and underwhelming. In fact, despite the fine acting by the two actors at the 222 without household names, it did not elevate the interest or import of this production.  Both Sam Jackson as Camae, the maid bearing room service to MLK (Ron Chapman) as he labors to write a speech, delivered solid performances. The problem rests heavily with the burdensome dialogues that digresses from and distills its historic significance. A full hour into the play and we're mired in the motel room watching a mutual flirtation between MLK and Camae.  MLK cajoles her into lingering longer, wearing out her welcome by the audience. MLK is unsurprisngly depicted as having  flaws, a man who is fallible who gives into temptations. In other words, just a man. The poignant slogan of the Civil Rights Movement, "I am a Man," began with the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike.  "I am a Man" signs were used to demand respect and adequate pay. I admire the ambitious intent of the play to educate and entertain the import of MLK's role in moving the dialogue for needed social reforms. Camae reveals her true identity as an angel sent by God. God speaks to Camae on the landline. Surprisingly God is female and black and assigned Camae to escort MLK to heaven after he's killed.  This clever ruse takes a downward trajectory as MLK begs and pleas for more time. Too much time is spent in banter between MLK and Camae that just doesn't matter. MLK is given a reprieve but granted a futuristic peek at the purview of his influence and progress achieved, This latest staging has update the screening of events that speak to social reform, progress and set backs.   I sit in judgement and find the play an assiduous exercise that doesn't materialize as pertinent or possessing prodigious insight.