Dinner with America

By the close of Rajni Shah's Dinner With America, Shah has been singing Amazing Grace for nigh on two hours. Her voice is cracked and broken. She can no longer hold her arm aloft like the Statue of Liberty. She has been stripped of her glittering silver dress, her stars-and-stripes boots, the glossy blonde wig and makeup mask. She stands before us, naked and vulnerable. Boy, it's a tough job being America. It is an astonishing moment, but it's a long time coming in a performance that illustrates an idea more than it explores it.