Denzel Washington hits it out of park in 'Fences'

Despite its 1987 Pulitzer Prize and its Tony Award, "Fences" always was a glorious mess of a drama. As the second of what became August Wilson's monumental 10-play journey through African-American life in the 20th century, the early work is more plotted, structurally clumsy and melodramatic than the rest of the cycle.

And that's the last negative observation you'll read in this space. "Fences" has been magnificently revived - in all its messy glory - by director Kenny Leon with a splendid ensemble topped, but not dwarfed, by Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.

Washington is magnetic and moving as Troy Maxson, a sensitive man-mountain of disillusionment and complex allegiances, who was born too early for integrated major-league baseball and is stuck as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh. Troy is one of the few star-showcase roles Wilson ever wrote, and James Earl Jones originated it with a bully menace that warned of catastrophes ahead.

In contrast, Washington projects the size of the man's tragic spirit with subtle layers of sweetness and buried fury. It is a beautifully calibrated portrayal in the first act, but doesn't prepare us for the curveball Wilson throws by turning Troy cruel during intermission.

Until then, there is a lusty chemistry between Troy and his wife, Rose, played with radiant and deep, self-contained secrets and transparent joy by Davis. Stephen McKinley Henderson, another Wilson regular, brings low-key grandeur as Troy's worried friend. Chris Chalk changes from lovely ebullience to poignant stoicism as the son whose football dreams are stomped by his father's disappointments. Mykelti Williamson brings believability to a difficult Wilson staple, the brain-damaged mystical savant.

Vibrant life happens, gets destroyed and happens again in the meticulously detailed yard of a familiar bungalow (designed by Santo Loquasto) in a neighborhood we see evolving through the decades of Wilson's plays about the Pittsburgh Hill District where he was raised.

Wilson, never big on tidy structures, practically gave up traditional plot in later plays. From the start, his gifts were storytelling, unforgettable characters and luscious monologues that have the special rhythm of jazz. Branford Marsalis wrote the incidental music for this production, and Washington even sings. Most important is Wilson's idea of father's songs being passed to sons, from Africa to America. The song begins here.

WHAT "Fences"

WHERE Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., Manhattan

INFO $61.50-$126.50; 212-239-6200; fencesonbroadway.com

BOTTOM LINE Magnificent revival