Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks “hasn’t decided what her story’s central theme should be. Is it Ray’s redemption through music? The necessity of personal pain as a motivator for great art? The power of music to overcome racism and other ills? All of these issues are melded into Parks’ script, but they don’t form a synthesis. The show comes off as a leisurely catalog-survey through Ray Charles’ life and career, fitfully fascinating but without a through-line.”