Review: Sharon D Clarke is electrifying in ‘Caroline, or Change’

Should you happen to pass Sharon D Clarke on the street, you might not find her to be a particularly imposing figure. But as the title character in the superlative Broadway revival of the musical “Caroline, or Change,” she commands the stage with such towering authority that it is almost surprising to see anyone else work up the nerve to step on it. Portraying a maid in the 1960s South struggling with her finances and the emotional pressures of not one but two families, Clarke imbues the character with a quiet but smoldering intensity that galvanizes the musical into vivid, almost nerve-rattling life whenever she is center stage.