Displaying items by tag: Harlem

There are some productions you watch, and then there are productions that make your heart swoon and your toe tap. Sheldon Epps’ Play On! is definitely the latter. Now playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, this exuberant musical takes Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, moves it to 1930s Harlem, adds the extraordinary music of Duke Ellington, and transforms the story into a celebration of love, ambition, identity and music.

The magical kingdom of Illyria becomes Harlem, where aspiring songwriter Vy (Hailee Kaleem Wright) arrives with dreams of making it in show business. To get close to the legendary bandleader known as The Duke (Edred Utomi), Vy disguises herself as a man. Complications quickly follow when Lady Liv (Krystal Joy Brown) becomes attracted to Vy's alter ego. Shakespeare's mistaken identities remain at the heart of the story, but Cheryl L. West's book gives the familiar comedy a distinctly African American cultural identity.

West's script is hot and popping, filled with rhythm, humor and personality. She understands that the language of Shakespeare can be transformed without losing the comic machinery that makes Twelfth Night work. The characters may come from Shakespeare, but they walk, talk and move to the syncopated Harlem beat of the 1930s.

And that Harlem beat is everywhere.

The company of Chicago Shakespeare’s production of Play On! Photo by Kyle Flubacker.

The production's exciting choreography by Edgar Godineaux captures the elegance, sophistication and exuberance of the big-band era. The ensemble - Marquez Linder, Selena Robinson, Dylan C. Smith, Joey Stone, Shelbi Voss and Danny Dwaine Wells II - keeps the stage alive with movement and energy. The choreography doesn't simply accompany the music; it becomes part of the storytelling.

The Duke Ellington score is the production's heartbeat. Under the musical direction of Theodis Rodgers Jr., with beautiful orchestrations by Luther Henderson Jr., the music has both sophistication and swing. Ellington's compositions give the characters another way to express what they sometimes cannot say in words.

For me, the Harlem setting brought back a very personal theatrical memory. Play On! reminded me of the very first show I ever worked on, Bubbling Brown Sugar by Loften Mitchell, from a concept by Rosetta LeNoire (my theatre Godmother), in New York City. That experience introduced me to the power of Black theatre, music and storytelling existing together onstage. Watching Play On! brought some of that same feeling back—the excitement of seeing Black history, Black music and Black theatrical expression become one living theatrical experience.

That connection makes Play On! particularly meaningful. This isn't simply Shakespeare with jazz added to it. It is a conversation between William Shakespeare and Duke Ellington, two artists separated by centuries but connected through their understanding of human behavior, love, comedy and the power of performance.

The cast embraces that world beautifully. James Earl Jones II brings comic energy and warmth to Sweets, while Alanna Lovely gives Miss Mary a strong and engaging presence. James Harkness brings charm and theatricality to Jester. Alan H. Green gives Rev authority and comic flair.

At the center, Wright's Vy captures the vulnerability and determination of a young artist trying to discover who she is and where she belongs. Brown's Lady Liv brings glamour and emotional power, while Utomi's Duke possesses the commanding presence of a bandleader who has created his own musical kingdom.

Epps understands that the success of Play On! depends upon allowing Shakespeare's story and Ellington's music to breathe together. The result is a production that feels celebratory without becoming superficial, and contemporary without abandoning its literary foundation.

Play On! is Shakespeare filtered through the cultural richness of 1930s Harlem, propelled by Duke Ellington's music and driven by a syncopated Harlem beat.

It is a joyous reminder that great stories can travel across centuries - and sometimes, when the right music is added, they can still make us want to dance.

Highly Recommended

When: Through Oct. 18

Where: The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave.

Running time: 2 hours, 20 mins.

Tickets: $55-150

312-595-5600

chicagoshakes.com

Trying to explain what Black Harlem's Renaissance was like is hard. The period was so rich in creative verve, you really have to show it while you tell it. It took me awhile to grasp what playwright Pearl Cleage has achieved - and director Ron OJ Parson has brought carefully to life -  in Court Theatre's Blues for an Alabama Sky.

In this beautifully polished production, we become familiar with the lives and aspirations of five denizens of the abundant cultural life enveloping New York's burgeoning black district in the 1920s and 1930s, driven by waves of aspiring new arrivals during the Great Migration from the South to the North. The period gives rise to the first jazz concert, to international musical superstars like Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller; to writers and thinkers like Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay, who wrote the first bestseller by a black author. 

Cleage has fleshed out each of her characters - a doctor, a singer, a fashion designer, a social worker, and a carpenter - who are much more than archetypes. These are real people, each contributing a seminal thread to this tale. She has also set the timeline toward the end of that golden era, in 1930 after the market crash, as the Great Depression rolled in. 

The storyline seems surprisingly fresh, but it is true to its time: the protagonists here seem a mismatched couple - a flamboyant gay fashion designer Guy (Sean Parris), and his platonic love, Angel (Toya Turner), a gangsters' moll who tries but fails to make a living as a night club singer.  

Abandonedly outré, Guy has worked his way up from stitching gowns for cross dressers, to designing clothes on spec for Josephine Baker. The pair love and support each other as they pursue their dreams, but have no future as a couple; Angel is set on finding herself a big strong man who will take care of her, and pay the rent. Guy wants to make it in Paris.

Across the hall dwells the scholarly Delia (Celeste Cooper), who is launching the first family planning clinic in Harlem. A history lesson makes its way into the plot as the clinic is burned down. Some in the black community suspected efforts at setting up such clinics - led by Margaret Sanger - were really just part of a plot to reduce the black population. Carrying the torch for Delia is Sam, a medical doctor. James Vincent Meredith's performance gives Sam a steady, even temperament - abiding patience, and someone who is tolerant and nurturant. 

Conflict arises as Leland (Geno Walker) a widowed carpenter recently arrived from Alabama, falls for Angel. His ardor cools as he discovers he is not in Alabama anymore. In this Black Harlem, homosexuals are accepted; family planning is a matter of choice.

Each of these characters engenders our sympathy. And in the course of the action they live, die, move on - or remain stuck in place. Though Cleage wrote this work in 1995, it is completely fresh. And it has been given its due in Parson's production. Costumes and set are beautifully period, and lighting brings added dimensions to the staging. Blues for an Alabama Sky now extended through February 19th at Court Theatre.