Ain’t Misbehavin’
Reviewed by Martίn Hernández
Nate Holden Performing Arts Center
Through May 28
RECOMMENDED
Ah, they don’t write them like that anymore, and if jazz composer and pianist Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller had not passed away in 1943 at the all too early age of thirty-nine, there would be more than the four hundred copyrighted songs in his repertoire for us to savor.
In 1978, Richard Maltby, Jr., and Murray Horowitz culled several Waller classics — as well as standards from many of his contemporaries — and crafted a tribute revue that became a New York cabaret hit that later ran for almost four years on Broadway. Running the gamut from the sad to snappy and the sublime to satiric, the songs have, for the most part, stood the test of time and are embedded in the fabric of this country’s musical history.
Welcome to the “Harlem Renaissance,” a period that fell roughly between the 1910s and the mid-1930s and showcased the social, political, and cultural achievements of Manhattan’s historically Black Mecca. In a posh brownstone, our hosts for the evening — Yvette Cason, Wilkie Ferguson III, Connie Jackson, Marty Austin Lamar, and Natalie Wachen — have invited us to a swinging cocktail party and set the evening’s tone with a rollicking version of the show’s title Waller/Harry Brooks/Razaf tune. Maltby’s and Horowitz’s so-called “book” then has our stalwart performers engage in solo or combined vocalizing, using each song as mini vignettes rather than fully developed dramatic scenes.
“Honeysuckle Rose,” the Waller/Razaf composition, gets a delightful rendition by Cason and Lamar, abetted by Dominique Kelley’s comically combative choreography. Lamar’s dreamlike vocals on “The Jitterbug Waltz” is another highlight, as the singer calls on his love to keep on dancing, exhaustion be damned. Jackson’s jokily overblown performance of “When Nylons Bloom Again,” epitomizes the bane of many a woman in the USA during World War II.
Ferguson presents up some “smokey” vocals in Stuff Smith’s amusing ode to marijuana “If You’re a Viper” — recorded by Waller in 1943 under the title “The Reefer Song” and credited as such in the program. Andrew Schmedeke’s crimson-hued lighting and Ferguson’s sinuous moves, staged by Kelley, enhance the dream “about a reefer five feet long.” Cason’s touching “Mean to Me” is a cry for kindness from a less-than-courtly lover, leaving her “singin’ the blues and sighin’”. Wachen delivers a captivating “Keeping Out of Mischief Now,” as a coquette who declares that her “flirting days are gone” now that love is in her heart.
Though some tunes remain timely, others remind us of how times have changed. In a brassy performance by Cason and Jackson. “Find Out What They Like,” suggests women “give them what they want” when it comes to men and their desires, while Ferguson and Lamar gleefully body shame a rotund gentleman in “Fat and Greasy” – and encourage the audience to sing along. The ensemble’s take on “Black and Blue,” a critique on racism against Black people, is harmonically haunting, though the song’s lyrics – “I’m white inside, but that don’t help my case, ‘cause I can’t hide what is in my face” — would give some radical Black political theorists a field day.
Nevertheless, director Wren T. Brown emphasizes the playful and joyous nature of the music, which is enriched by the exceptional quintet of pianist/musical director William Foster McDaniel, drummer Land Richards, saxophonist Keith Fiddmont, trumpeter Fernando Pullum, and bassist Dwayne Augustine. Wren keeps an easy rhythm to the proceedings and Kelley’s choreography, from solo soft shoe by intricate ensemble work, adds more liveliness to the show. The ample and impeccably detailed set, with furniture and arched doorways, is itself a work of art by the late, great designer John Iacovelli. Designer Wendall Carmichael’s retro awareness to his costumes adds to the shows sense of the historical — and the colorful.
Ironically, like modern day Harlem, the area surrounding the show’s South LA venue is facing increased gentrification and threatened displacement of Black folks. Hopefully, City Hall can reverse this trend and champion the preservation of Los Angeles’s own historically Black mecca. Like the cautiously optimistic Jimmy McHugh/Ted Koehler song says in the show’s robust finale medley, “I’ve Got My Fingers Crossed.”
Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, 4718 West Washington Blvd., Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through May 28. https://www.ebonyrepo.org. Running time two hours with a 15 min intermission
