PicksInSix Review: Blues in the Night-Porchlight Music Theatre
Porchlight’s “Blues” - Oh Me, Oh My!
by Ed Tracy | PicksInSix® Review
There are a lot of places to listen to the blues in Chicago. With all respect to those esteemed establishments, there’s no place I’d rather be right now than at the Porchlight Music Theatre’s revival of the 1980 Tony-nominated musical revue “Blues in the Night” that opened Friday night at Ruth Page Center for the Arts. You will discover five fascinating characters telling their stories in a musical style that is Chicago’s own. Singing and swinging in a 1930s era South Side hotel are: Felicia P. Fields, Donica Lynn, Clare Kennedy and Evan Tyrone Martin, who all mix it up with The Dancing Man, Terrell Armstrong. It’s a joy to behold!
There is something truly special about this show. It’s as if you are part of a unifying experience, watching lives unfold from within the music. The women—Fields ‘Lady from the Road’ who explores her past; Lynn’s ‘Woman of the World’ trying to sort out the present; and, Kennedy’s ‘Girl with a Date’ whose future is yet to be written—are all looking for and examining love and the men in their lives—good, bad and, well, all the rest—through the iconic blues arrangements of songs compiled by Sheldon Epps.
Under the silky smooth direction of Kenny Ingram, there’s one unforgettable performance after another. The extraordinarily gifted Fields has a dynamic stage presence. Her delivery is finely tuned, personal and all-knowing with a rich, soul-soothing sound that finds the warm, spiritual center of the work. Lynn’s lofty, commanding interpretations are so unique and pleasing to the ear that you don’t want them to end. And just when they do, there’s Kennedy: charming, demure with a soaring range who holds her own and then some sharing the stage with Chicago theatre royalty.
It’s no secret. These are talented, engaging women who know the material and how to make it work on a level that most people can only imagine. It all flows effortlessly while each one has fun longing for—and chipping away at—the men in their lives. Those men are personified by the charismatic, multi-talented Martin who is an equally effervescent entertainer and serves to please all night long as lover, narrator and, at times, reckless scoundrel. And then there’s Armstrong’s Dancing Man, the silent, dashing debonair everyman—an inspired new character in this show—who amplifies the musical messaging through his stylized dance interactions on stage and in elegant vignettes.
The sixth “character’ is keyboardist and conductor Maulty Jewell IV and the surging, soulful blues band that has, with musical director David Fiorello, created a terrific, unified sound all their own. Angela Weber Miller’s set perfectly captures the late ‘30s vibe and with Brandon Wardell’s lighting and Rueben D. Echoles costumes and wigs, “Blues in the Night” becomes a visual feast.
This show is loaded with a full beating heart. You will be moved by both the joyous celebration of faith and the steamy hot independence of character in every role. If you are a singer who wants to see what it’s like to own it on a major theatrical stage in Chicago, Porchlight’s “Blues in the Night” is your next destination. For everyone else, just get comfortable, sit back and soak all this loveliness in.
PHOTO | Anthony Robert La Penna
PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
presents
BLUES IN THE NIGHT
Ruth Page Center for the Arts
through March 20
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