“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Highly Recommended **** There is no question that August Wilson was a genius. His works that composed the “American Century Cycle”, brought the inner feelings of the African-American during those decades to light for many an audience who neither experienced or knew the plight they were experiencing. His stories, were ones of real experiences, and in many cases were about real people who lived during these trying times. While his focus was on Pittsburgh, one of his plays, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” takes place in Chicago, in a recording studio, where we learn a great deal about how the White producers used the Black entertainers to sell records.

This story, now on the stage of Writers Theatre in Glencoe, tells us the story of this night. FYI – the play is inspired by the real life  “Mother of the Blues”, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, is about recording session in Chicago circa 1927. The recording studio and the green room are the action spots in the play on a well designed set (Todd Rosenthal) that truly looks as if it might be the actual space. Sturdyvant, the record producer ( well played by Thomas J. Cox) is preparing for the session. It is hard to tell about his feelings for the musicians who are entering his domain, but during one can tell that he smells money from their talent. His partner, Irvin ( deftly handled by Peter Moore) is more into making these artists happy and comfortable. He knows that the work they are about to do will bring in the sales.

The “boys” arrive and are led to the green room, rehearsal area where a great deal of the action takes place. These are the band members of Ma Rainey, Toledo (David Alan Anderson) at the piano, Slow Drag ( the always sharp A.C. Smith ) at the bass, Cutler (  Alfred H. Wilson) Trombone and the incredible Levee ( Kelvin Roston Jr. is sheer perfection) on the trumpet. These men are what makes Ma Rainey special, but it is her voice and music that makes people buy the records. The incredible Felicia P. Fields brings Ma Rainey to life and takes us back to the roaring twenties with an easy transition.

In fact, this entire cast, under the skillful direction of  Ron OJ Parson, makes the audience feel that they are have traveled through a time machine, allowing us to go back to that night and to be the proverbial  “fly on the wall”, was we watch and listen to these people live that night.  We can see that the white producers are exploiting the talents of the band to make money. Levee, who is probably the brightest talent and certainly the youngest, although he loves being with the group, feels he is ready to bust out on his own. The others are content with doing their jobs, getting their money and living their lives.

Ma arrives late and demands a great deal of her musicians and her “bosses”. She knows they are “using” her so she makes it as difficult as she can. She brings with her a lady friend, Dussie Mae ( the lovely Tiffany Renee Johnson) who has a go at Levee as well. The question that arose for me in this little scene is if the flirting was actual or at the request of Ma Rainey to keep Levee at bay. Ma also brings a young man with her, Sylvester ( Jalen Gilbert) who is to do the special line, but he stutters. The other band members feel he should not be a part of the recording, but Ma has given him her word, and she will help him to get through it. She does! Filling out the cast is Blake Montgomery as a police officer.

During our 2 1/2 hours ( there is a 15 minute intermission) of this production, we are treated to some music as well, but the story is about conflict, dreams, desperation, desires and most of all love for the Blues. Each of the characters seems and feels real. I truly feel that this is one of the best ensembles of the year and play well together. Many of these actors have done Wilson works before and know the feelings of the playwright, expressing them in his characters. The tensions that we see during this story seem real and true to the times. Many of us know through books and plays of the times and what the African-American had to do to survive, but when we watch an August Wilson play, we get to hear more and learn more, allowing us to see what , in some cases, still exists today. This play will open your eyes and the climax will astound you!

The technical aspects of the production, as always at Writers are perfect. The costumes (Myrna Colley-Lee), the lighting (Jared Gooding), sound (Ray Nardelli) and props (Rachel Watson) along with the choreography ( Cristin Carole) and in this case, the intimacy director (Sasha Smith) and fight director (Joe Faust) bring great realism to their work. Writers is an intimate space and many audience members are very close to the action. Those audience members are seeing a very realistic fight scene as well as a seduction scene that might be a distraction for some.

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” will continue at Writers Theatre located at 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe thru March 17th with performances as follows:

Tuesdays  7:30 p.m.

Wednesdays  7:30 p.m.   added matinee on 2/27 and 3/13 at 3 p.m.

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Sundays  2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Tickets range from $35- $80 and are available at the box office, by calling 847-242-6000 or online at www.writerstheatre.org

Special performances: March 14th -open captioned and 3/16 at 7:30 p.m. ASL-interpreted performance

Parking in Glencoe is free and the theater has access to the Metra station lot.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”.