“Blue Heaven”

As we come out of the pandemic ( or at least attempt to do so), Black Ensemble has had a season of Healing and Joy in order to bring people back to the theater. As someone who has adored the work they bring to their stage I am delighted that they are back and even more so that they allowed us to attend the night prior to the afternoon opener. Most of their openings take place on Sundays at 3 p.m. and as you all know, I am on the radio from 2-3 P.M. every Sunday making it impossible for me to attend. Allowing me to attend on Saturday night was something special and I truly thank Jackie Taylor and company for allowing this to take place.

I am a lover of “The Blues” and their current show, “Blue Heaven” is roughly 90 minutes ( no intermission) of great blues songs brought to life by a cast of  five talented performers. Try to imagine five great Blues artists waiting to get into Heaven. In this particular case, Heaven is God’s private Blues Club called “Pearly’s Gates”. The five performers are as follows: Howlin’ Wolf ( Lyle Miller as we have never seen or heard him before), Muddy Waters (Dwight Neal, one of the veterans of this company that is able to take on almost any identity he needs to with a super wide vocal range), Big Mama Thornton ( Miciah Lathan is about as perfect as one can be in making this Blues specialist come alive), Stevie Ray Vaughan ( Billy Rude steps away from his portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis to show that he has more talent than we knew- his guitar playing is amazing) and last, but certainly not least, B.B. King ( Aaron Reese Boseman making his Black Ensemble debut- remember this name because he is about to take Chicago by storm).

If you are a Blues fan, you might know the music, if not, you will hear some of the best Blues there ever was. “I Am The Blues”, “Born Under A Bad Sign”, “Pony Blues”, “There Must Be a Better World Somewhere”, “Mojo Working”, “Hound Dog”, and “Let The Good Times Roll” to name a few. All in all  24 songs done by these five talents along with the Black Ensemble Musicians led by Adam Sherrod with Oscar Brown Jr. ,Mark Miller and Myron Cherry. The music direction is by Robert Reddrick. The actual play was written and directed by Daryl D. Brooks.

The set is designed by Sydney Lynne and the costumes are by Marquecia Jordan.  The sound by DJ Douglass and Carl Wahlstrom is perfect. Even without hearing aids, I had no problem understanding every word spoken and sung. BRAVO! The wigs are by Keith Ryan who makes sure the players appear to resemble the musicians they are supposed to- they do!

Each of the stars talks about their lives, the ups and downs, positives and negatives as they work their way into Heaven. One thing they have all discovered is when it comes to being forgiven, one needs to forgive themselves first- then they can be forgiven by others. This is a perfect show for BE to close out the comeback year with. 90 minutes of pure musical magic!

“Blue Heaven” will continue at Black Ensemble Theater located at 4450 N. Clark Street thru November 27th

with performances as follows:

Fridays  7 p.m.

Saturdays  3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Sundays  3 p.m.

Tickets are $55 ( $50 for seniors) and can be purchased at www.blackensemble.org or by calling 773-769-4451

Indoor parking is available at Black Ensemble for $10. . There is a mask requirement in the building and no food or beverage service.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Blue Heaven”