***** Northlight Theatre is pretty much a house known for classical theater with great stories. Every once in a while they do something with music, not a true musical, but rather a story with music or in the case of their current production, “Marie & Rosetta” written by George Brant, a story about people in the music business and of course, some great music is included.
The story superbly directed by E. Faye Butler,in her directing debut, tells the history of Sister Rosetta Tharpe (also known as “The Godmother of Rock ‘n Roll”) played to perfection by Bethany Thomas. During this 110 minutes ( no intermission) story, we learn about this woman and her protégé, Marie Knight ( deftly handled by Alexis J. Rosten.
These two ladies sparkle with their character development as well as their musical talents and when it comes to singing, there ain’t none better! With only guitar and piano and their amazing voices, they make us see just why Rosetta was so important to our musical world. Rosetta was from the South, but when she moved to Chicago, she developed a love of the jazz that was from there and took that with her to the South, where she played in many a church as well as bars.
She selected Marie to come with her on her road trip to be her aid and her “other voice”, with piano and voice they were a dynamic duo and showed that “oil and vinegar” can mix!
In this story we watch the two women go from total opposites to besties as they find themselves loving each other as a parent loves a child. They have some ups and downs, but they adjust and find that they share similar life problems and in fact, they rid themselves of one together.
The set (John Culbert) is unusual in that the dressing room where all the action takes place is in reality a showroom for a funeral home with caskets galore and a single cot. Of course, there is a piano and several guitars, allowing these two performers to pay tribute to a woman who changed the scene of Rock ‘n Roll. Many of the biggies of the 50’s and 60’s scene (Elvis, Jimmi Hendrix, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc) were influenced by Sister Rosetta’s music and her renditions of church music that allowed them to see the light.
The technical aspects of this production are just as amazing as the performances. The music direction by Morgan E. Stevenson, Costumes (McKinley Johnson), lighting ( Jared Gooding), sound ( Rick Sims) and wigs (Sean Moore) were flawless.
The musicians ( Morgan E. Stevenson on piano and guitar and Larry Brown on guitar are amazing and I must tell you that it appears that these actors are indeed handling the instruments. Bravo! Sister Rosetta who drew crowds to the church where her husband preached drew even bigger crowds in the saloons and bars she worked, and as she said, these places draw far more sinners than a church does.
This warm and loving story will continue at Northlight Theatre located in Skokie at 9501 N. Skokie Blvd (The North Shore Center For Performing Arts) thru August 13th with performances as follows:
Wednesdays 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Thursdays 7:30 p.m.
Fridays 8:00 p.m.
Saturdays 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sundays 2”30 p.m.
On July 26th there will be a sensory sensitivity performance
7/28 ASL Interpreted and open caption performance
Open caption and audio described on7/29
For tickets call 847-673-6300 or visit www.northlight.org
Plenty of free parking ( Valet also available)
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Marie & Rosetta”.
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