***** Over the years, as a reviewer, I get to see many renditions of the plays I review. As I say on my radio show, every time a new company produces a play, it is unique and different from the previous production. Tonight, at Theater Wit, one of the smaller venues in town, Remy Bumppo’s production of “Blues for an Alabama Sky” proves my point to a “T”. This is a classic story by Pearl Cleage that takes us back to Harlem (New York) during the 1930s. It was the time when Jazz was king!
Mikael Burke’s clever direction on an amazing set designed by Lauren M. Nichols, gives you the feeling that you are in an apartment building with stairs and a hall and neighbors who are friends, of sorts. Our main character is Angel (played to perfection by Tiffany Renee Johnson) who is a Jazz singer. On this particular night, she was fired from her job at The Cotton Club. Her best friend Guy (Breon Arzell is amazing in his characterization) is a costume designer who wants nothing more than to go to Paris and design for Josephine Baker. Paris is a safe haven for homosexuals and African Americans during this period. She stays with him as they are very close.
The neighbor, Delia (Jazzlyn Luckett Aderle) is a young, very naïve woman who is attempting to help bring family planning centers to their community. She is very churchish, never missing a Sunday. Their friend Sam (deftly handled by Edgar Sanchez) is a doctor, and the final character in this play is Leland (Ajax Dontavius) who is indeed Angel’s “Alabama”. He is newly arrived from Alabama, having lost his wife and child. He sees his late wife’s face in Angel and quickly falls in love with her.
It turns out that this single man changes all the lives of the others. We watch each character change and struggle with their dreams, some being burst, while others seem to come true. This is a crazy period in our history. Prohibition was a happening as was the start of the great depression.
This cast is brilliant and makes the two hours and forty minutes (with 1 intermission) move very quickly.
The technical parts of this production were also near perfection. Gregory Graham’s costumes were very period and the costumes for Mr. Arzell were wonderful. Sam Paulson’s props were perfect (the sewing machine reminded me of my grandmother’s), the lighting by Becca Jeffords and the sound by Peter Clare were all the best I have ever seen in this theater building. Bravo.
I believe there will be some Jeff Awards for this one.
“Blues For An Alabama Sky” will continue Thru – Oct 15, with performances as follows:
Thursdays 7:30pm
Fridays 7:30pm
Saturdays 2:30pm & 7:30pm
Sundays 2:30pm
Theater Wit is located at 1229 West Belmont in Chicago
Price: $28 – $55
Show Type: Drama
Box Office: 773-975-8150
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click “Blues for an Alabama Sky”.
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