The penetration of jazz music since its inception in the later part of the 19th Century in New Orleans, moved north towards Chicago and New York where its interracial feel made it popular nationwide. But contrary to the boom in jazz popularity, blues had a pocketed penetration in Texas and Chicago and came into being after being recorded in the 1920s. The main difference is that jazz is most often instrumental, while the blues typically has at least one singer telling a tale of romantic heartbreak, most often done to a woman by a two-timing man. The blues found its own range of international supporters, making it a more urban style of music before the rock ‘n’ roll revolution of the 1950s.
The soul of the blues wails out full and strong in BLUES IN THE NIGHT, the scorching, Tony and Olivier Award-nominated musical conceived and directed by Sheldon Epps, starring Yvette Cason, Bryce Charles, Chester Gregory, Paulette Ivory, running through May 27, 2018 in the Lovelace Studio Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Arts in Beverly Hills. The five-piece combo backing the singers rocks the house and will make you want to get up and dance, while Cricket S. Myers’ sound design perfectly balances the music and voices. Be aware the staging utilizes a theatrical haze effect to empower its moodiness, as well as herbal cigarettes since smoking was an everyday habit of both men and women during this time period.
BLUES IN THE NIGHT uses 26 hot and torchy blues and jazz songs of the 1920’s and 30’s by icons Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen and more to explore the lives of three women and a male saloon singer in a cheap Chicago hotel during a two-hour long, memory-filled evening in the late 1930s. The songs were specifically chosen to accomplish several things, but their most important function is to celebrate a great period and style of American music and to explore the influences and the roots of the jazz idiom as they grew from blues music.
This entertaining and energetic musical, performed on a two-story set designed by John Iacovelli and beautifully lit by Jared A. Sayeg, tells of the sweet, sexy and sorrowful experiences of three women with the lying, cheating, snake of a man who sings in the hotel saloon, who really represents all the men they have ever known. And while their sorrowful heartbreak seems to spring from the immediate attachment they feel for any man who gets physical with them, the Man in the Saloon often lets the audience know through song that all he really wants is a good woman waiting at home for him who is available for his needs 24/7 who will let him do what he wants with whomever he wants when he is not at home. So it seems the battle of the sexes was born out of our inherent biology with men just needing the opportunity while women need the emotional attachment. And never the twain shall meet. Right ladies? Or perhaps we ought to heed the lyrics of Ida Cox and remember that two can play that game since “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues.”
Period perfect costumes designed by Dana Rebecca Woods with hair and wig design by Danielle Richter, reflect the status and moods of each woman. Curvy Yvette Cason, The Lady from the Road whose hotel room sits center stage, dazzles not only with her booming voice by also with her comedic charm, donning costumes from her steamer trunk to enhance each of her numbers, especially “Take Me for a Buggy Ride” and “Kitchen Man.” Paulette Ivory’s magnificent voice and stage presence highlight her role as the cheap wine-drinking Woman of the World who has been around, known many men, and suffered at the hands of all of them. Bryce Charles portrays the youngest of the three, The Girl with the Date, often flashing her sexy undergarments to let us know exactly how she feels about her hot night ahead. Of course, he never shows.
The Man in the Saloon, Chester Gregory, taking on the role of every man who has done these fine women wrong, celebrates his independence with enough bravado to seal any deal and break any woman’s heart during “Rough and Ready Man.” But ultimately, blues is the music of strength and the selected songs give the characters a means of survival. So be forewarned you men out there. I guarantee your woman will leave the theater energized, inspired, and ready to wail – and probably ready to throw any cheating man out of her life!
The Wallis production of BLUES IN THE NIGHT performs daily except dark on Mondays in the Lovelace Studio Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210. For a complete schedule and ticket availability, call the box office at 310-746-4000 or visit thewallis.org.