Do you think the blues are dead? Think again. The blues are alive and well, not only in their original forms, but also in the music they have inspired for the past 80 years. With their wholly original rhythmic and lyrical styles, the blues have influenced the formation of jazz, gospel, hip-hop and, of course, rock and roll. After all, Elvis Presley’s immortalized rendition of “You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog” was nothing more than a cover of the original song by blues star Big Mama Thornton.
Until Feb. 3, the blues are also alive and well in the Kreeger Theater at Arena Stage. Conceived by Sheldon Epps for Broadway 15 years ago, Blues in the Night is a cleverly-assembled musical revue that pays tribute to the blues queens of the 1920s and 1930s. Director Kenny Leon has revived the show for an appropriately smaller setting (most blues singers spun their intimate lyrics in nightclubs, not Midtown theaters), and his efforts have paid off. Despite minimal dialogue and almost no plot line, as is the nature of revues, Blues in the Night nonetheless wildly succeeds at drawing the audience into the hopes, worries and lives of these women of the blues.
Set in a seedy Chicago hotel on a not-so-special night in the late 1930s, Blues in the Night tells the stories of three very different women who are united by their common condition and the music with which they express it. Seldom interacting with one another, they express individual emotions and personalities from the confines of their own small, run-down bedrooms. More than just a character, each woman represents a different type of blues singer, as well as a different stage in life. Their lives intersect when they all find themselves at home in their dilapidated hotel sharing their blues with the night.
After an exciting, on-the-mark opening number, “Blue Blues” by the great Bessie Smith, the Lady from the Road takes the lead to introduce the characters and setting to the audience. The eldest of the three women, the Lady is a woman of experience, and she watches all that happens with a knowing eye and a sharp tongue. The Lady represents the nightclub diva who is just past her prime. Unlike the other two women, she avoids singing about regrets of the past or hopes for the future, but instead revels in music that showcases the present.
Bernardine Mitchell steals the show with her portrayal of the Lady from the Road. Bordering on drunk throughout the show, her character affords her ample opportunity to provide the audience with comic relief, an opportunity Mitchell never misses. Her mastery of sexual innuendo makes the upbeat and oh-so-naughty “Take Me for a Buggy Ride,” one of the highlights of the show. Mitchell approaches her role with an authority that makes her convincing as the matron of wisdom and experience. At the same time, she avoids coming across as condescending or cynical, maintaining a crucially important empathy with the other women as well as the makings of a hilarious comedienne.
Next door to the Lady from the Road lives the Woman of the World, a smart and successful woman who uses her sexual prowess to get what she wants. As a singer, she is just coming down from a high point in her career, during which she might have toured in Europe or headlined in New York, endearing herself to white audiences as well as black. Now the Woman sits in her hotel room, spraying cheap perfume and reciting lousy French poetry, waiting for her next beau to come along and sweep her away. Chandra Currelley portrays this wilting flower who longs for finery and romance with almost chilling grace and ability. She succeeds wonderfully at highlighting the irony of a regal woman trapped in a dive.
Down the hall, a more optimistic voice can be heard. The Girl with a Date is the youngest of the women, and her career is on the ascent. She has high hopes for both success and love, adding a touch of sweet naivet? to her character. But more than just younger than the other women, the Girl is also a different kind of singer, representing the more down-home, country blues singer who uses soft and lilting melodies to their full emotive potential. Cynthia Hardy brings energy and a stellar voice to the role, although her relative inexperience in acting shows. Her carriage on stage is frequently awkward, and she doesn’t always seem to believe in her lyrics. Nonetheless, Hardy’s rendition of Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me” is one of the most moving performances of the evening.
The women are united by more than just their music; their simultaneous longing and scorn for men is a persistent theme, personified by the fourth character, the Man in the Saloon. He represents a love interest, someone who can be either exciting and gratifying or hurtful and even abusive. Whatever the case, these women all feel compelled to sing about him. Charles E. Bullock lends his unique, but well-crafted voice to this role, holding the audience’s attention without upstaging the real focus of the story?the three women. His flexibility and good sense of rhythm lend themselves well to his playful dancing, choreographed by Patdro Harris, which is a welcome visual contrast with the more reserved movements of the women.
Vicki R. Davis provides a set design that borders on minimalist, simply placing a bed and a chest or a table and chair on a raised platform to signify a room in the hotel. The absence of walls and other details is an intentional design decision to allow the audience to imagine the dilapidation themselves and also permit the singers to mold their own world to an extent. This solution is clever, but it only works because the actors help pull it off by effectively convincing themselves and the audience of their surroundings. The costume design by Susan E. Mickey reveals all three women in their ordinary nightgowns, contrasting with the more elegant and theatrical outfits in which the rest of the world knows them. The color scheme between set and costumes is a slightly overbearing citrus combination, but at least the designers abstained from more morbid colors that would have made the production seem trite.
The blues rocked America. They afforded working-class black women and men, a burgeoning new segment of society in the 1910s and 1920s, an artistic voice on an unprecedented scale. Not only did white audiences start to listen to the music and stories of their black compatriots, the blues would have a seminal impact on popular American music for decades to come. This production of Blues in the Night is a very worthy tribute to this great heritage. Bessie Smith would have been proud.
Blues in the Night is running through February 3 in the Kreeger at Arena Stage. Visit www.arenastage.org for details.
