William John Hall, Jr. (Slow Drag), James T. Alfred (Levee), Abdul Salaam El Razzac (Toledo) in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Photo: 2011 © Michal Daniel.
On rare occasions in theater, all the critical elements seem to converge in one glorious experience. The script is brilliant, the actors are perfectly suited to their roles, and the director, with great respect for both, seems to simply open up the story and let it live and breathe among us. This is the real magic of theater, and this is Penumbra’s production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Guthrie Theater. What a night!
Ma Rainey (Jevetta Steele) is scheduled to record in a New York City studio. The label exec, Sturdyvant (Michael Tezla), anticipates the usual stormy interchanges with Rainey and charges her manager, Irvin (Phil Kilbourne) with keeping her in line – an impossibility with a diva like Rainey. Meanwhile, the musicians, Slow Drag (William John Hall, Jr.), Cutler (James Craven) and Toledo (Abdul Salaam El Razzac) are supposed to be rehearsing downstairs. We’re drawn into their world with laugh-out-loud jokes and the easy camaraderie they share – but for the disruptive presence of a cocky, young trumpet player, Levee (James T. Alfred). As Levee’s personal story unfolds, they (and we) begin to understand why those $7.00 shoes he just bought are so important.
Lou Bellamy is precisely the kind of director I most admire. There’s a kind of humility before the play itself, and a vulnerability. Rather than draw attention to his hand in the production, he infused the air with something like the musty fragrance that one imagines swirled around the downstairs practice room for the musicians as they bantered and quibbled over the nonsensical (how to spell “musicâ€) and the profound (pandering to the white man).
The scenes among the musicians, which constitute most of the play, are true ensemble gems. With a minimal amount of activity and stage business, the story of each and the relationships of all unfold. They are all simply wonderful. Rainey was a cantankerous, belligerent prima donna, but Steele manages to win us over anyway. If only we could have heard her sing just once more! Ahanti Young as her stammering nephew, Sylvester; Lerea Carter as girlfriend, Dussie Mae; and Brendan Guy Murphy as the policeman round out the varied cast, all turning in winning performances.
From beginning to end, it was stunning, beautiful, disturbing and powerful. This is the play you must not miss in 2011. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom runs through March 6.