Review of "It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues"
Raw Sex, Stomach-churning Pain by Sylvia S. Cutler
From "Odum De", the plaintive voice of Africa to "Let the Good Times Roll," the joyous shout of African Americans, "It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues" is a celebration of the spirit of humanity as it travels from its humble beginnings through the pain of slavery to the dawn of a new day. This show is a celebration of life, a paeon of praise to a people who have suffered much and triumphed greatly.
Arena Stage hosts the Denver Center Theatre Company in a festival of theatrical partnering in a production that had its audience roaring with laughter, stomping its feet, clapping its hands, and thrilling to the African rhythms that gave birth to the blues.
Created by a group of people whose talents know no boundaries, the show had the audience responding with abandon to the rhythms, both plaintive and triumphant, that only they know how to convey. "Misissippi" Charles Bevel, Carter Calvert, Lita Gaithers, Eloise Laws, Ron Taylor, Dan Wheetman and Chic Street Man are the core group of this company. Not all of the company is black; some are white and some come from other ethnic groups.
Behind the singers and musicians was a trio of screens with photographs projected of the black experience, from slavery, through the Depression, unemployment, discrimination, through to the birth and development of the blues, with some of the great singers and musicians, and many, many children. The pictures got to us; no matter what we were looking at, no matter what we were hearing, the visions made our stomachs clench, our hearts beat faster. But then there were the songs that were raw sex, such visceral pain it was almost impossible to bear. Never have there been more sensual people on stage, both men and women. Carter Calvert sang "Fever," and you could almost feel the heart of every man in the audience stop. Dan Wheetman growled "Candyman," and the chuckles broke out into delighted laughter. Lita Gaithers sang "Strange Fruit," a song of another stripe, harsh, gritty, frightening, the images tearing you apart, and the audience gasped. Lita Gaithers sang "St. Louis Blues" and you knew what blues are all about. Chic Street Man sang "Crawlin' King Snake," and you could feel the audience shuddering. Ron Taylor sang "Let the Good Times Roll," and worked harder with his songs than anyone you've ever seen on stage; he takes a song all the way.
No matter what songs they sang, alone or with a chorus, you were bombarded with emotions and sensations that carried you to the crest of feeling, and you felt--couldn't help but feel--joy or pain, because blues were never really about entertainment but about expression of emotion, relief from emotions too big for the heart to hold.
Signs of slavers projected on screen; children big-eyed and hungry; and all that overwhelming sex, whether projected willfully or unknowingly, but always there--it was almost too much to withstand.
This show will continue at Arena Stage until January 19th in the Kreeger Theatre. If you don't see it, you will be missing a real event. There is almost too much talent for one stage to hold.