Theater Review by Marilyn Lester . . . .
Props to the Paper Mill Playhouse for bringing back After Midnight. It’s a theatrical revue that sings, swings, taps and lets loose with a whole lot of feel-good. It’s also a terrific choice for Black History Month, not only because it puts on display the contributions of music and dance by African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance, but because it hits home that these contributions made an ongoing difference across all races and ethnicities. This is music truly for the people. The After Midnight cast of ten—mostly triple threats—features Angela Birchett, Sasha Hutchings, Joshua Lamar, James T. Lane, Stanley Martin, Aramie Payton, Destinee Rea, Awa Sal Secka, Liv Symone, Harris Matthew Turner, Jasmine Pearl Villaroel and Anthony Wayne, arrayed in snazzy period costumes by Azalea Fairley. This vibrant ensemble contributed high-energy performances to the exuberant sounds of a little big band fronted by keyboardist-music director, Sean Mayes. What they and the After Midnight team have created is a good time and a panacea for what ails ya.
The revue takes place “after midnight” in Harlem, principally at the Cotton Club, a venue that catered to a sophisticated uptown white crowd from 1923 to 1936. It’s where Duke Ellington burst into fame during his residency at the Club from 1927 to 1930; then it was Cab Calloway’s turn to reign supreme, with the Ellington orchestra making guest appearances from time to time. During this era, many of the fabled Cotton Club revues were written by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, and so many of their tunes feature in After Midnight, along with a handful of blues and miscellaneous works of others of that period.
But a word of caution: for those expecting a repeat of the original 2013/14 After Midnight, it’s not to be had. Despite seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical (and one win for Warren Carlyle for choreography) the show closed prematurely in 2014. That original, conceived by Jack Viertel (and developed at City Center Encores!), has retreated into history. More’s the pity, for it was truly one of theater’s finest moments. The show featured an emcee, aka Langston Hughes, whose poetry and reflections on life and death threaded through the production, weaving the song-and-dance numbers into the fabric of the Cotton Club. The show was also designed to showcase a rotating roster of divas that included Fantasia Barrino, Vanessa Williams, k.d. lang, and others. And because After Midnight was also developed with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s (JALC) Wynton Marsalis, the 17-piece band of JALC All Stars, playing Duke Ellington’s original arrangements, was a stunning asset to the whole. That thundering sound, with big brass and plenty of rhythm, was a tantalizing taste of what it must have been like to hear the Duke Ellington Orchestra take the bandstand in the Cotton Club.
When After Midnight closed, the producers gave the show new life on the high seas in a slimmed-down version for cruise lines. This edition of the show follows that adapted template. The Langston Hughes character has been essentially eliminated, deleting the narrative that served as connective tissue for the vignettes that take place within the Cotton Club. In his place, James T. Lane served as a kind of narrator whose very few lines threaded through the evening’s song and dance. Not the sophisticated cool that Dulé Hill brought to the role, but more of a high-energy carnival barker, Lane moved among the bartenders, servers, and performers working in the club—a moveable feast of fixtures, props, and cast members. A few numbers into the show, and with a scenic change, voilà, the septet appeared on a stepped platform, becoming a featured performer as much as the singers and dancers. Among their orchestral numbers were Ellington’s “Braggin’ in Brass” and “East St. Louis Toodle-oo,” the band’s theme song before Billy Strayhorn wrote “Take the A Train.” But even though these musicians were A-one, a septet is not going to do justice to big band arrangements. Power and nuance is lost—and so is the thrill. But inasmuch as this edition of After Midnight is dance-focused, the music adequately supports that high function. Highlights included a rendition of Ellington’s “Creole Love Call,” famously debuted by Adelaide Hall; it’s a slinky, hypnotic tune with vocalizing instead of lyrics. Destinee Rea’s operatic trilling and graceful movements (while on a pedestal) were nothing but inspired. Later, Rea mounted the pedestal again, gracefully collapsing into death. To Duke’s “Black and Tan Fantasy,” the character received a New Orleans-style funeral. Presumably, Rea’s character was Florence Mills, for whom Ellington wrote “Black Beauty.” Mills died young and thousands upon thousands lined the way as her hearse progressed from Harlem to her burial in The Woodlawn Cemetery.
Awa Sal Secka, modeled after Ethel Waters, sang the blues numbers, including “Women Be Wise” (Sippie Wallace), while Angela Birchett delivered spotlight numbers with “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields) and “Stormy Weather” (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler). With a nod to Cab Calloway, his “Zaz Zuh Zaz” was given the full monty of vampy Calloway theatrics by Birchett, Aramie Payton, Stanley Martin, and Anthony Wayne. But it was the finale, a trio of Ellington tunes—“It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing,” “Cotton Club Stomp,” “Rockin’ in Rhythm”—that set the night ablaze with its pulsing swing and dazzling choreography. It was an outro that put the cherry on the sundae for Dominique Kelly’s outstanding work. Co-direction by Kelly and Jen Bender also kept the pacing swift and staging seamless throughout. Playout by the band treated the departing audience to the now iconic “Take the A Train,” a number guaranteed to keep theater-goers happily moving to the beat.
After Midnight. Through Sunday, February 25 at the Paper Mill Playhouse (22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ). 90 minutes, no intermission. www.papermill.org
