Musical Simple, Jumpin’ Entertainment
“Ain’t Misbehavin”’ Tuesday, April 8, Opera House
The Spokane Opera House wouldn’t normally be called a joint, but it was jumpin’ on Tuesday night.
“Ain’t Misbehavin”’ transported a near-capacity Opera House crowd to Harlem in the 1930s. For two hours, we were in a world where the jitterbug reigns supreme; where a song’s chorus can consist of the words “fat and greasy!”; and where Thomas (Fats) Waller pounds out the most infectious piano music on the planet.
Fats Waller has been gone since 1943, but this Broadway revue revives him in more ways than one. For one thing, it revives his music, about 30 songs worth. For another, pianist Julian Thorne looks like Fats and sounds like Fats, as he plays Waller-style stride piano on a beautiful antique upright at center stage.
The show as conceived by Richard Maltby Jr., is essentially a nonstop series of songs. The first half of the show features many of Waller’s popular hits, including “Honeysuckle Rose,” “The Joint is Jumpin”’ and “Ain’t Misbehavin”’.
The second half of the show goes uptown, and consists of the music that Fats would have played at a Harlem club or a raucous “rent party.” Those songs are often rude, raunchy or funny, or all three. For instance, there’s the hilarious, “Your Feets Too Big,” a drunken complaint about a girlfriend’s enormous feet; “The Viper’s Drag,” an ode to smoking reefer; and “Find Out What They Like,” a bit of risque advice for women on how to treat their men.
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (Joan Crawford and Janice Singleton) were the stars of the show, handling all of the female vocal parts, both singly and together. They had just the right combination of sauciness, showmanship and soul. They also functioned virtually as character actresses, becoming a different character for every song.
The two men, Welton Mays and Lynn Randolph, were equally remarkable. Mays was a hilarious drunk in “Your Feets Too Big,” and Randolph proved to be a phenomenal dancer with his ‘30s jive moves.
One of the most moving numbers was the song “Black and Blue,” which was sung by the entire ensemble as an almost heartbreaking expression of pain. It reminded us that life in ‘30s Harlem wasn’t all joy and high spirits.
The combo at the back of the stage played hot and infectious jazz. This is the music that conquered the country and the world in the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s, and it’s easy to see why.
“Ain’t Misbehavin”’ is a simple show - a piano, a combo, five singers, and a bunch of songs. Its simplicity is its virtue. The music is conveyed without distractions - and with this caliber of music, that’s the way you want it conveyed.
, DataTimes