A mere five years after its founding, the Fisk Free Colored School [now Fisk University] had significant financial needs. The newly formed Jubilee Singers almost singlehandedly raised the equivalent of $3.5 million in today's money to pay off the debt, purchase land, and finance the construction of Jubilee Hall, the first permanent building on its new campus.
Author and director Tazewell Thompson's uplifting tribute production of Jubilee at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival weaves the story of the Jubilee Singers from their start at a fledgling HBCU, through their challenging and ultimately triumphant national and international tours, ending with a coda that recounts what happened to the individual singers after the tours ended, and enforces the humility of a group of people who never sought celebrity or riches.
The earnest narrative's foundation is a litany of some 40+ songs that both remind us of the power and influence of the Negro Spiritual, and encourage us to listen attentively to their meaningful lyrics testifying to faith, identity, and the indomitable spirit of a newly freed enslaved people and their contemporary descendants.
The production is a feast for the eye and the ear: a grand minimalist scenic design [Donald Eastman] is supported by stunning visual projections [Shawn Duan], impactful lighting [Robert Wierzel] and sound [Fabian Obispo], and sumptuously detailed period costumes [Merrily Murray-Walsh], all in the service of the story and the songs.
And it is the music, after all, that this show is all about. Joel Jones' musical direction of Dianne Adams McDowell's arrangements are masterfully interpreted by a 13-member ensemble over Jubilee's two acts. The catalogue of songs include familiar ones ["Balm in Gilead", "Wade in the Water", "Steal Away"] and perhaps some lesser known [""My God is So High", "I Am a Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow"], both somber and rousing, featuring several solo voices, and always involving everyone on and off the stage.
Special credit to the a cappella singing without artificial amplification [Too often, musical performances are distorted by unnecessary microphones]. -- Not only can we hear the blending, balance, and close harmonies, but the clarity and purity of the ensemble's voices are subtly highlighted, so that audiences are carried along the Jubilee Singers' path of their purposeful endeavors, experiencing with them the joy and pain, the discipline of their training, and the ultimate satisfaction of survival.
