It's all about the music on the closing weekend of Sheldon Epps's 1980 musical revue Blues in the Night in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's intimate Octagon Theatre. -- Directed by Ron OJ Parson, audiences are taken back to a run-down Chicago hotel c.1938, where three nameless women stay in their individual shabby rooms [scene design by Shaun Motley; costume design by Celeste Jennings] and share their experiences with the Blues through song.
There is no linear story, very little dialogue, and only a smattering of interaction among them, but lots of contact with the audience. -- And that's about it. So just sit back and enjoy the vocal dexterity of Cynthia F. Carter, Devereaux, Clare Kennedy and the "Man in the Saloon" [Percy V. Nesbary III] who provides the chauvinistic male commentary on the women's Blues, and also solos on guitar. -- There's also a dancer [Donovan McFadden] who unexplainably disappears for most of Act II.
Music Director Joel Jones and his on-stage quartet give expert attention to the nuances of some 25 memorable songs from the Blues and Jazz catalogue [Bessie Smith, Billy Strayhorn, Benny Goodman, Alberta Hunter, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, and others]; from the upbeat "Stomping' at the Savoy", to the heartbreaking "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out", to the raunchy grit of "Rough and Ready Man" and "Take Me for a Buggy Ride", to the sad weariness of "Lush Life"; and the Band is featured by itself in what's credited as a Jam Session version of "Wild Women Don't Have the Blues" --Wow!
They accompany, support, and drive the songs forward, and all of the three women have numerous opportunities to showcase their talents. It's all an accomplished undertaking, and individual audience members will have their favorites. -- But it is Ms. Carter's charismatic characterization that is the emotional and visceral center of the show; she commands attention throughout with her powerful voice, confident character personality, and witty engagement with the audience.
Blues in the Night provides a good evening out in Montgomery; and if you weren't a fan of the Blues or Jazz beforehand, you probably will become one after this production.
