But first, a little personal history. I think the first big, broadway level production I ever saw was Gem of the Ocean when I was in my sophomore year of high school, at the Huntington. It was the most elaborate set I'd ever seen in person. It was a gigantic, beautiful replica of the front entryway of the Pittsburg Hill district home of one of August Wilsons' central characters to his cycle, Aunt Ester. She was played by a really big television actress, Phylicia Rashad, the Mom from Cosby show. I remember it being a curious experience, a first for me as I hadn't seen all that much theatre maybe half a dozen productions. But it didn't leave any huge impact, at the time.
Going back to Huntington Ave though to see this play brought back all the memories for me of that place from childhood, seeing BSO concerts with a group from my school when I was in grade school, going into the BU theatre for the first time to see Gem of the Ocean, coming back with my rebel intellectual geeky friends because the Symphony Market on the corner didn't ID me when I tried to buy cigarettes. After smoking some of the cigarettes, first Winstons than American Spirits than another time Lucky Strikes, seeing free concerts at Jordan Hall of all kinds of different classical music.
It's a location that I identify with the friendships from that time, and also from seeing those big plays at the Huntington with my theatre class mates, two a year. In my sophomore year Gem of the Ocean and The Rivals, in my senior year The Cherry Orchard and Radio Golf (my other exposure to August Wilson).
I figured I should take tonight, my first opportunity in quite a while to see some theatre, which if you've read my earlier blogs you know is something I've been trying to do, to see something that wouldn't let me down. I'd heard generally good things about the production, and I knew Will Lebow and Tommy Derrah would be in it, two of my teacher's from Harvard Extension. I remembered vaguely from reading about August Wilson on Wikipedia it had something to do with a black recording artist in the 20s or 30s and the conflict surrounding the attempt to cut a record.
Going to buy tickets, I saw these were my options... orchestra or mezzanine for, what, ohhh like $100? How about the orchestra... oh, I can get a "35 and Below" ticket for $25, I'll take two of those. So I put us as close and as center to the stage as I could, Row G 109 and 110. I flipped through the program, taking in the bios of the various actors, the program notes on August Wilson and the music scene of Chicago in the 20s. Chicago is one of the great cities for the blues. Much of what would later become rock and roll in the musical landscape of the 20th century started with Chicago blues. A bunch of great blues artists. In my own musical life, I've always felt an affinity to the blues' passion and elegant simplicity.
Did I really just type that? I like to pretend I'm a blues guitar player, OK? On some level, this means wishing I could sound like a black person in my music, and I'm trying to admit that without being embarrassed by it because there is a long and important tradition of Caucasian artists trying to imagine and on some level emulate the perceived "suffering" and life experience of African Americans from which the blues mythically originated.
Without delving too much further down that rabbit hole, I sympathized and identified with the musicians of the play. I liked hanging out with them. I felt the energy between them, powered by some really beautiful acting.
Oh, the acting, that's what it's all about. And the music. But the acting was superb. After seeing the show and processing it for a while, I though I'd peek at some of the reviews I'd been avoiding to get my own critical juices flowing to write this blog post. As I started recalling the experience of the play, getting about halfway through the Broadway World Boston review I was overwhelmed by my recollection. Immediately, I went to the Huntington website and reserved the most primo seat I could find, the front row of the mezzanine. $100 into the Huntington's pockets, well spent to get a closer look at the performances in this show. At which time, I'll really unpack my reactions.
In the meantime, if you can, go to this show. And enjoy some blues, one of my favorite tunes by one of my favorite artists Killing Floor as done by Albert King (with backing from the Stax records house band!)
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