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August Wilson really knows how to tell a story.

Saturday May 05, 2001.     By Joseph Bowen

Theater Feed

Goodman Theatre
For tickets call (312) 443-3800
through August 10th

One thing I'll say about August Wilson, he really knows how to tell a story. The current production of his early play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Goodman Theatre is so worth seeing, that if you don't usually pay full price to see a play, this is one that's worth it.

August Wilson, whose recent comments promoting segregation of theatre into "white theatre" and "black theatre" have inflamed the theatre community. Nevertheless, he has had a long and successful career. I have seen major productions of his plays Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running at what he would call a "white theatre" and have enjoyed his dramatic voice. The commercial failure of his recent Seven Guitars has led some people to believe, however, that his voice has gotten a little hoarse of late.

But above all that criticism, his plays crackle with originality and wit. His characters have much to say concerning the plight of African Americans in 20th century America. His play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, tells the story of four black studio musicians who have arrived for a recording session for Ma Rainey, the "mother of the blues" in Chicago in 1927. While we are waiting for Ma Rainey to arrive, we meet the musicians, Cutler, the trombone player, the de-facto leader of this group, Toledo, the well read piano player, Slow Drag, the good natured bass player, and Levee, the loose cannon trumpet player. These four men are friends, but it's what they have in common that binds them, the fact that they are African American musicians in the 1920s. We get a glimpse of what they have gone through in their lives to get where they are right now. Particularly Levee, whose tale of his mother's gang rape and his father's murder by a group of eight white men is riveting. When Ma Rainey finally arrives, whirling in on a cloud of attitude, wearing a fur, demanding her Coca-Cola, we see a woman who has been through the ringer and has come out ringing.

But contrary to the title, the central character of this play is Levee. He is volatile and aggressive, determined to make a name for himself in the world of jazz and not play the "jug band" blues that Ma Rainey is recording. He is composing music that he hopes will change the world. His words say that he won't cater to the white man, but we see him kowtowing to Sturdyvant, the owner of the studio. When Levee finally gives his compositions to Sturdyvant, he is cheated out of them, further emphasizing the corruption of the recording industry and the inequality between black and white. With this, Levee explodes with a tremendous act of violence, sealing his fate.

Director Chuck Smith has handled this play with a loving hand. He lets the story tell itself, and what a story it is. The cast is perfect, particularly Gary Houston as Sturdyvant, Ernest Perry, Jr. as Cutler, Tim Edward Rhoze as Toledo and Percy Littleton as Slow Drag. Felicia P. Fields, as Ma Rainey, gives us a glimpse into just how difficult it must have been to be an African American singer in the 1920s in Chicago. Her voice is gutsy and sweet at the same time.

The best performance of the evening, however, is Harry J. Lennix's Levee. His aggressive and defiant attitude puts us off at first, but as the evening wears on, we begin to see a man of enormous complexity and pain. When he finally erupts in violence at the end of the play, we see the culmination of a lifetime of anger and frustration. His is one of the finest performances I've seen in a long time.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is most definitely worth seeing.