A revised version of versatile Nate Jacobs’s compilation of Broadway Music and Lyrics by, about, and featuring blacks in performance, “Broadway in Black” is heavier on recent black creations. But how blacks came to The Great White Way, especially with Shuffle Along, is clearly explained between demonstrations. Lavishly costumed and choreographed, performers don’t suffer compared with Broadway’s today. WBTT’s hold up so well that audiences may wonder at their enviable energy—all so physically close on WBTT’s new polished-floor stage.
With 30 partial or full songs in Act I and 24 in Act II, some are solos, others are duets or by small groups, and finally there are Ensemble pieces or those in which the Ensemble does backups or completes a main smaller performance entity. All work smoothly on a basic set of a platform backed by a changing colored screen (sometimes with projections or with curtains) and leading down steps of graduated size. The last step works well to get solo attention; it also leads to the wide-floored space that completes the set and empties on sides of the audience. All results from admirable cooperation among the technical designers.
Outstanding female solo performers include all-time WBTT performer Ariel Blue on “There’ll Be Some Changes Made” and star singer Syreeta Banks doing “Summertime” (with baby in arms), “Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe,” “Walk Him Up the Stairs,” a defiant “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going,” and leading an elaborate “Roll, Jordan, Roll.”
Katherine Taylor sings “Dat’s Love” and “Weary” convincingly. WBTT newcomer Helen Jane Planchet debuts with “Your Daddy’s Son” and Duke Ellington’s “Hit Me with a High Note” and later takes on a more recent “Home.” Jai Shanae seems to never take a breath “Taking a Chance on Love.” Delores McKenzie stars in the newer “I Got Love” and the newest “I’m Here.”
Brentney J takes over both the floor and—once later—the platform with her dancing to a variety of music and roles. Her male equivalent in dance is Dale Hill, an experienced local performer who’s here making his professional debut with WBTT.
Outstanding male solo performances start with Raleigh Mosley’s early Show Boat show-stopper “Ol’ Man River” followed in Act I by long-time WBTT favorite Leon S. Pitz II claiming “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.” In Act II, Michael Mejia-Mendez is the titled Wiz singing “So You Wanted to Meet the Wiz.”
Brian L. Boyd, perhaps the best known male soloist in WBTT, this time combines his talent with that of others. He sings “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” in a duet and follows with a major role in a group singing with Michael, Leon Raleigh, and newcomer Stephen White Jr. in songs from each era.
Derric Gobourne Jr. nicely fills in a number of Ensemble spots. The Ensemble numbers come on with power, right from the start. Memorable male ones include “It ain’t Necessarily So” and “Go Back Home” from two different eras. A complete Ensemble-only number comes toward the end: “Make Them Hear” by Ahrens and Flaherty, who had been in Sarasota before the pandemic and now recently to work on a debut musical at Asolo Repertory Theater. (Sarasota theaters are good at helping each other putting on shows and publicizing them.)
Of the duets, I especially liked the syncopated ones by Ariel Blue with Syreeta Banks. Ariel’s period wig at entrance was so well done that I hardly recognized her so early, though I’ve watched and known her longer than any at WBTT, even from her decades-past work at the former Golden Apple and some at Florida Studio Theater.
Syreeta, of course, always proves herself an experienced Actors Equity member. Ariel and Syreeta also make up a wonderful trio with Katherine Taylor on early classics like “Mood Indigo.”
If I have any adverse criticism of Broadway in Black, it’s that it eventually seems like too much of a good thing. Also, the sound is so loud that, especially in view of the similarity of sound in arrangements for smaller groups of singers, it seems to slur the words of vocals. The well-known power of Black singers’ voices should not seem to be all at the same pitch and volume, much less screamed at the end of each song. An audience can appreciate the talent but lose track of the talent’s lyrical message.
It would be interesting to have a musical revue of Black songs and dances done regionally or internationally. It could have excerpts from films that didn’t become or come from Broadway musicals. It could present pieces from historical Black musicals that were done in regional theaters or by Black companies. It could duplicate work by, for instance, the dancer Katherine Dunham and her company, singers like Odetta and Lurlean Hunter, and musicians like Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five who didn’t make it to Broadway. Nate Jacobs and WBTT certainly have the talent to make such a revue.
