Joyful! Joyful!, this year’s holiday offering by Westcoast Black Theater Troupe, lives up to its name in every way. Nate Jacobs, WBTT founder, producing artistic director, and show director, has delivered a high-energy musical revue, showcasing superb performances by the company’s troupe, whose talent the company develops and nurtures. All cast members are WBTT veterans except one, who brings his own strong credentials. Although the actors are listed in the program as “Ensemble,” each could be a featured performer.
Jacobs wrote the bright show during the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic and was finally able to stage it in December 2021, adding it to WBTT’s rotating repertoire of three Christmas shows.
A simple set exudes holiday spirit: six large candles, platforms disguised as presents, a stylized silvery “tree” at each side, and a large back wall to accommodate the many projections. Everything enhances the holiday spirit including Donald Frison’s choreography, Matthew McKinnon’s offstage band, the costumes, lighting, sound, and the performers who bring it home under Jacobs’s sure direction.
Joyful! Joyful! opens with an exciting rendition of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” from The Messiah and ends with “Joyful, Joyful” by Beethoven and Van Dyke. In between, the revue journeys across the years with classics, carols, soul, R&B, novelty tunes, and contemporary holiday songs. Narrator Ariel Blue introduces the 22 songs in the program and sings another, “All I Want for Christmas is You,” in this nonstop show. The two seven-actor ensembles--female and male--perform separately, together, and as quartets, duets, and soloists.
As Blue introduces the show, the female ensemble swirls vibrant skirts, dances, and sings the “Hallelujah Chorus.” The colorfully clothed male ensemble joins them for the rousing opening that sets the tone for the lively evening.
The ensemble performs “Rejoice” in the Africa-themed first act honoring black history, The mood shifts as WBTT veterans Michael Mejia-Mendez, Raleigh Mosely II and Rickey Tedesco are joined by Nate Summers for a falsetto rendition of “Happy Seasons.” The drums then become prominent, with almost a cappella presentations of “African Noel” (female ensemble), “Carol of the Bells” (male ensemble), and “African Drummer Boy” (Mejia-Mendez and ensemble).
Other numbers include “The Last Month of the Year” (CJ Melton, Amber Meyers, Jazzmin Carson, Maicy Powell) and ensemble songs, often backing performers: “Joy (Unspeakable),” “When a Child is Born” (Delores McKenzie, Mosely), “Soulful Noel” (Mosely) and “Up on the Housetop” (15-year-old Sammy Waite). Midway through the first act, Maicy Powell brings power and passion to her heart-stopping solo, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
The contemporary second act, highlighting Black contributions to music, presents suited men with sequined jackets and vests and women in long, halter-topped dresses. The ensembles perform “Joy to the World,” “Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?,” “Black Christmas” (female), and “Celebrate the Holydays” (female). Backed by the male ensemble, Tedesco and Mejia-Mendes invite the audience to “Enjoy Yourselves.”
Projected children’s games set the stage for Isaiah Belt’s solo, “Everyone’s a Kid at Christmas Time.” Young Sammy Waite solos with “One Little Christmas Tree” and Summers and Mandi Jo John sing “My Christmas Prayer.” Six of the women—Stephanie Zandra, Canela Vasquez, McKenzie, Meyers, Carson, and John--present a comedy skit, wearing outlandish sunglasses while debating materialism—replete with gifts—vs. social activism. Soloist Stephanie Zandra, entrances the audience with her vocal range and thrilling “Oh Holy Night.”
During the closing song “Joyful, Joyful”—and at times during the show--enthusiastic audience members watched the actors enjoy themselves, clapped to the beat, cheered, sometimes stood, and occasionally whistled.
The show is fun! Go! It’s Joyful! Joyful!
