Celebrating Black History Month!

Ain't Misbehavin' divas...

Armelia McQueen, Nell Carter, and Charlayne Woodard,

who starred in the original production

of 1978.

It started small,

in a cabaret setting at the Manhattan Theatre Club,

with Luther Henderson (arranger and orchestrator)

initially playing the piano for each performance.

Onwards to Broadway later that year,

under the direction of Richard Maltby, Jr.!

Above, a young Andre De Shields, part of the original cast
of Misbehavin'

(currently on Broadway in Hadestown),

and below, Ken Page (with Nell).

The inspiration for this Best Musical Tony Winner:

the music of Fats Waller.

The show was revived on Broadway again in 1988,

and Frank Rich of the NYTimes had this to say:

  "This musical anthology expands beyond its form to become a 

resurrection of a great black artist's soul.

Perhaps the key to the musical's approach 

is its willingness to let 

Waller speak simply and eloquently for himself, 

through his art but without show-biz embroidery."

Conceived of by Ron Taylor

(who also starred...that's him below, with Gretha Boston),

It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues

cracked Broadway in 1999,

and chronicled the history of Blues,

with over 3 dozen songs.

It starred Ron, Gretha, a young Gregory Porter,

Eloise Laws, Carter Calvert, and "Mississippi" Charles Bevel.

It included African chants, slave songs,

spirituals...and my favorite, "Fever".

Ethel Waters...what a life!

The black vaudeville circuit, the Harlem Renaissance,

Broadway, films, concert performances and television. 

She was the first African-American to star on her own television show 

and the first African-American woman to be nominated 

for a Primetime Emmy Award.

On Sunday, we'll hear the Oscar-nominated song she sang in both the

 Broadway and movie versions of 

Cabin In The Sky:

"Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe."

(Her autobiography..."His Eye Is On The Sparrow")

Pearl Bailey starred in Hello, Dolly! twice!

Once in 1967 and again in 1975.

In an unusual move for the time,

David Merrick came up with an idea of an all-black cast,

when audiences for his original production began to wane

(despite all the different Dolly replacements:

Ann Miller, Ethel Merman, Phyllis Diller!?!?).

And that re-casting proved so popular, that in ANOTHER unusual move,

they made a new cast recording,

which we can enjoy this Sunday!

Pictured above, Pearl with her Cornelius, Barnaby, et. al.:  

Jack Crowder, Sherri Peaches Brewer, and Winston DeWitt Hemsley.

Cab Calloway, below, played Horace in this first Pearl Version,

and in the 2nd production,

Billy Daniels had the honor.

The cast of the Broadway musical "Five Guys Named Moe":

Jerry Dixon, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Nealy, Kevin Ramsey, 

Jeffrey Sams, and Glen Turner. 

Jerry (below, and the one in the dark suit above)

played Nomax,

who has been dumped by his girlfriend.

The Five Moes emerge from his radio,

to cheer him up with the songs of Louis Jordan.

And those great songs, super arrangements, and imaginative choreography

got the show a Tony nom,

and productions from here to (almost) Borneo!

Sheryl Lee Ralph

has trod the boards since 1980.

Her break-out role was in the 1981 production of 

Dreamgirls,

in which she starred as Deena Jones,

and she's been Broadwaying (and filming and tv-ing) ever since.

Above, a curtain call post-Thoroughly Modern Millie performance (2002);

 Sheryl played Muzzy Van Hossmeer

and got to sing "Long As I'm Here With You."

Below center, Sheryl as Deena in Dreamgirls.

 

We'll hear Leslie Uggams 

(above, in a shot from Thoroughly Modern Millie...she replaced Sheryl)

with a song from Hallelujah, Baby!

Lena Horne was set to star in that Styne/Comden/Green show,

but when she opted out,

Leslie made it her own,

winning a Tony for her performance.

"My Own Morning"

 

The first production of 

The Hot Mikado

(a jazzed up version of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado)

 happened back in 1939, 

and starred Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (above).

 Come the 1980s,

David H. Bell (book and lyrics) and
Rob Bowman (arrangements and orchestrations)

gave the production a face-lift.

This zoot-suited, lindy-hopping version

premiered at Ford's Theatre in D.C. in 1986...

...followed by productions in the West End (below)

and Chicago. 

Now it's know as Hot Mikado,

being a much HOTTER title when you drop the "The", I guess!