Excerpted from The Toledo Blade, Toledo, Ohio September 18, 2003
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030918/ART10/109180142
Players take a trip through musical past
By NANCIANN CHERRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
With songs such as "Lover Man," "Taking a Chance on Love," "When Your Lover Has
Gone," and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," the Village Players take
audiences on a tour of American blues and jazz.
The show, which runs through Sept. 27 in the Upton Avenue theater, is Blues in
the Night, and it opens the 47th season for the Players.
Set in a cheap hotel in the 1930s, Blues in the Night tells the stories of three
women and a man. We never learn their names, because names aren't important;
their stories are universal.
There is the Lady from the Road (Karla Behrman), who has been around and seen it
all. She's been loved and left and loved some more. She, more than the others,
takes life on its own terms. She sings songs such as "New Orleans Hop Scop
Blues," "Lover Man," and "Wasted Life Blues."
The Woman of the World (Dana Pilrose) is used to men taking care of her. She has
used her beauty as a commodity, and now that it's fading, she lives on dreams
and sings songs such as "Stompin' at the Savoy," "Lush Life," and "Rough and
Ready Man."
The Girl with a Date (Ellen Noneman) is younger and not quite so jaded. She and
the Woman sing "I've Got a Date with a Dream," but where the Woman is singing
literally as she holds a photograph, the Girl is singing about the man for whom
she is donning a lace gown and earrings. Later, as the Girl sings "Willow Weep
for Me," we know her journey to cynicism has begun.
Then there's the Man in the Saloon (Jake Gordy). Handsome and confident, he
thinks he knows all there is to know about women, including the fact that he can
have any one he wants. He sings "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So," "Wild Women Don't
Have the Blues," and "Baby Doll." But Gordy projects an element of fear under
his cockiness. If he's so good, why is he stuck in a cheap hotel?
If the four singers don't always match the physical assumptions of their
characters (Noneman isn't quite as young as the Girl, Behrman not as old as her
character, and Pilrose is hardly fading), their voices are what matters. And
their voices come through. Ably backed by Deb Wlodarski on piano, Ray Woods on
percussion, and Dave Bagley on bass, all four singers do justice to the work of
Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Ida Cox, Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Mercer, Harold
Arlen, and others.
Many of the songs are sad, a few are hopeful, and some are downright raunchy,
such as "Kitchen Man" and "Take It Right Back."
Director-choreographer Wes Skinner's production is a fascinating tour of
American music, and it has many plusses. But it has one big problem as well:
It's depressing.
Midway through the show, I wanted to stand up and yell at the women that, so
what if their sugar daddies had left them? Deal with it. Get a life. Move on.
It's a bit like I felt about the Players' production of The Last Meeting of the
Knights of the White Magnolia last season. At times it was fascinating, but its
age showed and relevance to modern life is questionable.
For those who can separate the music from the plot, the cast's interpretations
are topnotch. But those wanting to get involved with the story might find
themselves wishing for a different show.
"Blues in the Night" continues through Sept. 27 in the Village Players
Theatre, 2740 Upton Ave. Performances will be 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2
p.m. Sunday. Admission is $16 for adults and $14 for seniors and students from
the box office, 419-472-6817.
Last Modified: 10/10/03