Reviews 2005
Reviews 2005
✭✭✭✩✩
conceived by Richard Maltby, Jr., music and lyrics by Fats Waller and others, directed by Marion J. Caffey
CanStage/Dancap Private Equity Inc., Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto
March 31-June 25, 2005
Ain’t Misbehavin’ may have won a 1978 Tony for Best Musical, but, strictly speaking, it’s simply a revue. Yes, there are 30 glorious songs by Fats Waller and his contemporaries written around 1922-43, but no story and no context biographical or otherwise surrounding them. That wouldn’t be so bad, except director Marion Caffey decides to goose up nearly every song with comic shtick whether it’s appropriate or not. This culminates in a painfully unfunny multi-song audition sequence in Act 1 that makes everyone look bad.
CanStage posters exclaim “Starring Jackie Robinson”, but in fact Ain’t Misbehavin’ is truly an ensemble show. The exuberant Ms. Robinson takes her place alongside her daughter Kim, Divine Brown, Starr Domingue, Doug Eskew and David Lopez. The show is best when Caffey drops the gimmicks and just lets this talented cast sing. Highlights include Jackie Robinson’s aching rendition of “Mean to Me” and the seductive reefer song, “The Viper’s Drag,” sung by the incredibly limber Lopez, who can seemingly liquefy his body at will. Best of all is “Black and Blue” sung by the whole cast, where, for once, Caffey allows the powerful emotion of the song to shine through. Still, the sound system at the Bluma needs retooling. Notes high or loud have glare and congestion mars ensemble numbers.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2005-04-14.
Photo: Jackie Richardson and Doud Eskew. ©Guntar Kravis.
2005-04-14
Ain’t Misbehavin’