Two Stars, a Bauble and a Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda for 'Blues in the Night'

Paulette Ivory is beautiful to look at and even more beautiful when you hear her sing "Willow Weep for Me." The other three main characters of 'Blues in the Night,' which opened last night at the Post Street Theater, have their fine moments too. Maurice Hines, the tap dancing legend cast in the role of 'The Man,' taps only once and that's late in Act Two, but it's the show's defining moment, when people in the audience turn to each other and say: "Wow! Where has he been the last two hours?"

Freda Payne (remember 'Band of Gold'?) is one of the three front women in the cast, and she sings a stunning version of Billy Strayhorn's 'Lush Life,' and Carol Woods shines on several very funny, down and dirty blues songs, perhaps the best of which is 'Take it Right Back,' which closes Act One.

Hizzoner Willie Brown walked in as the curtain was going up. Probably every black notable in the city was in the audience and it felt really nice to hear some call and response feedback for the performers, for once. At the end of Bessie Smith's 'Wasted Life Blues,' sung by Woods, a voice rang out "Now, THAT was worth the price of the whole show!" Many people shouted in agreement.

...So maybe this is one of those times when the reviewer has to say: "Sorry, I just don't get it." Maybe being black and/or having lived in the age when this music was new would give him a deeper appreciation of the songs' unspoken context. Maybe.

But maybe a show that has no plot, no character development, almost no dialogue and which relies entirely on lyrics from twenty seven blues songs from the 1930s-50s (which are divided neatly into two categories: 'This Man is No Good' and 'I Miss My Man's Meat') is not meant to involve an audience as much as to titillate them. It feels more like a night club act than a Broadway show (though at only $35 per ticket you pay a lot less than you would at a club for performers of this magnitude) -- more like a documentary than a feature.

The same reviewer notes that the band was terrific, and if they had just abandoned the non-script entirely and let Maurice Hines blister the floor with tap eloquence a few more times, and allowed Frieda, Carol and Paulette to sing more of their fabulous ensemble harmonies on songs that they actually like, 'Blues in the Night' might have been the show of the year.

For now, let's just say that 'Blues in the Night' deserves one star for Maurice Hines's tap dance plus one more for several transcendent moments. We'll throw in a Bauble for what might have been. But with a cast of Hines, Payne, Woods and Ivory this show should give much, much more. Two Stars, a Bauble and a Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda for 'Blues in the Night'