Jordan Wright
August 13, 2016
Special to The Alexandria Times
(l-r) Cleavant Derricks (Chimney Man) with Kara-Tameika Watkins, Eben K. Logan and Nova Y. Patons. Photo by Christopher Mueller.
Right off the bat, Mark G. Meadows, who plays Jelly Roll Morton in this musical, is sensational. I’ll admit I’d had my doubts when word went out how he turned down Director Matthew Gardiner’s initial offer to play the iconic and controversial jazzman. Meadows, who is an internationally known pianist and performer in his own right, had never before acted. Gardiner persisted until Meadows agreed. But would he add “Actor” to his resume? Thanks to Gardiner’s superb coaching and stroke of brilliance casting, Meadows gifts us with his personality and extraordinary talent – a natural-born actor/singer/musician/dancer whose portrayal of Jelly is vulnerable, multi-dimensional and eminently appealing. Did I mention his voice has a certain John Legend-like quality?
Mark G Meadows (Jelly Roll Morton) with the cast of Jelly’s Last Jam. Photo by Christopher Mueller.
Jelly’s Last Jam is a knockout of a show. Thanks to Daniel Conway’s swank design, we are transported to the golden palm trees of the Jungle Inn, a nightclub straight out of the 1920’s era where the visible seven-piece orchestra plays behind a gilded railing high above the stage and Art Deco movie-house chandeliers light the ceiling. Cafe tables positioned mere feet from the stage, umbilically connect the performers to the audience, lending the performances instantaneous intimacy. Every shuffle, every two-step, every tap of shoe-to-floor is palpable. The stage fairly pulsates with electricity.
Christopher Broughton, DeWitt Fleming Jr, DeMoya Watson Brown, Joseph Monroe Webb, Olivia Russell. Photo by Christopher Mueller
Choreographer Jared Grimes has taken some of the best dancers and singers from here to Broadway, corralled them onto a set of circles and squares, steps and ramps, and turned it into a mind-blowing tapping, singing, syncopated rhythm of early jazz music. Credit hoofers DeMoya Brown, Joseph Monroe Webb, DeWitt Fleming, Jr., Christopher Broughton and Olivia Russell for the tap bonanza. It’s the stuff dreams are made of. The stuff Morton invented before there was jazz as we know it.
Morton’s backstory is a familiar one. Huge star, freakishly talented and egotistical goes to the top of the showbiz world only to undermine his success by blowing off his friends and supporters. Cleavant Derricks plays the Chimney Man from Cadaver Avenue. You wouldn’t want to run into him on a dark night. He’s the reckoner – the one who keeps track of how you messed up your life. Derricks, who garnered a Tony Award for his role on Broadway in Dreamgirls, has got the evil eye down pat. He swaggers and threatens, coaxes and demeans, as smooth as the silk topper he wears.
Kara-Tameika Watkins, Nova Y. Payton, Eben K. Logan. Photo by Margot Schulman.
Outstanding too, are the vocally gifted Felicia Boswell who plays Jelly’s sometime lover Anita; the riveting Guy Lockard, as his faithful friend and partner; and the promising talent of Elijah Mayo as young Jelly.
Guy Lockard (Jack the Bear) and Mark G Meadows (Jelly Roll Morton) in Jelly’s Last Jam. Photo by Margot Schulman.
Born to a high-born Louisiana Creole family from N’awlins, “not a grit or a collard green”, Morton’s French roots afforded him certain privileges as a Black man in the South. Thanks to his haughty Gran Mimi (Iyona Blake), the matriarch of the Morton family, it also worked against him.
Felicia Boswell (Anita) and Mark G Meadows (Jelly Roll Morton) in Jelly’s Last Jam. Photo by Margot Schulman
Written by George C. Wolfe, Susan Birkhead and Luther Henderson, with Jelly Roll Morton’s original music, the show takes us from the juke joints of New Orleans to the dance halls of Chicago and the stages of New York laying out the highs and lows of Morton’s life and times. Dede M. Ayite gives us the dazzling costumes along with the outstanding mood-capturing lighting design of the period by Grant Wilcoxen.
Highly recommended for the best that theater has to offer.
Through September 11th at Signature Theatre (Shirlington Village), 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.