Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

By Keith Boykin, in theater
Friday, November 1 2002, 6:00AM

There must be something about black bottoms in Harlem that appeals to me. My favorite song in the musical Harlem Song is B.J. Crosby's rendition of "For Sale," a jazzy double entendre number about an ass for sale. And now I find I really like the Classical Theater of Harlem's production of "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."

I understand the Classical Theater of Harlem's production of August Wilson's 1984 play cuts out some of Wilson's dialogue in an effort to shorten the show for the audience. If that's so, the audience is fortunate because so much of Wilson's work is needlessly long and repetitive. Wilson may be America's foremost black playwright, but he needs an editor.

Ma Rainey is different. The story begins in a Chicago recording studio in 1927, where four black band members have assembled in the basement band room awaiting Ma Rainey's arrival. Upstairs, Rainey's white manager and a white recording company executive are also waiting. When Ma finally arrives, with her stuttering nephew and her fast girlfriend in tow, she's late and complaining about an incident with the police.

But Ma is not the only hothead. The real protagonist is young Levee, the band's ambitious trumpet player who wants Ma to sing his arrangement of "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," which he thinks will appeal more to the younger audiences up north. The tension between Ma and Levee is palpable, but the real drama and the best dialogue takes place downstairs among the band members.

By the way, the New York Times reports that Whoopi Goldberg will play Ma Rainey in the upcoming Broadway revival, and Charles S. Dutton will play Levee.

Directed by Arthur French, the 10 characters in this production mix well together. Tamela Aldridge turns Ma into a semi-modern black woman with attitude, which makes the character easier to understand but makes you wonder if it accurately captures the real essence of the woman, or if that was ever the intention. Roz Davis does the same with "Dussie Mae," Ma's bisexual lover, which Davis plays as a semi-contemporary vixen.

The four band members are nearly perfect in capturing the feel of the time. Henry Afro-Bradley was made to play "Toledo" and Charles Turner plays "Slow Drag" convincingly. Leopold Lowe brings drama to the role of Levee, recreating the spirit of young energy without respect for the contributions of the elders.

But Levee's dreams are easily crushed and his soliloquies sound far too familiar to other August Wilson protagonists. It's the angry black man again, just in a different decade. Interestingly, the New York Times blamed Lowe for failing to capture the subtlety of the role, but with such a predictable August Wilson ending, it seems more the playwright's problem than the actor's.

Still, this is a well made, well acted, production of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom with plenty of humor and drama to entertain even the most critical audiences. The play continues through Sunday at the Harlem School of the Arts, 645 Saint Nicholas Avenue, near 141st Street. Call 212-206-1515 for more information.

© Copyright 2003 by Keith Boykin.