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‘Sophisticated Ladies’ @ the Alliance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C
It’s got belters and hoofers in black-and-white costumes stitched to look like piano keyboards. It’s got banana-fringed outfits and nearly naked dancers. It’s got a 10-piece band that rises from the pit at key moments — winning applause for the sheer niftiness of the trick.
What “Sophisticated Ladies” — the Duke Ellington revue that opened Wednesday at the Alliance Theatre — doesn’t have is an emotional core or conduit by which audiences can connect with the sparkling design and intelligence that defines the work of the jazz icon.
Ooops, they forgot the swing.
This inherent flaw in the concept of Donald McKayle’s bookless 1981 Broadway song-and-dance revue is only exacerbated by the Alliance revival. No matter that director Kent Gash’s tight eight-member ensemble sings and dances itself into a frenzy. The mix of flashy design and cool technical precision mostly exudes little passion or humor.
You have to admire the caliber and detail of the work. But you probably won’t love it madly. And you will tap your toes only begrudgingly.
With some amount of creative license, Gash reorders the tunes into “suites,” annotating the program with “tributes” to the likes of Gregory Hines, Josephine Baker, Katherine Dunham and Billy Strayhorn.
If you want to keep up with this thematic approach, you’d better pay attention to the program. Otherwise, you’ll likely have no idea that the banana-bedecked woman (Debra Walton) in the so-called “Jungle Revue” is meant to signify “La Baker.” (That’s Josephine, for the unitiated.)
While novelty numbers of a certain period do tend to stretch the political correctness of our time, it’s hard not to see unfortunate stereotypes in this screeching jungle. And that flamenco look in “Love You Madly”/“Perdido”? Ridiculous. After the elegance of 2006’s “Jelly’s Last Jam” (by the same director and designer), the glitzy vocabulary of Austin K. Sanderson (costumes) and Emily Beck (sets) looks tasteless.
Act One’s “Take the A Train” — punctuated by the high-pitched scat of Terry Burrell — is possibly the worst arrangement of the tune I’ve ever heard. That said, Burrell and company do find comedic inspiration in “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got that Swing),” in which they transform themselves into human instruments. In this tinny trumpet, woozy trombone and sultry saxophone, you finally get a whiff of the flavor and personality — the jazz — that was Ellington.
Likewise, the “Flight to Timbuktu” sequence exploits a clever conceit: At the center of a silver-clad chorus line, a single actor spins a propeller. The number takes flight with the sort of authentic African rhythms and motifs that would do Urban Bush Women, Garth Fagan and Alvin Ailey proud.
In fact, choreographer Byron Easley gets an A+ for coaxing sizzling dance from this athletic group. If all of the vocals aren’t pitch-perfect, there’s not a bad dancer in the bunch, and Eric B. Anthony is a knockout.
But here’s the thing: Ellington was a big-band man who elevated the pop music of his day into high art. First and foremost a composer, he did not write lyrics or sketch characters. Thus to some degree, his cerebral vibe runs counterpoint to the impulse of musical theater.
As staged by the Alliance, “Sophisticated Ladies” is mostly razzle-dazzle and precious little swing.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Through Feb. 10. $25-$55. Alliance Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Midtown. 404-733-5000, alliancetheatre.org
BOTTOM LINE: You won’t love it madly.
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