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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Sinks
by Clarissa Chin
August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, poignant and meditative on paper, is transformed into a slightly melodramatic and excessive piece of work in execution on stage. The actors only reveal the surface of this play's black bottom. The upshot is a combination of dissatisfaction and perplexity.
Set against the backdrop of white exploitation, the show chronicles how these tensions between African Americans and whites play out through a black lead singer, Ma Rainey, and her band of jug players. Charles Dutton reprises his role as the main character Levee, one of the players who aspires to more. Although he attempts to depict how Levee is ultimately destroyed by the realism of his situation, his performance is saturated in exaggerated and swaggering movements and expressions. It seems that he only knows how to generate (from those unfamiliar with Wilson's work) unabashed laughter or overwhelming sorrow. Whoopi Goldberg's minor role in the performance is equally unremarkable, and the show loses much of its weight due to her uninspired and flat depiction of Ma Rainey. The only shining light in the play seems to emanate from Thomas Jefferson Byrd as Toledo, whose subtle but cogent presence radiates throughout the show.
For the most part, the actors do not successfully flesh out the exploitation of African Americans. Instead, the experience is blanketed with exaggeration adults should only use for comic effect on children's shows. The play's deep meanings are better appreciated when read, and its message gets lost on stage. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom has missed its mark.
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