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"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"
by Alex Yablon
It's an ambitious undertaking to cram almost the whole of African-American history and thought into a single play. Perhaps even more difficult is interpreting and performing that play successfully. The current production of August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is an example of how to fall short of this goal.
Wilson's play is the story of a group of black session musicians playing with the famous Ma Rainey (an actual star of the early 20th century) and the one among them who aspires to something greater. By itself, it is a great work, full of subtle wit and a masterful representation of different philosophies on being black in a white-dominated society. The plot is compelling and moves along at a quick pace, and the characters are extremely interesting.
Unfortunately, much of this was lost when translated to the stage. The first casualty was the more subtle nature of the dialogue and wit. The performances of the musicians were so exaggerated that it was difficult to tell what was supposed to be a joke and what was just conversation (the audience responded to this by laughing at anything and everything). The fact that each character represents a different type of experience or way of thinking does not mean they had to be acted like unrealistic stereotypes. Charles S. Dutton puts forth a noble effort in the lead role as Levee, but the only thing that makes the any of the other characters likable is August Wilson's writing. Most notably disappointing is Whoopi Goldberg's performance as Ma Rainey. She lacks charisma to the point of seeming uninterested in being onstage. Again, it is only the great script that saves her role.
It's hard to say this was a disappointment, because of the great script and Dutton's fantastic performance. Deep down, you can tell it has many redeeming qualities, but the often grating performances make it hard to appreciate.
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