The Crimson Playgoer

On Monday night Mr. Lew Leslie, of Blackbird fame brought his last season's review, "Rhapsody in Black" to the Majestic Theatre. If any indication can be gained from the opening night it will be fairly easy to predict that the show will have a good run in Boston. The audience, of which the coloured part was the most demonstrative, fairly brought down the house, augmenting its thunderous applause with the more violent forms of public demonstration, i.e., stamping, whistling and shouting. That this was not deserved will be hard to dispute, but the production did not measure up to any of its Blackbird predecessors.

It is one of the so-called new reviews, having no startling scenery, calculated to make the audience gasp. In fact there is no scenery at all, the coloured orchestra and some black drapes forming the entire backdrop which does not change throughout. The show depends entirely upon a group of half a dozen or more principals, of whom Ethel Waters is the leading one. There is no dancing chorus but Cecil Mack's negro choir makes up for the lack of this by rendering several typical negro-spirituals.

All in all the show is nothing more than a musical evening a performance by some of the best negro artists in the country. It is in truth a rhapsody of song in which the orchestra, the choir, and the few dancers that there are blend together to produce an altogether pleasing effect. Both Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and "St. James Infirmary" are revived in a new and vivid manner. In the first mentioned number, the finale to the first part of the program, the climax of the evening is reached, especially in the parts where Annanias Berry (the most elongated and the most able of the Berry brothers) races in to do his almost incredible dances to a tempo and rhythm that conforms to the best of Negro traditions. In short, the black people do up the "Rhapsody in Blue" brown.

Miss Ethel Waters is the advertised star of the show and occupies the featured part throughout. She still gives some of her blue, wailing pieces--those devoid of melody and manufactured in the lower recesses of the guttural regions--but on two occasions she lapses into rather tuneful songs and sings them in a light manner that is quite refreshing. All in all she is better than ever since she has also gotten rid of her penchant for wailing out the risque. There is little to find fault with in the show; the old spirit--the one that makes you feel that the actors are really enjoying themselves--is present in abundant quantities.

The CRIMSON Playgoer is a regular feature of the Harvard CRIMSON. Reviews of the majority of the plays and musical shows appearing in Boston during the year will appear in the CRIMSON at all times.