Take the 'A' Train

TIRED OF SITTING in that cell with an enormous desk and a Soc Sci 2 reading list? Ready for a night on the town? But not just any night--tonight you want to figure out what was so great about those singers and acts that Mom and Dad remember so nostalgically. Well, don't look now, but you're already in the plot of Bubbling Brown Sugar, a compelling musical revue at the Colonial Theater in Boston.

Bubbling Brown Sugar celebrates some of the most famous people, places, music and night spots of Harlem from 1920 through 1940. The Broadway production opened in March at a New York repertory theater, and supplied many cast members for the national company that is doing the Boston production. Many of these actors, including Mabel Lee, Jay Flash Riley, and Vernon Washington are, in turn, recreating roles they originally perfected during the 1930s and 1940s.

Like any musical, and in particular any musical revue, the plot and concept of the show are quite weak, if you're the type who demands from a musical some correspondence with social and economic realities. The show begins in the 1970s on a street corner in Harlem, as several old-timers carrying a trunk that contains stage props and costumes from the golden years of the Harlem Renaissance are relieved of their burden by a few admiring bystanders. Naturally, they begin wondering what those days (or, more properly, nights) must have been like, and in a transformation familiar to any science fiction devotee, they're whisked back to a '20s downtown speakeasy. The ensuing plot developments seem to exist either to show off more clubs like the Cotton Club, the Savoy Ballroom, and Small's Paradise, or to introduce more golden oldies.

The very medium of a musical revue tends to render Harlem's depiction somewhat roseate. Not all Harlem was involved in the nightclub and speakeasy scene, and the numbers racket wars hardly deserve the elegant sentimentalism the production emphasizes. Even when a grimy, overalled Keith Davis breaks out into a powerful "I'm Gonna Tell God All My Troubles," the show's smooth cosmopolitanism implicitly undercuts his simple spiritual.

But such nit-picking probably misses the point of Bubbling Brown Sugar, which is to demonstrate the wealth and diversity of spectacular talent in Harlem of this period. And in this aspect, the production is an unqualified success, and a powerful emotional experience. Some of the comic acts may be embarrassing as they bring to life outrageous stereotypes; some of the songs are evidence that tastes have changed, and what was stylish forty years ago is hackneyed today. But the faithfulness of Bubbling Brown Sugar (the title is from a line in "Honeysuckle Rose") to every facet of entertainment is undeniable.

One reason for this is Billy Wilson's choreography and musical staging, which was nominated for a Tony award. The big production numbers manage to retain a sense of lightness and elegance, even while displaying enormous technical virtuosity. The overture to the show is accompanied by an elaborately intricate dance sequence which conveys the mood of Renaissance Harlem street life, and distinctly resembles Wilson's work in the revival of Guys and Dolls in New York, although less slapstick and faster paced.

The singing in Bubbling Brown Sugar is also consistently outstanding. Backed by an excellent Duke Ellington-type big band, Ursula Kairson turns in an electric version of "God Bless the Child," while Jay Flash Riley--with the help of some wildly funny ad-libbing--immortalizes an unexpected aspect of religious revivalist meetings. With the exception of the songs specifically composed for Bubbling Brown Sugar, the caliber of music is the highest, and includes many Fats Waller and Duke Ellington standards.

Bubbling Brown Sugar, then, is not a show for those who find it difficult to stomach unabashed paeans to bygone eras. But if you want to catch a glimpse of the results of some of the most creative artistic fermentation in American history--and you really should--Bubbling Brown Sugar should not be missed.