The Court Theatre's Ma Rainey

The Court Theatre’s production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is presented as a currently relevant discussion of social issues even as theater goers are greeted by Rev. Gary Davis performing “Samson and Delilah” over the P.A. system. The August Wilson play includes parallel conflicts inherent in Ma Rainey’s band, problems that Ma has with her management and the world that black’s lived in during the ‘20s.

The entirety of the play takes place in a recording studio owned by Sturdyvant (Thomas J. Cox). Awaiting the arrival of Ma Rainey takes up a great deal of the first act while the studio owner, Rainey’s manager Irvin (Stephen Spencer) and the singer’s band discuss race as well as business.

Once ensconced in the rehearsal space, each of the four musicians spin tales and relate unique perspectives on art, music, work and race – the concepts which the play’s narrative is hung.

As Ma Rainey, played by the scene-stealing Greta Oglesby, finally arrives with entourage in tow, the travails in getting to the studio reveal another poignant explication of race in early 20^th century America. Although the singer remains a star in the recording industry, she’s incapable of hailing a cab in Chicago.

While the tumult on the main floor of the studio is played out, replete with police man, the band has just finished arguing about which arrangement of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” to play. Using Levee’s (James T. Alfred), the band’s young trumpeter, arrangement for the song at the behest of Irvin creates conflict within the ensemble.

In the dispute that follows, Alfred’s character attempts to explain to the band leader, here played by Cedric Young, that black audiences don’t want to hear “jug bands” any more. The youngest member of the ensemble, in his struggle, not only mirrors Rainey’s problematic encounter with the policeman, but the subsequent problem with Sturdyvant and Irvin. Later, with lights lowered, Oglesby’s character sits next to Young’s as the two suss out problems inherent in working for white folks and what real friendship feels like.

As portrayed by the cast assembled in the Court Theatre’s production, directed by Ron OJ Parson, it’s easy for attendees to become entrap with the narrative as each actor so adroitly interprets and expels Wilson’s words. Even discordant use of the set – split into an upstairs entrance, the main studio floor and a rehearsal space with unseen back corridor – theater goers will be absorbed by what transpires inside the comfortable confines of the theater.

What is able to take viewers out of the trance that most of the play levies on ticket holders is that as a part of the Sylvester character, Rainey’s nephew, that Kelvin Roston, Jr. portrays, the actor must affect a stutter. Roston’s performance is more than adequate during portions of his recitation that don’t include the speech impediment, but the unrealistic forcing of his character’s affliction becomes a distraction.

A scene during the recording process finds Ma stubbornly demanding her nephew be included as a part of her record. Roston’s character is to function in the capacity of an announcer, reciting the lines “Now, you heard the rest/Ah, boys, I'm gonna show you the best/Ma Rainey's gonna show you her black bottom." Focusing on he unconvincing stutter for around ten minutes of the performance is an unfortunate distraction from the otherwise expert work in Ma Rainey.

The only other potential interruption to the enjoyment of the ensemble cast comes in the form of the music. It’d be difficult to assemble a cast of performers that are capable actors, but also play any number of instruments. The piped in soundtrack and mimed performances on trumpet, trombone, upright bass, and guitar are convincing for the most part. But in a surprising disconnect from the realistic performances, the few times that Young’s Cutler character picks up a guitar, the song that follows doesn’t include the instrument. In fact, the only time that the instrument is actually heard is when Dussie Mae (Kristy Johnson), Ma Rainey’s female companion, absently mindedly strolls around the studio and begins to fiddle with the six-string, acoustic guitar. It’s an odd oversight and one that will only be readily noticeable to those music fanatics, but an oversight nonetheless.

Counting only the two minor transgressions, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which runs through the October 18^th, presents itself as a unique, entertaining and musical look at a handful of hefty problems that still, somehow haven’t been solved.