From The Washington Post and Christian Science Monitor, reviews for the 1986 production of Queenie Pie. The costume designs for the production were by Eduardo V. Sicango...
'Queenie Pie' : The Duke's Old-Fashioned Fun
By Megan Rosenfeld
October 13, 1986
In "Queenie Pie," which opened Saturday at the Eisenhower Theater, Duke Ellington tries to fuse an astounding array of musical and theatrical styles into a coherent whole. The surprising thing is that the show succeeds as much as it does.
Ellington set out to write a "street opera," a rarely practiced but not unprecedented form (one thinks of "Porgy and Bess" and Kurt Weill's "Street Scene" for starters). Although he died in 1974 before he could finish the work, Ellington left enough of it so that his son Mercer and other colleagues could complete it.
And the creators also owe a debt to Damon Runyon and "Guys and Dolls" and, believe it or not, Gilbert and Sullivan. Although in this case -- the beginning of "Queenie Pie's" second act, when our heroine finds herself amid singing natives who have "lost their primal beat" because enemy hairdressers straightened their tresses -- the reference would more aptly be to Gilbert and Sullivan on hallucinogens.
Using jazz, scat, blues, boogie-woogie, popular song and rhyming couplets, Ellington tells the story of Queenie Pie, a Harlem hairdresser who has, through savvy and ambition, parlayed her skill into a profitable empire. She is beautiful, rich and successful, but does she have a heart of ice? What do you think?
A beautiful new arrival from New Orleans, one Cafe O'Lay by name, threatens her hold over the populace of this "Mythical Kingdom of Harlem," where Queenie reigns as the top aristocrat. Stunned by the possibility of losing, for the first time in 12 years, the crown as the best and most beautiful hairdresser in Harlem, she journeys to a dream world on a faraway island, where she learns "when all that you wanted was power and wealth, you couldn't have love."
Ellington may have had in mind Sarah McWilliam Walker, known as Madame C.J. Walker, a Harlem beautician who through her beauty products became the first black millionaire. But the story soon departs from any known reality for the more magical land of fantasy, as defined in musical comedy terms. For whatever its operatic ambitions, this show relies considerably on the conventions of old-fashioned musicals, tried-and-true methods that can work well to generate action and viable transitions, but can also seem pretty quaint.
Nothing happens that isn't announced or explained in the broadest possible terms. The first act ends with "There," a classic Hello-world-I'm-gonna-make-it number in the tradition of "Nobody's Gonna Rain on My Parade," "Before the Parade Passes By," etc.
A shipwreck, in which Queenie is lost at sea and is fetched up on her tropical island, features rolling cardboard waves and smoke to cartoonish effect -- in contrast to the rest of the sets and costumes, which are first class. The island is home to every cliche'd "savage" who ever appeared in a Bob Hope-Bing Crosby movie, complete with sarongs and flowers in their hair and the slightly stupid faces of dumb islanders -- at least the way Hollywood has been wont to portray them. Indeed, if there weren't so many black people associated with this production, this aspect of it might be described as racist.
In short, the plot is preposterous. This need not necessarily disqualify it, because the history of musical comedy is full of absurd and ridiculous plots. And the first act retains the quality that made "Guys and Dolls" work -- the inhabitants of the "Mythical Kingdom of Harlem" are treated with respect, and the notion of hairdresser as heroine makes sense in the context of their world. It is when the characters are transmuted into buffoonish islanders that the fantasy becomes ridicule, and the story loses its tension.
But there is the music. While much of it is not particularly memorable, some numbers are captivating. Ellington was a genius -- there is no debate about that -- and for this score he produced beautiful ballads such as "Oh Gee" and the final song, "Truly a Queen." The two rivals sing a sisterly blues in "A Blues for two Women," which sounds great even though the pretext for it is insubstantial. "Two Cat Scat Fight," "It's Time for Something New" and "Creole Love Call" are musical theater in peak form.
In the lead role, Teresa Burrell displays a versatile and impressive voice and a willowy beauty, but she was less in command of acting and dancing. One way in which her shortcomings had an impact is in her undeveloped relationship with her protector, Lil Daddy, played by the veteran Larry Marshall. Whether it be the fault of the book, the direction by Garth Fagan, or the performers -- or a combination of factors -- there is little sense in the beginning of the show that these two should get together. Although he is the obvious choice for her lonesome heart, as he is handsome, suave and unattached, the spark that should get this blaze going is missing -- and thus the denouement is more smoky than crackling.
Marshall has never been in better voice. But both he and Burrell are nearly upstaged by Patty Holley, who plays the sinuous Cafe O'Lay. With a mouth like a neon sign, a voice like a trumpet and enough personality to supply a platoon of talk show hosts, Holley is a more than viable contender for the Queenie crown. She is well partnered by Wendell Pierce as her manager, Holt Fay, who does his best to dethrone the old queen and install the new.
A quartet of judges played by Andre Montgomery, Marion J. Caffey, Milt Grayson and Ennis Smith harmonizes like big band groups of yore, rivaled only by an equally adept trio of women played by Lillias White, Laurie Williamson and Melodee Savage. Through them, as well as the other performers, the music really cooks, and when it is hot, it is hot indeed.
Queenie Pie, story and music by Duke Ellington, production coordinated by Mercer Ellington, libretto by George C. Wolfe, musical adaptation and development by Maurice Peress, lyrics by George David Weiss and Duke Ellington, directed and choreographed by Garth Fagan, sets by David Mitchell and Romare Bearden, costumes by Eduardo Sicangco. With Teresa Burrell, Larry Marshall, Patty Holley, Wendell Pierce, Ken Prymus, Marion J. Caffey, Tina Fabrique, Milt Grayson, Andre Montgomery, Denise Morgan, Melodee Savage, Ennis Smith, Lillias White, Laurie Williamson. At the Eisenhower Theater through Nov. 8.
Ellington's `Queenie Pie' blends jazz, blues, opera
By Louise Sweeney
November 4, 1986
FROM the minute Miss Queenie Pie slinks down the steps of her spangled beauty pageant float, you know the Harlem hair queen contest has begun in earnest. Queenie Pie (Teresa Burrell) has won the contest for 12 years and has become a ``hair millionaire'' by parlaying her queenship into a successful beauty and cosmetology business. As the Duke Ellington musical opens, she is suddenly challenged by the threat of a younger, just-as-beautiful rival from New Orleans named Miss Cafe O'Lay.
The musical at the Kennedy Center here takes off like an exotic bird, as a desperate Queenie runs away to search for the ``Nuclii'' tree of eternal youth and beauty on a fantasy island.
In ``Queenie Pie'' the legendary jazz composer Duke Ellington wrote what he called a ``street opera,'' the last major work of his life.
This deep-dish ``Pie'' is filled with a rich mix of music -- not just jazz but also blues, swing, ballads, reggae, as well as music that is in the operatic, scat, and rap styles.
The first act, set in Harlem, shimmers with excitement, color, and sassiness. But the second act, in which Queenie is shipwrecked on a fantasy island, seems cast adrift.
It's like a separate musical from the first act, until the finale of the show, when Queenie Pie finds herself back in Harlem at the contest, again voted reigning queen.
While ``Queenie Pie'' is always exuberant and often winning, it suffers from a star shortfall: There is not one hit song in the show, the kind of song that made ``Porgy and Bess'' and ``Purlie'' so memorable.
Nor is there yet a star quality in either of the leads, although Teresa Burrell looks stunning and has a high, big voice like Melba Moore's. And Larry Marshall (who resembles Ellington in his earlier years) plays Queenie's love, Little Daddy, with great sophistication and style.
Ellington's music is the most beguiling thing about ``Queenie Pie,'' from the ripsnorting number ``Style,'' set in Queenie's salon, to Cafe O'Lay's sinuous ``Creole Love Call,'' to the breathless and funny ``Hairdo Hop.''
But the lyrics, by George David Weiss and Duke Ellington, are not nearly as polished as the music.
``Queenie Pie,'' you look marvelous, though. Visually the musical is a delight, right from the opening scene, which takes place against a Harlem montage of the Apollo Theater, 125th Street, the Cotton Club, etc.
The look of the show was inspired by the art of painter Romare Bearden, described in program notes as ``the greatest interpreter of the Harlem Renaissance.''
The set design by David Mitchell and Bearden, as well as Eduardo Sicangco's show-stopping costumes, reflect that influence. In addition to the Harlem scenes, there is also a beautifully designed shipwreck, which might have been taken from a Japanese watercolor.
Director and choreographer Garth Fagan has kept the pace of ``Queenie Pie'' fast and rambunctious, staging the musical numbers with 'elan. His major problem is bringing the second act into sync with the first; how he will do that is difficult to suggest.
The musical was adapted from an original story by Ellington, with a libretto by George C. Wolfe.
Some of the supporting players in ``Queenie Pie'' should take a special bow for their talents: the throaty, sultry Patty Holley as both Cafe O'lay and the island chief's Wife No. 1; the gifted bass Milt Grayson as Judge Mortimer Dead; and the flamboyant Denise Morgan, who plays gossip columnist Louella Dish with an Aretha Franklin blast of a voice.
Finally, Dennis Bergevin and Jeffrey Frank deserve a Golden Comb Award for their beauty contest wigs and coifs, one of which was an Afro so bouffant that a trumpet and a few octaves of piano keys nested in it.
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