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Fats entertainment
Ain’t Misbehavin’ behaves just fine
BY TED DROZDOWSKI
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Conceived by Richard Maltby Jr., based on an idea by Murray Horwitz and Maltby. Directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge. Musical direction by Ronald Metcalf. Set by James Noone. Costumes by Michael Krass. Lighting by Michael Philippi. With James Alexander, Dana Dawson, Todd E. Pettiford, Terita Redd, and Soara-Joye Ross, plus musicians Ronald Metcalf (piano), Stanley Swann (drums), Ron Mahdi (bass), Shawn Hines (trumpet), Hommy Ramos (trombone), and Chuck Langford (sax and clarinet). Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Boston University Theatre through October 19.


If you’d like to learn about the great pianist, songwriter, and entertainer Thomas "Fats" Waller, Ain’t Misbehavin’ ain’t the place. The breathless pace of this song-and-dance juggernaut leaves little room for the subtlety of his wit, the warmth and charisma he exuded, and the splendid improvisations he wound into his masterful playing in the stride-piano style. For that, consider renting Stormy Weather, where Waller turned on all his charm in a musical cameo that’s his best filmed performance.

You won’t even get much of a feel for the Harlem Renaissance in this Huntington Theatre Company production, except in the colorful period clothing that adorns the five vibrant peacock performers who deliver talented renditions of Waller’s songs in the musical revue, a 1978 Broadway hit. Their baggy zoot suits, light blue spats, elegant kimonos, stylish high heels, and tight, cleavage-accenting dresses are dazzling eye candy that brightens their every move. Also, forget discovering what it was like to be at one of the era’s famed rent parties, where all this singing and dancing allegedly takes place in Marcia Milgrom Dodge’s production. That is, unless Harlem apartments of the 1930s came with professional bars, bandstands, wait staff, and café tables, as the set that is supposed to represent such a dwelling on the Huntington stage does. Besides, the hosts of a rent party with only five paying guests wouldn’t keep the wolf from their door for long.

But who gives a damn about reality when Waller’s playful, perky songs are being fired off in rapid succession by strong voices? Waller, who died at age 39, in 1943, after a life of the excess in which he reveled, paved his career with hits that he wrote for piano rolls, jukeboxes, and even Broadway. Some, like "Ain’t Misbehavin’," "Honeysuckle Rose," "I Can’t Give You Anything But Love," "Two Sleepy People," and " ’T Ain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do," have endured to become classic additions to the Great American Songbook. Others, like "Fat and Greasy" and "It’s a Sin To Tell a Lie," are among the shared secrets of dedicated fans of early rhythm and blues.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ aims to get both the hits and the secrets out. Starting with the title song, which is belted jubilantly by all five core cast members, the production begins on an up note and climbs higher. Even when Soara-Joye Ross’s rendition of the saucy "Squeeze Me" slows the pace early on, her breathy vocals, ample display of cleavage, and come-hither gestures keep heartbeats racing.

Lanky and limber Todd E. Pettiford steals the show with his solo performance of "The Viper’s Drag," a number alternately known as "You’se a Viper" that kicked around Harlem’s hemp-smoking hipoisie back in the day. Puffing on a would-be joint, Pettiford dances a rubber-legged, sleepy-eyed strut of the stoned as he sings in a clear, insouciant voice of dreaming about "a reefer five feet long." And his moves are pure drama, full of collapses, pirouettes, and skillful antelope leaps that recall the casual virtuosity of Fred Astaire, one of director/choreographer Dodge’s idols.

The rest of the dancing, especially when all five of the main players are cutting the floor, is based on old-time movie-musical hoofing that nods to the jitterbug and tap’s dynamism but leaves room for the occasional slow grind and pelvic thrust. It’s rarely flashy but feels right for the songs.

And no tune disappoints. The ensemble delivers its harmonies with panache, and each performer gets the spotlight. Terita Redd, who has sung with the Fisk Jubilee Singers and the pop stars Ziggy Marley and Patti Austin, has the most grit in her voice, especially when she’s belting out the wartime junk-drive-jive anthem "Cash for Your Trash." Dana Dawson, whose credits include touring in Rent and singing on the Lizzie McGuire soundtrack, shines brightest during "Yacht Club Swing," deploying her high range and squeaky giggles to come on like a caffeinated Betty Boop.

Portly James Alexander, a veteran of Ain’t Misbehavin’ productions elsewhere, makes a capable stand-in for Waller in the show’s finale, where the cast wallops out five of the pianist’s best-known songs including "I Can’t Give You Anything But Love" and "Two Sleepy People." But delirious and enjoyable as the production’s rapid pacing is, the best moments may be the quietest. Redd’s soulful delivery of "Mean to Me," soaking every syllable of sadness from this cry of an abused lover, is touching. And when all five voices join for "Black and Blue," Waller’s somewhat unenlightened exploration of racism, we hear a decidedly unjolly side of the Fat Man’s art. But sad or swinging, it’s Waller’s songs that make Ain’t Misbehavin’ a charmer.


Issue Date: September 26 - October 2, 2003
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