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NY Theatre Guide

Kristen Weyer

Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical, opened this Fourth of July weekend at the Gateway Playhouse. A famous African American jazz pianist/entertainer in the 1920-1940s, Thomas “Fats” Waller composed such classic hits as “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Jitterbug Waltz,” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” With plenty of jumpin’ and jivin’, this musical tribute to the great Fats Waller is a swinging good time!

This isn’t a play in the usual sense of the word. Rather, it is a musical revue honoring Fats Waller. Each “scene,” if you will, contains a song and its own plot. As a whole, they are acted out in a series of vignettes. The talented cast of five portrays differing characters and brings the musical numbers to life with mini storylines.

Pleasantly, most of these little tales are quite funny, and frequently reminiscent of vaudeville. Sometimes it is the storyline itself, other times it is manifested in an over exaggeration of singing foibles which add a comedic twist.

The cast of actors are technically playing themselves. There are no character names in this production. All five are fantastic singers and performers, each bringing their own style and talents to each song they enact. The cast is: Danielle Lee Greaves, Kingsley Leggs, Lavon Fisher-Wilson, T. Oliver Reid, and Debra Walton. Whether Leggs’ is impressing with his lower register, or Fisher-Wilson’s powerhouse vocals are soaring through the theater, each cast member is impressive. Greaves’ and Walton’s comical facial expressions are wonderful, while Reid’s smooth voice is a pleasure to listen to.

Not to be overlooked is the fabulous orchestra under direction from William Knowles, and consisting of Phillip Bowler, Napoleon Revels-Bey, Clarence Banks, Endre Rice, and Robert Carten. Directed and choreographed by Gerry McIntyre, Ain’t Misbehavin’ is a wonderful tribute show filled with great jazz music.

 

Long Island Advance

Linda Leuzzi

 

An innovative, accomplished jazz pianist, Fats Waller composed an amazing number of bestselling songs that made it to Broadway shows, radio and film. Known for originating stride piano (the right hand plays melody, the left hand tinkles a single base note on the strong beat and chord on the weak beat), his creations were the forerunners of rap and hip-hop. (Kennedy Center artistic director for jazz and MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran with Meshell Ndegeocello have brought Fats Waller Dance Party to North America venues for the last several years, attracting a young, diverse group.) Pumping out hit after hit in the 1920s through the early 1940s (two of his hits made the Grammy Awards Hall of Fame), Waller knew how to get a crowd out on the dance floor. And he was funny.

The actors who embrace his spirit and style in The Gateway’s current production, “Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical” share his Harlem-style joie de vivre from the get-go and they interact frequently with the audience on stage and in the aisles. “Like my dress?” murmurs Lavon Fisher-Wilson, fingering her beaded period costume to a patron in an end seat during the first number. This cast has as much fun as they project.

The premise of the show is 29 of his songs (Waller was astoundingly prolific in his short 39-year life; he wrote 334 titles) and starts out with the headline song and company against a classy Art Deco backdrop, a set emulating a nightclub. And the orchestra, whooee! They’re an integral part of this production, who wail it out with bass, drums, trombone, trumpet and woodwinds. And piano strides.

The sequences are fast-paced and loaded with humor. Danielle Lee Greaves got a reaction from one gentleman she picked out in “Squeeze Me,” with “I just got so…” and a suggestive wink. “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling” was a popular clarinet solo played by musician great Benny Goodman and Fisher-Wilson sings it expansively with shaking left hip and hair. In “How Ya Baby,” T. Oliver Reid turns on the charm with Debra Walton, who shrinks at first (“Help me,” she mouths), then lets loose when they swing it out and shimmy. Simply put, it’s a stunner.

A hilarious surprise is “Your Feet’s Too Big.” Kingsley Leggs walks a pretty young woman up on stage to act as his honey and sings to her about her less-than-attractive appendages (“I can see when they lay you in the casket, your feet sticking out of the basket.”)

The whole show is a happy standout, although T. Oliver Reid’s slithering, seductive rendition of “The Viper’s Drag” as a sexual reefer was a mesmerizing journey into a druggie’s soul, and Fisher-Wilson’s “Mean to Me,” a torch song to an inattentive lover, got a shout-out for her heartfelt rendition and soaring last note.

The stars, Fisher-Wilson (“Newsies,” “Chicago,” “The Color Purple”), Greaves (“Rent,” “Hairspray,” “Showboat), Leggs (“Sister Act,” “The Color Purple,” “Miss Saigon”), Reid (“Kiss Me Kate,” “After Midnight,” “Mary Poppins”) and Walton (“The Pajama Game,” “The Life and Times of Alberta Hunter”) are all accomplished Broadway alums, most with national tours under their belt, and they all have significant television cachet. They’re a finely tuned talented unit, who perform their songs and the brilliant choreography as if they’ve been doing this for years. The set is Art Deco glamour and the costumes are gorgeous styles with the sweetheart necklines and beaded details of the times (remember your grandmother’s stone martens?). And the orchestra … they raise the roof! If William Knowles (piano), Philip Bowler (bass), Napoleon Revels-Bey (drums), Clarence Banks (trombone), Endre Rice (trumpet) and Roberg Carten (woodwinds) got together with the cast for a gala, “The Joint Is Jumpin’” would be an understatement.

 

Newsday

Steve Parks

If you’re looking for a linear story about the life of Thomas “Fats” Waller in the revue taking its name from his greatest hit, forget it. But listen closer and appreciate that every song, including the infectious title tune, “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” tells a riveting story in two minutes or less.

The brilliance of the 1978 Broadway musical conceived by Richard Maltby Jr. crystallizes only when a cast and a band have the chops to pull it off. The ensemble directed and choreographed by Gerry McIntyre for Gateway Playhouse showcases more chops than a pork emporium. No need here for expository back story, winking anecdotes or melodramatic revelations. The Fats Waller story is told exclusively through his music, which also reflects the story of the Harlem Renaissance to which he was an integral force until his death at age 39 in 1943. That’s more of a biography than you’ll get from “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” gloriously misbehaving at Gateway with a cast of jazz-era impersonators. Yet every song represents a short chapter of his life, which was all about lively music and living in the moment. We’re convinced, after Kingsley Leggs’ delicious “Your Feet’s Too Big” put-down of an audience volunteer, that Fats had a thing for plus-shoe-size women.

No one will believe that reefer madness didn’t prevail in the jazz underground of Waller’s time after breathing in the smoky “Viper’s Drag,” delivered with debauched delirium by T. Oliver Reid. Moving from uptown to midtown, Leggs’ conversational rendition of “Lounging at the Waldorf” offers a glimpse of rap’s origins decades before hip-hop, accompanied by “The Ladies Who Sing With the Band” ensemble. Danielle Lee Greaves and LaVon FisherWilson belt out frank advice on how to get (and keep) your man in a bawdy “Find Out What They Like” (“and how they like it/and let ’em have it just that way”), while Debra Walton pledges fidelity in “Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now,” a demurely feminine echo to the show’s title song opener.

Music director and upright pianist William Knowles assures that “The Joint Is Jumpin’,” with the help of a rousing onstage band, and offers a music lesson as the company sings praises of the stride piano technique in “Handful of Keys.” The glittery nightclub set by Michael Boyer evokes a Cotton Club decor of Harlem’s jazzy heyday. At Gateway, the’20s are roaring again.