If you are a fan of Leslie Uggams, or long to hear the music of Lena Horne, or would like to see the birth of a new star (Nikki Crawford), hurry over to the Pasadena Playhouse to see Stormy Weather, conceived and written by Sharleen Cooper Cohen, directed by Michael Bush, and choreographed by the talented Randy Skinner. The evening celebrates the music of the legendary Lena Horne by telling her life story through flashbacks as she prepares, after many years absence from singing, for her one-woman show The Lady and her Music, which ran on Broadway and won a Tony Award.
Lena Horne’s story is a turbulent tale of talent, prejudice, courage, disappointment, and triumph. She, and Leslie Uggams for that matter, set the stage for African-American singers and performers who came after. Ms. Horne had to suffer humiliations like having her bedclothes thrown out and burned once she had slept in them in a Vegas hotel, and having to relieve herself in a cup rather than use the hotel’s restroom. She suffered further disgrace in the eyes of many when she married a white man, and when she was denied the right to play Julie in the movie of Showboat (the role was given to Ava Gardner).
Leslie Uggams plays the mature Horne and is in fine fettle. Her voice is as mellow and evocative as ever, and as always she displays her considerable acting chops. She has strong support from Dee Hoty as the flamboyantly fabulous Kay Thompson, Horne’s friend and vocal coach when she first started. Lena’s long-suffering white husband is Robert Torti. Her great friend and fellow performer Billy Strayhorn is immaculately played and sung by Kevyn Morrow. Lena also often appeared with the Nicholas Brothers, here brilliantly danced by Phillip Attimore and Wilkie Ferguson (in the show they are here called the Jones Brothers but there is no mistaking who they are). Randy Skinner has devised some show-stopping numbers for them.
Article comments
1 - Dr. Keith Winthrop
I agreed with this review of Robert's fully, until the suggestion that this doesn't work "all that well" as a fleshed out musical. You couldn't ASK for better dramatic fuel in the theatre than the hurdles Miss Horne had to leap in her career and private life. Interesting that this reviewer had such a good time in the theatre, yet couldn't muster the courage to have his own opinion, and give a 100% favorable review of the show. Be brave theatre critics!!!! Sometimes, it's "ok to be real!" (line said to Lena Horne by her beloved son, Teddy Jones)
2 - Marie
Jordan Barbour played Lena's son, Teddy. Wilkie Ferguson is the other brilliant tapper.