Show brings blues, jazz legends to life

By Ken Keuffel, Winston-Salem Journal
kkeuffel@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7337
Published: August 03, 2011

You might have the blues at the start of "Juneteenth Blues Cabaret." But you'll likely have a smile on your face when the final notes are sung by Jannie Jones and Greensboro native Horace Rogers.

The show, which opened Tuesday in Shirley Recital Hall at Salem College, is an outstanding production of the Juneteenth Legacy Theatre of New York. It does everything right as it illuminates the lives and music of Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday and Lena Horne.
  
For that, Lorna Littleway, the show's director, deserves much of the credit. She wrote the show's book, which provides just enough biographical information and battle-of-the-sexes repartee to enhance our appreciation of classic songs and the women who helped popularize them.   
  
So does Ivan Thomas, whose piano accompaniment provides the singers a foundation on which to soar.
  
The choreography, created by Robin Hemmings, shines.

Jones and Rogers bring a wealth of Broadway experience to "Juneteenth." This shows up in everything from perfect comedic timing to singing that is at turns sassy, indignant, melancholic and forceful. The two can belt them out with the best of them, but they also know how to use subtlety to great effect.
  
The two are at their best when Jones experiences the ups and downs of the men in her life and Rogers reacts to it all with a combination of discomfort and irritation.

Shirley Recital Hall is best known as a venue for chamber music. But it's also quite suitable for what "Juneteenth" is trying to do, namely capture so much with relatively little.
  
Or to put it another way, all you really need for a celebration of the blues is a piano, some old photos (projected on a screen above the stage), a small dance floor and a couple of champagne-topped tables. Amplification isn't always necessary.