We were still feeling the release of jumping up from our seats to clap and cheer at the show’s conclusion when actor James Monroe Iglehart’s real-world voice hit us over the head like a two-by-four. He was making a pitch for Broadway Cares with no hint of the frog-like gurgle of Louis Armstrong’s signature voice.
You too might have had a flash feeling that somehow Iglehart was an imposter. Iglehart’s ever-smiling Louis Armstrong was far more real. We had just spent a few hours bonding with this so-real Louis Armstrong—traveling from New Orleans, to Chicago, to Hollywood and finally New York City. We’ve come to know his four wives, and also hints of what the life of a Black superstar felt like when getting by always required a greater or lesser degree of Stepin Fetchit flavored shuck and jive.
Not Such A Wonderful World
In fact it’s super-elegant Dewitt Fleming Jr. as Lincoln Perry, aka Stepin Fetchit, who straight talks about how Black artists have to give the Whites what they want and expect in order to laugh all the way to the bank, to paraphrase. We are so dazzled by the outburst of Fleming’s tap dancing finesse, that the gravitas of this straight-on exchange about race literally gets lost in the shuffle. For Perry and Armstrong alike, being steeled against ever-present racism is always there. For Louis Armstrong, his trademark smile was the armor he wore to do battle with the ugliness of racism.
THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICAL is a Triple Threat Charged Biopic
Like Ziegfeld’s Show Boat, playwright Aurin Squire’s short course on racism and the gravitas at the story’s center is forced to the periphery every time the band begins to play a classic Armstrong tune or when the stage unfolds into spectacle. The powerhouse actresses playing Armstrong’s four wives—Darlesia Cearcy, Kim Exum, Dionne Figgins, and Jennie Harney-Fleming — give virtuoso performances. Like Iglehart, each of these divas star power their performances and keep us mesmerized. These leads and the entire cast’s blasts of singing and dancing talent keep us joy-saturated throughout.
Broadway doesn’t get any better than this!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Photos: Jeremy Daniel
Learn about Broadway Cares, and why the red buckets are passed at each performance.
WHEN:
Open Run
Open Run
WHERE:
Studio 54
254 West 54th Street
New York City
TICKETS:
For more information and tickets visit the LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICAL website.
Photos: Jeremy Daniel
CAST:
James Monroe Iglehart as Louis Armstrong
CREATIVE TEAM:
Book by Aurin Squire
Conceived by Andrew Delaplaine and Christopher Renshaw
Directed by Christopher Renshaw
About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
