by Misha Berson
Seattle Times
September, 1998

It's serendipity, then, that one of the tear-down-the-house numbers in the rousing Ellington homage musical "Play On!" at Seattle Repertory Theatre is "I'm Beginning to See the Light," as boisterously sung by a guy in a blinding yellow zoot suit. And the woman he's trying to woo reacts to this get-up just as Ellington might have: with horror and revulsion.

Not incidentally, the duped factotum Malvolio also wears yellow to romance his employer Olivia, in "Twelfth Night." And "Play On!" is loosely - very loosely - based on that Shakespeare comedy.

But this brassy, exuberant, eager-to-please show, which comes here after runs in San Diego, New York and Chicago, is more "Guys and Dolls" than Shakespearean. Nor is it precisely Ellingtonian, despite an array of the Duke's songs, deftly orchestrated by Luther Henderson.

Rather than mood-indigo cool, this is a joint-is-jumping throwback to the black musicals and nightclub revues of the 1940s, those generous entertainments that let artists exert their imposing personalities and raise the roof with their unabashed showmanship.

Devised by director Sheldon Epps, with a book by Cheryl L. West, "Play On!" appropriates just enough of "Twelfth Night" to conjure some appealing characters and insert 20 choice Ellington ballads and up-tempo stompers.

Shakespeare's shipwrecked Viola here is Vy (Natalie Venetia Belcon), a young songwriter fresh from the South. And Vy's Illyria is the hopping, semi-mythical "Magical Kingdom of Harlem" in the "swingin' '40s."

Our spunky heroine dresses as a guy to get the suave but sexist Harlem bandleader Duke (Charles E. Wallace) interested in her musical talent. But she quickly falls for him (natch), while also trying to help him seduce a glamorous, aloof singer, Lady Liv (Tony Award winner, Tonya Pinkins).

Making the smoothest transition from Bard to Broadway musical, however, are several cavorting comic characters (Cynthia Jones' Miss Mary, C.E. Smith's Jester, Raun Ruffin's Sweets) who goad Liv's uptight, lovelorn assistant, Rev (Paul Oakley Stovall) into some humiliating antics.

Their zesty merriment and the other frequent pleasures to be had in "Play On!," are all right on the show's shiny surface. Folks, this is a cartoon, from the zippy period dances by Mercedes Ellington, to the jiving comic interplay, the gaudy costumes by Marianna Elliott (lots of hot pink, chartreuse, and slinky black), James Leonard Joy's busy, bright pastel-toned and mirrored set, and a cadre of dancers led by a plump little dynamo (Delphine T. Mantz).

As in "Blues in the Night," an earlier Epps musical seen at the Rep, "Play On!" is primarily a vehicle for fail-proof songs and individual bravado.

Every inch a star herself, the vampy, power-voiced Pinkins has fun pushing Lady Liv to the outskirts of hissy diva-hood. Her vocal pyrotechnics can get too ornate for my taste, but Pinkins torches all resistance with a seething "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" that lays the tune to waste.

Belcon's fetching "Drop Me Off in Harlem" and "I Didn't Know About You," and her general adorableness, compensate for some flat line-readings, and insufficient chemistry with Wallace's lackluster Duke. Stovall, however, is a winning singer-actor who makes Rev both ridiculous and sympathetic.

But the comic co-conspirators are my favorites: Looking swell in those '40s duds, Seattle's own Jones is a sassy lassie with real jazz chops, scatting a swath through "It Don't Mean a Thing." Matching her zest, the nimble hoofer Smith has rascal charm to spare, and with Ruffin delivers another dandy, the pungently low-down "Rocks in My Bed."

Some New York critics disparaged "Play On!" for its broad style and retro aura. And one can certainly question why the Rep would open its season with Broadway imports instead of brand new productions.

But it's my guess that Seattle will embrace this show's good-time charms as warmly as Chicago audiences recently did. You don't go to "Play On!" for innovative musical drama, or elegant Ellington. But if it's a lusty, tuneful, crowd-pleasing bash you crave, look no further.