Story Photos
 Photo Courtesy photo The 'Ain't Misbehavin' cast recreates the swing of Harlem at its heyday. Vivian Jett is at left. |
'Ain't Misbehavin' ' makes swing through area
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 10:43 PM PDT
By Tom Paulu
Printable version
E-mail this articleVivian Jett has made a career out of "Ain't Misbehavin.' "
Twenty-seven years ago, Jett stepped into the original Broadway run of the show, which won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
How many times has she sung the show's rollicking, finger-snapping tunes? "I have to be well into 1,500," she said from her home in Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday. "I stopped counting 18 years ago."
The performances in Astoria Saturday and in Longview Sunday will be among the 100 Jett expects to do this year.
"Ain't Misbehavin" features about 30 songs that Thomas "Fats" Waller either wrote or made famous. To some extent, the revue tells the story of Waller's life, Jett said.
The show takes its name from Waller's most famous song and tells the story of Harlem in the 1930s. The five singers dress the part in snazzy period costumes with spats, bowler hats, ermine and pearls.
Thomas "Fats" Waller was born in Harlem in 1904. A talented piano player and master showman, Waller's big break came when he was 30 years old and played at a party given by George Gershwin. Waller became a night club star, touring Europe. He died of pneumonia on a train near Kansas City at the age of 39.
"Fats Waller was a whimsical little fellow, a short fellow," Jett said. "This guy was a master of word usage. His lyrics are so playful," she said, bursting into a line from "Get Some Cash for Your Trash."
"When Martine (Allard) does 'You're Mean to Me,' there's not a dry eye in the house."
In addition to his song-writing skills, Waller was a master of "stride" piano, a difficult form of jazz in which the left hand "strides" up and down the keyboard.
The show's singers are backed by a six-piece jazz orchestra.
The cast of five, most of whom live in the New York area, have been performing together off and on for about 10 years. In addition to Jett, the cast members are:
-- Martine Allard, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway show "The Tap Dance Kid."
-- Inger Burton, who has performed in a variety of musicals and is theater chairman for the Harlem School of the Arts.
-- Ron Lucas, who has been Lucas in "countless" performances of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and had a one-man show about Nat King Cole.
-- Derrick L. Baker, a graduate of the Westminister Choir college and founder of a dance company in New Jersey.
The cast is coming off a two-month break, and Jet Blue willing, are looking forward to visiting the Northwest, Jett said. They'll perform four shows in as many days, culminating with the Sunday evening performance at the CTPA.
"We're on the red eye after that," Jett said. "We're going to burn up the stage! We got to lay it on for you guys."
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