[Dixielandjazz] "Cotton Club Parade" reviewed - New York Daily News, November 23, 2011

[Robert Ringwald]

'Cotton Club Parade' Recalls Vintage Heydays of Harlem Hot Spot With Song, Dance
and Wynton Marsalis
by Joe Dziemianowicz
New York Daily News, November 23, 2011
Following its just-finished $57 million renovation, New York City Center should be
glad that the roof is in one piece following the all-too-brief but oh-so-joyous residency
of the rafter-blasting "Cotton Club Parade."
The Encores! Special Event, which ended its six-performance run on Nov. 22, was conceived
by Jack Viertel and marked a promising first association of City Center with Jazz
at Lincoln Center.
Let's hope it's not the last we've seen of the production that was choreographed
and directed with style and effervescence by Warren Carlyle -- Hugh Jackman's current
go-to guy on Broadway.
The revue reimagines Duke Ellington's famous 1920s and '30s floor shows at the Harlem
club and features his songs as well as numbers by Harold Arlen, Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy
Fields and others.
For 90 minutes it was wall-to-wall singing, dancing and orchestral grooving, along
with a few lines by Langston Hughes.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, who was the show's music
director, cooked so hot on such numbers as "The Mooche" and "Braggin' in Brass" it
could have melted a hole in the stage. When Marsalis gets on his trumpet he summons
sounds that make the air vibrate with excitement.
Ditto the 28 performers, who are so good it's hard to single out anyone out.  But
here goes.
Vocal highlights include Adriane Lenox's saucy "Women Be Wise" and Carla Cook's straight-up
and stirring "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" and "Stormy Weather."
And, as if in a prelude to the balloons in the Thanksgiving Day parade, Brandon Victor
Dixon delivered a sweet "I've Got the World on a String," backed up by hoofers hefting
red helium-filled balloons.
Among many terrific dance numbers, DeWitt Fleming Jr. and Kendrick Jones got things
started with an exhilaratingly tap-happy "Happy as the Day Is Long." Alexandria "Brinae
Ali" Bradley joined them for a raucous "Raisin' the Rent."
It felt just right that the orchestra got the last word with Duke Ellington's "Rockin'
in Rhythm."


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
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