[Dixielandjazz] After Midnight" reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

A Hi-Dee-Ho Harlem Show
by Michael Sommers
New Jersey Newsroom, November 4, 2013
A sleek and stylish musical revue that celebrates the hi-dee-ho heyday of Harlem
nightlife during the 1930s, "After Midnight" smartly melds some fine vintage tunes,
plenty of high-flying choreography and a company of personable entertainers. "American
Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino, in luscious voice, currently guest stars in the new
Broadway production at the Brooks Atkinson Theater through January, to be followed
by K.D. Lang and other names as the show continues into the spring.
Yet the really big star of the production is conductor Daryl Waters' terrific 17-member
orchestra known as The Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars. Hand-picked by Wynton Marsalis,
they perform onstage against a simply elegant setting designed by John Lee Beatty.
The orchestra's lush, propulsive and sinuous versions of classics mostly by Duke
Ellington and Harold Arlen, among others, is marvelous to hear.
Like its decor, simplicity and elegance are the hallmarks of this revue that is choreographed
and directed by Warren Carlyle. The fast-moving show runs a mere 90 minutes and presents
no storyline but instead lets loose with more than two dozen numbers ranging from
"Diga Diga Doo" to the "Creole Love Call."
Dule Hill of "Psych" TV fame modestly obliges as a casual emcee who occasionally
bridges the hit parade of vintage songs with smatterings of Langston Hughes poetry
about Harlem.
Looking slim and pretty in a series of striking evening gowns designed by Isabel
Toledo, Fantasia Barrino perfectly delivers the musical goods. She is winsome with
"I Can't Give You Anything But Love," sassy for "Zaz Zuh Zaz" and emotional for "Stormy
Weather." She scats with the band with winning charm and even hoofs a bit.
The ease and expertise of the featured entertainers provide the show's intoxicating
punch.
An impish Virgil "Lil' O" Gadson and a laidback Julius "iGlide" Chisolm dance up
different sorts of storms. Adriane Lenox is drop-dead droll in several tell-it-like-it-is
conversational numbers. Karine Plantadit and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards are notable
among an energetic pack of singers and dancers. Jitterbugs, synchronized routines,
hip-hop moves done with a tip towards vaudeville and helter-skelter bouts like the
aptly-named "Freeze and Melt" are among the dance styles given exuberant performances.
The costume designer dresses everyone brightly with a keen eye towards then and now.
Howell Binkley's sharp lighting design provides drama and color. "After Midnight"
is not the fanciest new musical on Broadway but it is very smoothly staged by Carlyle
and the music is splendid. Just like those Harlem hot spot revues that it celebrates,
the show offers sheer entertainment.
___________________________________
'After Midnight' Lets It All Hang Out
by Elizabeth Zimmer
Village Voice, November 6, 2013
Everything about After Midnight, the nightclub floor show transplanted from City
Center's Encores series that's passing itself off as a musical, is appealing, especially
the work of designers John Lee Beatty, Isabel Toledo, and Howell Binkley. There's
no book to speak of; Dule Hill speaks a few lines cribbed from the poetry of Langston
Hughes. But that's just as well. The music -- Duke Ellington's arrangements from
Harlem's Cotton Club and witty selections from the American songbook orchestrated
by David Berger -- and the dancing, ably squeezed by director Warren Conover into
a narrow sliver of stage in front of Beatty's rolling bandstand cradling the Jazz
at Lincoln Center All-Stars, do the work.
High points include Adriane Lenox's rendition of "Women Be Wise" (a raunchy anthem
by the late Texas blueswoman Sippie Wallace); tap and b-boy stylings by Dormeshia
Sumbry Edwards, Jared Grimes, Julius "Glide" Chisolm, and Virgil "Lil' O" Gadson;
the hapless beauty of dancer Karine Plantadit; and the crooning of Fantasia Barrino,
guest star in this top-flight boite (other singers, including k.d. lang, will rotate
in as the show runs and runs). Evoking Depression-era Manhattan, Toledo's over-the-top
gowns, snappy suits, and feathered burlesque fantasies produce a class act that's
not afraid to get funky, with a welcome flash of trash.
    Posted by:
songbirds-owner at yahoogroups.com
    Date: Tue Nov 5, 2013 7:36 pm ((PST))
A Hi-Dee-Ho Harlem Show
by Michael Sommers
New Jersey Newsroom, November 4, 2013
A sleek and stylish musical revue that celebrates the hi-dee-ho heyday of Harlem
nightlife during the 1930s, "After Midnight" smartly melds some fine vintage tunes,
plenty of high-flying choreography and a company of personable entertainers. "American
Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino, in luscious voice, currently guest stars in the new
Broadway production at the Brooks Atkinson Theater through January, to be followed
by K.D. Lang and other names as the show continues into the spring.
Yet the really big star of the production is conductor Daryl Waters' terrific 17-member
orchestra known as The Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars. Hand-picked by Wynton Marsalis,
they perform onstage against a simply elegant setting designed by John Lee Beatty.
The orchestra's lush, propulsive and sinuous versions of classics mostly by Duke
Ellington and Harold Arlen, among others, is marvelous to hear.
Like its decor, simplicity and elegance are the hallmarks of this revue that is choreographed
and directed by Warren Carlyle. The fast-moving show runs a mere 90 minutes and presents
no storyline but instead lets loose with more than two dozen numbers ranging from
"Diga Diga Doo" to the "Creole Love Call."
Dule Hill of "Psych" TV fame modestly obliges as a casual emcee who occasionally
bridges the hit parade of vintage songs with smatterings of Langston Hughes poetry
about Harlem.
Looking slim and pretty in a series of striking evening gowns designed by Isabel
Toledo, Fantasia Barrino perfectly delivers the musical goods. She is winsome with
"I Can't Give You Anything But Love," sassy for "Zaz Zuh Zaz" and emotional for "Stormy
Weather." She scats with the band with winning charm and even hoofs a bit.
The ease and expertise of the featured entertainers provide the show's intoxicating
punch.
An impish Virgil "Lil' O" Gadson and a laidback Julius "iGlide" Chisolm dance up
different sorts of storms. Adriane Lenox is drop-dead droll in several tell-it-like-it-is
conversational numbers. Karine Plantadit and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards are notable
among an energetic pack of singers and dancers. Jitterbugs, synchronized routines,
hip-hop moves done with a tip towards vaudeville and helter-skelter bouts like the
aptly-named "Freeze and Melt" are among the dance styles given exuberant performances.
The costume designer dresses everyone brightly with a keen eye towards then and now.
Howell Binkley's sharp lighting design provides drama and color. "After Midnight"
is not the fanciest new musical on Broadway but it is very smoothly staged by Carlyle
and the music is splendid. Just like those Harlem hot spot revues that it celebrates,
the show offers sheer entertainment.
___________________________________
'After Midnight' Lets It All Hang Out
by Elizabeth Zimmer
Village Voice, November 6, 2013
Everything about After Midnight, the nightclub floor show transplanted from City
Center's Encores series that's passing itself off as a musical, is appealing, especially
the work of designers John Lee Beatty, Isabel Toledo, and Howell Binkley. There's
no book to speak of; Dule Hill speaks a few lines cribbed from the poetry of Langston
Hughes. But that's just as well. The music -- Duke Ellington's arrangements from
Harlem's Cotton Club and witty selections from the American songbook orchestrated
by David Berger -- and the dancing, ably squeezed by director Warren Conover into
a narrow sliver of stage in front of Beatty's rolling bandstand cradling the Jazz
at Lincoln Center All-Stars, do the work.
High points include Adriane Lenox's rendition of "Women Be Wise" (a raunchy anthem
by the late Texas blueswoman Sippie Wallace); tap and b-boy stylings by Dormeshia
Sumbry Edwards, Jared Grimes, Julius "Glide" Chisolm, and Virgil "Lil' O" Gadson;
the hapless beauty of dancer Karine Plantadit; and the crooning of Fantasia Barrino,
guest star in this top-flight boite (other singers, including k.d. lang, will rotate
in as the show runs and runs). Evoking Depression-era Manhattan, Toledo's over-the-top
gowns, snappy suits, and feathered burlesque fantasies produce a class act that's
not afraid to get funky, with a welcome flash of trash.
-30-


-Bob Ringwald K6YBV
www.ringwald.com
916/ 806-9551

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Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, 
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