SATCHMO at the Waldorf
SATCHMO at the Waldorf
#1SATCHMO at the Waldorf
Posted: 2/26/14 at 11:38pm
Saw it tonight.
lOOOOOOOOOOVED IT! (note: it is NOt a musical)
Great acting, and he plays 2 completely different people,... nuanced, wonderful script, excellent fluid direction by Gordon Edelstein.
Truly, imho, an unexpected delight...I highly recommend.
Not too many actors can pull this off, the "angle" of Louis and his Mgr.
Makes it all the more interesting.
Bravo Mr.John Douglas Thompson! I can't believe you're the same actor from "A Time to Kill". (which I did NOT like. btw). Which goes to show, that a good script and direction can work WONDERS!
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Updated On: 2/27/14 at 11:38 PM
Adair Haywind
Leading Actor Joined: 4/2/14
#2SATCHMO at the Waldorf
Posted: 4/16/14 at 4:05pmAnyone else have thoughts on this? I'd love to see it.
#3SATCHMO at the Waldorf
Posted: 4/16/14 at 11:14pm
I saw this tonight and really enjoyed it. John Douglas Thompson is giving a tour de force performance as Louis Armstrong. He also plays Satchmo's manager in what might be considered flashbacks, and Thompson also plays Miles Davis! It's amazing to watch him go from one character to another. His whole posture changes. There are also subtle lighting and scenic changes that clue you in. The play is fascinating, often funny, and quite poignant. My only slight criticism is that it's about 10 minutes too long (no intermission). You're listening intently, and so fatigue does set in after a while, but it's an amazing story.
As I was watching, it occurred to me that this play and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill are like companion pieces. Both talk eloquently about segregated America from a first-person perspective. I'm glad I got to see both shows. Don't miss Satchmo at the Waldorf!
Updated On: 4/16/14 at 11:14 PM
#4SATCHMO at the Waldorf
Posted: 4/16/14 at 11:18pm
Louis Armstrong might be best remembered for his hit "Hello Dolly" from the musical of the same name. The one man show Satchmo at The Waldorf is a more, shall we say, understated affair. Does Armstrong still pack a punch without a backing band? Find out in the full review!
Click here for Video Review of SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF
#5SATCHMO at the Waldorf
Posted: 5/8/14 at 5:09pm
This play has been very well received critically & where it does explore the love of his wife & his music, it also goes into many of his final regrets (few black audiences because of too much emphasis on money-making gigs w/all white audiences, no endowments following the death of his mgr., his rejection by a # of key peer jazz artists like Miles Davis & Dizzy Gillespie & critics who considered him a minstrel clown rather the artist that he was?)
It is kinda cool that this piece exists at the same time that another piece "LADY DAY AT THE EMERSON BALLROOM" presents a notable black jazz icon in a play - but with actual musical performance. (They may need to change the title to "SATCHMO (chillin' in his dressing room) AT THE WALDORF." There is a brief recitation along a taped recording - but it just isn't enough.
The author has Louis dropping the "F" word more times than I could count on 2 hands. I believe Mr. Armstrong was a CLASSY man who earned his "statesman" respect. With this play striving for non-sentimental complexities to reveal the man in his final more depressed state - it all just loses some of it's main characters nobility IMHO. Yeah, getting old can suck & one can still be classy & have dignity while being brutally honest & not all mannered with fake nice language - but bottom line: I don't think Mr. Armstrong would have approved this show about him. 
Louis simply had more DIGNITY to him & to have an actor play him who doesn't toot a note or sing, limits us from reveling in the full talents of the man. There is no one alive to look out for his best interests, so in a way he is left to be exploited here in almost the same manner the author is looking to uncover w/his manager character.
Updated On: 5/8/14 at 05:09 PM
#6SATCHMO at the Waldorf
Posted: 5/8/14 at 7:01pmAs with Lady. Day, we see what made these artists great, but we also see their shortcomings. Armstrong was a classy guy, but the language in the show is very realistic. Armstrong documented his own life assiduously, and he was one of the first individuals to use tape recorders. So we know a lot about how he thought and how he sounded. This play is based on the excellent biography, Pops, by Terry Teachout, which I am reading now. Teachout then wrote the play, using his book as one of the sources, and he also delved into Armstrong's homemade tapes. If his portrayal of Armstong doesn't mesh with his public persona, that doesn't surprise me.
