Lackawanna Blues Broadway Reviews

Perhaps it's because I've just been reading Charles Dickens-The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit-that I took in Ruben Santiago-Hudson's current Lackawanna Blues revival as stunningly Dickensian. Dealing, as it does, with a young boy brought up in near poverty who encounters any number of memorable characters, Santiago-Hudson's early travels magically echo those of the prolific 19th-century author.

It always comes back to Nanny, with her stiff back and neatly folded arms; Santiago-Hudson's rendering evokes a Cicely Tyson type, a strong Black matriarch not to be trifled with. His narrative performance is impressive for many reasons, but one of the most nuanced is the way Santiago-Hudson sees it all, as a child eavesdropping and peeking through doorways, with curious and affectionate eyes. He grounds us in the details, which brings not just these characters, but also a whole town to life: the way a woman pops her hips, the way a man coughs, even the particular tint of the Lackawanna snow. After all, people may think the blues are about heartbreak, but to get to heartbreak, you first have to pass through love.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson is one person, but in Lackawanna Blues-the show the Tony Award-winning performer has written, performs and directs, opening tonight at Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre-he becomes a voice of many. And, thanks to Santiago-Hudson's dexterity of interpretation, the many characters he embodies immediately become familiar and intriguing to us.Ruben Santiago-Hudson is one person, but in Lackawanna Blues-the show the Tony Award-winning performer has written, performs and directs, opening tonight at Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre-he becomes a voice of many. And, thanks to Santiago-Hudson's dexterity of interpretation, the many characters he embodies immediately become familiar and intriguing to us.

What exactly does Ruben Santiago-Hudson not do in the first Broadway revival of his 2001 play 'Lackawanna Blues,' which opened Thursday at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre? He has written, directed and stars, giving himself at least two dozen characters to play in this one-person show about growing up Black in the steel town of Lackawanna, New York, in the 1950s and beyond. He sings the blues, accompanied by guitarist Junior Mack, and he plays a mean harmonica, as well as a wide range of characters - including an adorable pet raccoon that's let loose into the wild, much to the disappointment of Junior.

Such basic storytelling, a collection of vignettes peppered with musical passages, could have been presented quite minimally, but MTC wraps Santiago-Hudson's colorful yarns in a handsome package. Michael Carnahan's grandly dilapidated proscenium arcs over the stage; Jen Schriever's lights evoke the ghosts and shadows of yesteryear; Darron L. West's sound design balances speech and music - of which there's an abundance. Santiago-Hudson isn't alone on stage: He's backed by accomplished guitarist Junior Mack, who strums and frets the original blues score by Bill Simms, Jr. Santiago-Hudson jams along on harmonica, wailing and keening into the air when words just aren't enough.

Such basic storytelling, a collection of vignettes peppered with musical passages, could have been presented quite minimally, but MTC wraps Santiago-Hudson's colorful yarns in a handsome package. Michael Carnahan's grandly dilapidated proscenium arcs over the stage; Jen Schriever's lights evoke the ghosts and shadows of yesteryear; Darron L. West's sound design balances speech and music - of which there's an abundance. Santiago-Hudson isn't alone on stage: He's backed by accomplished guitarist Junior Mack, who strums and frets the original blues score by Bill Simms, Jr. Santiago-Hudson jams along on harmonica, wailing and keening into the air when words just aren't enough.

Playing at the Samuel J. Freedman Theatre,' Lackawanna Blues' is a one-man show with Santiago-Hudson playing all the roles, and his fans might expect it to have funny characters and some lively blues licks (in this production, courtesy of the on-stage guitarist Junior Mack). And so it does. But few will be prepared for the emotional undercurrent present in Santiago-Hudson's self-directed performance, which often feels like it is being interrupted by a well of feelings so strong that the actor struggles to process them in the moment.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson summons a world of ghosts, or at least as many as will fill a couple boarding houses and a lifetime of gratitude, in his affectionate Lackawanna Blues, the one-man autobiographical tour through a childhood made golden by the presence of a strong and loving guardian angel.

An accomplished actor and director, Santiago-Hudson has performed Lackawanna Blues many times since its debut at the Public Theater in 2001, and he knows how to keep it moving in this Manhattan Theatre Club revival. From a perch on the left side of the stage, guitarist Junior Mack provides smartly integrated blues underscoring and vocals, playing original music by Bill Sims Jr. (and occasionally joined by Santiago-Hudson on harmonica); Jen Schriever's lighting gradually reveals previously imperceptible elements of Michael Carnahan's deceptively simple-looking set. There is nothing revolutionary about Lackawanna Blues, but it is a loving and skillful evocation of a formidable Black woman and the community she was able to create, through the force of her character, in a world of lack and want. It satisfies a hunger that Broadway seldom serves.

There are only two men onstage, but there's an awfully big crowd populating Lackawanna Blues. Ruben Santiago-Hudson's autobiographical one-man play (plus musician) paying loving tribute to the woman who raised him features such a gallery of colorful characters that it's no wonder it was adapted into a cable television movie featuring a large ensemble. But the piece works best as it was originally conceived-the actor narrating the tale and portraying some two dozen other characters in a virtuoso demonstration of solo storytelling.

Santiago-Hudson displays remarkable finesse and ease as he switches back and forth between portraying different characters (such as during a confrontation between 'Nanny' and his unstable birth mother) or between direct narration to the audience and extended character monologue.