Review: MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM at Round House Theatre

Amid August Wilson’s ambitious and towering 10-play American Century Cycle, each one representing a different decade in the Black experience, “Ma Rainey’s Black Botton,” set in 1920s blues recording studio, is perhaps most dynamic.

A first rate revival of the 1982 work that opens the 50th season at Round House Theatre (a co-production  the Olney Theatre Center) reminds us of its enduring power and how its themes of art, power, freedom and despair remain with us 100 years after the era depicted. 

Set in a Chicago recording studio, it revolves around a hotly anticipated session from one of the early and most popular voices in blues. The white men running the studio are worried that things may not go well with the demanding performer, like the last time she recorded.

Meanwhile the musicians hired for the gig discuss their own approaches to music and life. Among them is a bookish pianist (Ro Boddie), an amiable bassist Derrick Truby), a guitarist that’s a kind of patriarch and leader of the group (the great and familiar Craig Wallace) and a younger horn man who has some dreams of his own — to move from the blues to livelier jazz with music he writes himself.

In this role, Yao Dogbe fairly seethes with ambition, roiling with rage over earlier trauma, even as he clicks his heels and dances to get his razzle dazzle across to studio heads that are nevertheless bound to exploit him, if they don’t ignore them altogether. 

They all hash out these differences in a naturalistic, pugilistic and funny manner giving life to every line, under the direction of Lili-Anne Brown, who brings a Chicago authenticity with her from the Windy City. It’s a terrific ensemble.

But when Ma finally blows in with her entourage, it’s a whole new force. Nicole Michelle Haskins gives a powerhouse performance of a figure who demands nothing less. Her voice is just as strong when she’s belting out the blues as it is when she’s demanding a Coca-cola. 

She’s come with a female plaything (Kanysha Williams), who does a little flirting with the horn man as well, and a nephew (Jaylen Henderson), who Ma is insistent to get on wax as well, despite a punishing stutter.

This all drives the blustering studio head (Chris Genebach) and pleading manager (Michael Glenn) a little crazy, and probably a little more crazy than they ought to be. Ma clearly makes a lot of money for them and is paid a pittance for her talents. 

It all works well on Arnel Sancianco’s three-level set, from the glassed-in control room above, to the warm recording room with its period furniture and rugs, to the stark and worn band room with its lockers and benches.

Samantha Jones’ costume designs are notable from the men’s suits which range from grey to eye-popping orange herringbone for the young man with the trumpet. And the women’s fringy and beaded dresses are exquisite.  

Music director Cedric D. Lyles and sound designer Kevin Lee Alexander work together to provide a credible illusion of actors as musicians (except one moment when it looks like the nephew is playing a bit of piano but we hear nothing). Overall, the mix is balanced perfectly, allowing allows Haskins’ commanding voice to soar above it. 

There’s not enough songs to qualify it as a musical. But when they come, they’re full and richly evocative of the era and its pain. That allows more time to be devoted to the deep, painful fissures that continue to be part of American racial history. And while the play’s length is not insubstantial, it’s riveting and rollicking and instructive enough to make it all seem to fly by. 

It’s hard to imagine a stronger regional offering this season than this solid and inspired revival. 

Running time: Two hours and 30 minutes with one intermission. 

Photo credit: Cast of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”  Photo by Teresa Castracane. 

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” a co-production with Olney Theatre Center, continues through Oct. 18 at the Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda, Md. Tickets at 240-644-1100 or online.

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