DENNIS COURTNEY "Ethel Waters" reviews

THEATRE REVIEW
Dynamic performance makes ‘... the Sparrow’ fly

By Wayne Barcomb
Let’s get right to the point. Florida Studio Theatre’s production of “Ethel Waters: His Eye is on the Sparrow” is a must see!

The production, chronicling the life and music of one of America’s most memorable black female performers, is a perfect vehicle for multi-talented performer Jannie Jones. The designation of “black female performer” is not gratuitous, as Ethel Waters took great pride in her success as a black female performer at a time when the odds were heavily stacked against her.

But she persevered, and Sarasota playwright Larry Parr has movingly portrayed Waters’ indomitable spirit in overcoming more obstacles than any human being should have to endure.

Ultimately, Waters’ career would flourish for upwards of 60 years – a career that covered every facet of show business beginning with singing in seedy Philadelphia bars to performing on the black vaudeville circuit to upscale venues like Harlem’s famous Cotton Club. From there, she moved to recordings, starring on Broadway, and eventually to a movie career, where she won an Academy Award nomination in 1949 for her role in the movie “Pinky.” Waters closed out her career touring with evangelist Billy Graham.

Playwright Parr records Ethel Waters’ rags-to-riches life with a compelling script and songs from the memorable repertoire performed by Waters throughout her career. Each song recalls the joy and sorrow that reflected the performer’s life.

Parr does a remarkable job in taking us through the 77-year life of Ethel Waters. Some of his dialogue is lyrical.

“His Eye is on the Sparrow” is Parr’s third musical biography of a legendary black female performer, the others being “High Hat Hattie,’ about Hattie McDaniel; and “My Castle’s Rockin’,” which is based on the life of Alberta Hunter.

Unavoidably, the similarity in theme is obvious in “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” Having seen the others, I approached this latest with some reservations. However, not to worry, this one is far and away the best, as evidenced by the raucous standing ovation at its conclusion.

The show, to coin a phrase, brought the house down, thanks to the dynamic performance of its star and only cast member, Jannie Jones. From the moment she walks on stage, Jones is totally in charge, tugging relentlessly on our emotions, running the gamut from emotionally deprived, frightened little girl to sophisticated superstar with ease.

This is a very special performance. Jones rocks with a forceful, powerful singing voice and fills the stage with a lusty, earthy charisma. Having seen Jones perform in the past, I was not surprised by the power and beauty of her singing. What I was not prepared for was the range and quality of her acting. Dominating the stage for nearly two hours, she captivates the audience with her acting as much as her singing, effortlessly segueing from one mood to another – dramatic intensity to poignant, bittersweet humor. Jones is easily one of the most talented performers I have seen in 10 years of writing about theatre in the Sarasota area.

It’s not difficult to understand why the role of Ethel Waters is being alternately played by two performers, the other being Chaundra Cameron. The role has to be exhausting, to say the least.

I wish Cameron well. She has the kind of strong background that should serve her just fine. However, as they say in showbiz, Jannie Jones will be a tough act to follow.

Michael Sebastian’s musical accompaniment provides just the right blend of force and subtlety. Marcella Beckwith’s array of costumes always seems to create the right accompaniment to the character’s mood. The lighting and set design by Allen Mack and Nayna Ramey, respectively, are effective, and the skilled touch of director and choreographer Dennis Courtney was evident throughout the production.

This is a terrific show. See it

Variety

Posted: Sun., Oct. 16, 2005, 6:00am PT

Ethel Waters: His Eye Is on the Sparrow

(Florida Studio Theater, Sarasota, Fla.; 173 seats $34 top)

A Florida Studio Theater production of a musical in two acts by Larry Parr. Directed and choreographed by Dennis Courtney. Musical director and arranger, Michael Sebastian.

Ethel Waters - ... Jannie Jones/Chaundra Cameron

By JAY HANDELMAN

With all the drama and adversity in her life, it's a wonder that Ethel Waters has not been the subject of a biographical play, musical or film before now. While screen treatment might more specifically capture the details of a complex personality and amazing talent, Larry Parr gets the essence in his one-woman play with music, "Ethel Waters: His Eye Is on the Sparrow."
The new work completes his trilogy of one-person shows about famous black performers that began in 1991 with "Hi-Hat Hattie," about Hattie McDaniel, and continued in 1996 with "My Castle's Rockin'," about singer Alberta Hunter.

His newest show is the smoothest and most moving of the three as it relates Waters' hard-scrabble beginnings in 1896 as the daughter of a 12-year-old rape victim who became an alcoholic and was essentially incapable of raising a child. In her early years on what she calls a whore's alley in Philadelphia, Waters regularly stole food, milk and money, sleeping on heating grates to keep warm in winter.

As a child, Waters' biggest dream was to be like her grandmother and clean homes for rich white women. She had no idea that life would take her so much further, as an Oscar-nominated actress (for "Pinky"), a star of Broadway plays and musicals and a singer who became popular around the world. Though Parr doesn't mention her TV series "Beulah," Waters spent her final years singing with the Billy Graham Crusade before her death in 1977.

As in his earlier shows, Parr for the most part effectively interweaves songs from Waters' career at appropriate moments to accentuate a thought or emotional tone. After meeting her second husband, musician Eddie Mallory, she sings "Taking a Chance on Love." "Stormy Weather" follows his decision to seek a divorce because she focused on her career rather than their marriage.

The show is demanding for any performer, and Florida Studio Theater has cast Jannie Jones and Chaundra Cameron as co-equal stars who alternate in the role.

They're both dynamic performers, but with different strengths. Jones is the better singer, while Cameron more effectively captures the humor and drama in the script, giving life to even the most forced monologues.

There's a joyous quality to Jones' voice, and she brings out a passionate feeling in the more dramatic numbers, particularly "Black and Blue" and "Stormy Weather," that Cameron misses. But Cameron really puts the gospel fervor into the finale of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow."

Michael Sebastian's arrangements are alternately bouncy and poignant, interrupted on many occasions for more storytelling between verses. He also provides a proficient underscoring that gives the show a more cinematic quality.

That's also how director Dennis Courtney has staged the piece, aided by simple wooden set pieces and a lighting design that uses clear focus and projections to easily shift the scene from a run-down apartment to a Harlem nightclub, a Catholic school or a movie set. Costuming also creates images of the changes in Waters' life.

The idea of a theater producing all three shows in repertory or successive stagings is intriguing, but even alone, Waters' life is worth rediscovering.

Sets, Nayna Ramey; costumes, Marcella Beckwith; lighting, Allen L. Mack; production stage manager, Stacy A. Blackburn. Opened Oct. 7, 2005. Reviewed Oct. 7 and 8. Running time: 2 HOURS, 10 MIN. Musical numbers: "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," "Masculine Men, Feminine Women," "Frankie and Johnny," "I Don't Dig You, Jack," "Sweet Georgia Brown," "The Joint Is Jumpin'," "Little Black Boy," "Old Man Harlem," "Dinah," "Taking a Chance on Love," "Am I Blue?," "Stormy Weather," "Heat Wave," "Cabin in the Sky," "Black and Blue," "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" (reprise).

Even Parr
Playwright Larry Parr keeps his eye on Ethel Waters.
By Mark E. Leib
Published October 19, 2005




  STRONG IN SONG: Chaundra Cameron's voice is so strong it doesn't matter where you sit.
(Forrest MacDonald)

Ethel Waters: His Eye Is On The Sparrow
Florida Studio Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota, 366-9000. Runs through Dec. 2. 8 p.m. Tues.-Sun., 5 p.m. Sat. and 3 p.m. Sun. $32-$34.

Sarasota resident Larry Parr is one of the most successful playwrights on the west coast of Florida. He's been produced in regional theaters all over the United States, has won award after award from the National Arts Club, the American Cinema Foundation (for a screenplay based on one of his plays), the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater, and several other organizations.

In 1995, he became the first white playwright to have a play produced at the National Black Theatre Festival, and in 2000 he won Florida Studio Theatre's Barbara Anton Playwriting Award. Only a few months ago, his play Sundew was presented at FST, and now Ethel Waters: His Eye Is On The Sparrow has opened at FST's Keating Mainstage. Parr is prolific and abundantly talented (though I admit I didn't much care for Sundew). He knows how to hold an audience's attention for two hours.

He also specializes in an unlikely subject: the lives of celebrated African-American female entertainers. His first play, Hi-Hat-Hattie, was about Hattie McDaniel, the first black woman to win an Academy Award. The play premiered at FST in 1991, then went on to more than 20 productions around the country. Five years later, Parr's subject was blues singer Alberta Hunter, and the play was titled My Castle's Rockin' - it debuted at FST's Cabaret before going on to win awards and more productions.

After FST artistic director Richard Hopkins asked Parr to write about Ethel Waters - and after two New York producers promised to option the show, along with its predecessors - Parr found himself the author, unexpectedly, of a trilogy. But this time his subject was the most improbable of all, having risen from almost unthinkable poverty - as the daughter of a teenage rape victim - to great fame on Broadway and in Hollywood. Hearing of his latest project, a theatergoer might have logically wondered if Parr could tell the tale without sentimentality or facile moralism. Waters might be famous for her rendition of "Stormy Weather," but a play about her might get stuck on "Am I Blue?"

Well, Parr beat the odds. His Eye Is On The Sparrow is a delightful, persuasive introduction to Waters' life that never gets mawkish, and that repeatedly surprises with just the right unexpected detail. As portrayed by the formidable Chaundra Cameron (who alternates performances with Jannie Jones), this Waters is sassy, stubborn, at times insensitive, distrustful of all whites, stunned by her own success, and convinced that, after all, God must be black.

As in so many one-person shows based on the life of a singer, autobiography is mixed with performances of key anthems; but this time, fortunately, the songs aren't so numerous that they make the monologue seem an afterthought. There are several familiar tunes, though: "Frankie and Johnny," "Sweet Georgia Brown," "We're Havin' a Heat Wave," and "Black and Blue," among others. And Cameron's voice is just fine, though she puts so much emotion into "Stormy Weather" that she almost blows the poor, defenseless notes off the staff.

She also has the benefit of Marcella Beckwith's eloquent costumes, from the sorriest-looking smock that a street urchin ever put on, to the gaudy glitter of a highly paid phenom. And Cameron is a skillful actor, switching from anger to tears to somber reflection in just a few seconds without ever losing our credulity or appearing inauthentic. She's painfully touching when embracing the mother of a lynching victim, amusing when opining that Billy Graham is too good looking to be trusted, and poignant when, hundreds of pounds over her youthful weight, she admits that her Holy Trinity consists of donuts, pig feet and apple pie.

But the one segment of the play that stands out most is her early memory of a car crash that almost cost her a leg, and of the bigotry that left her with a doctor who wouldn't give anesthetic to a black woman. It's hard to know which hurts most: watching her endure the doctor's probing, or being reminded of a South that was once so sadistic to its black citizens.

The play's excellent director and choreographer is Dennis Courtney, and the terrific pianist on stage throughout the show is music director/arranger Michael Sebastian. Nayna Ramey's set is an attractive multi-leveled affair, with some colorful, billowing sail-like elements and a bunch of wooden chairs.

Let me mention here that Cameron's voice is so powerful, it doesn't really matter where you sit; I was in the next-to-last row, and didn't miss a single E-flat. And oh yeah, it's nice that at play's end, when Waters becomes a singer on the Billy Graham Crusade, author Parr makes no apologies for the evangelist or for religion. He lets Waters belt out the show's title song with every bit as much sincerity as she gave to "This Joint is Jumpin'." Breaking all modernist rules of knee-jerk iconoclasm, Parr even paints Graham as a good guy, and an anti-racist (see enough theater and you'll eventually see everything).

This show is worth seeing. I've witnessed a lot of these one-person bioplays - about Dorothy Parker, Diana Vreeland, Noel Coward, Theodore Roosevelt, Salvador Dali and others - and this is easily one of the best. In an area without many serious playwrights, it's a pleasure to discover Parr operating at the top of his game. And it's a pleasure to learn the Ethel Waters story this way: lots of facts, several entertaining songs, and a notable respect for the truth, however inconvenient or unlikely.

Good work, Larry Parr. Keep growing - and writing.

And we'll keep our eyes on one of this area's most skillful authors.