By Lynn Venhaus
Guaranteed to put a spring in your step and a song in your heart, “Eubie!” is a sparkling and joyous tribute to one of the groundbreaking talents of the 20th century.

The Black Rep’s third time presenting a musical revue of American musician and composer Eubie Blake’s greatest hits is musical theater of the finest caliber.

The convivial cast, high-spirited choreography, cheerful musical numbers, elegant costumes, and silky-smooth orchestra combine for an uplifting production.

The musical extolling the talents of James Hubert “Eubie” Blake over his long, lauded career, especially his achievements in the early 1900s that helped spark the fabled Harlem Renaissance in the ‘20s and ‘30s, was the of the toast of the 1978-1979 Broadway season, nominated for three Tony Awards, including Eubie’s score and Gregory Hines’ performance. Blake died in 1983 at 96 years old.

With his 1921 musical, “Shuffle Along,” he and lyricist Noble Sissle helped break down racial barriers because it was the first Broadway musical written, directed by and starring black Americans. It also helped shape American musical theater as we know it today.

In 2006, his album “The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake” from 1969 was included in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry by the National Recording Preservation Board. They annually select music that is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Coda Boyce. Photo by Phillip Hamer

This effervescent cast has individual standouts but really comes together as an ensemble to celebrate Eubie’s contributions in ragtime, jazz, and popular music. Director Ron Himes’s thorough knowledge of the piece and the song styles helps expertly extract the very best from the cast, which has five performers making their Black Rep debut (DeAnte Bryant, Serdalyer Darden, Carvas Pickens, Tamara PiLar, and J’Kobe Wallace).

Himes deftly stages the group numbers – ‘Shuffle Along,” “I’m Just Simply Full of Jazz,” “High Steppin’ Days,” and “Roll Jordan” with polished and buoyant dance designed by master choreographers Heather Beal and Vivian Watt. Such verve!

Noteworthy in the Black Rep’s last musical, “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” in 2019, the multi-faceted Robert Crenshaw stars and designed the tap choreography, He dances with such joy, that when he’s performing a solo number, it’s extraordinary, especially in “Low Down Blues” and “Hot Feet.”

In perhaps Blake’s most well-known song, “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” Crenshaw joined Evann De-Bose, Coda Boyce, Samantha Madison and PiLar for a rousing rendition.

Crenshaw opened the show with Boyce and Venezia Manuel, performing the jolly “Charleston Rag” and “Good Night Angeline” in the prologue.

J’Kobe Wallace. Photo by Phillip Hamer

Boyce, so good in “The African Company Presents Richard III” at the Black Rep last year, shows off her vocal chops in “Craving for That Kind of Love” and her playful moves in “Baltimore Buzz” with Manuel and lithe Bryant and Wallace.

The acrobatic moves of Bryant and Wallace are eye-popping and crowd-pleasing, and add pizzazz to the music numbers, Wallace is especially impressive in “Dixie Moon” and “Got to Get the Getting While the Gittin’s Good.”

Newcomer Darden has a good time with “I’m a Great Big Baby” and other solos of note include PiLar in “Daddy,” and De-Bose in “Memories of You.”

PiLar has a terrific duet with powerful-voiced Pickens in “My Handyman Isn’t Handy Anymore.”

They both have a good time with the cast in a fun, very theatrical number “If You Never Been Vamped by a Brownskin, You’ve Never Been Vamped At All,” where they take on roles of The Vamp, wife, husband, judge, bailiff and jury.

Taijah Silas is part of the 11-person ensemble, and they all move with vigor and enthusiasm.

Phillip Hamer Photo

Music Director Joe Dreyer, who also plays piano, is a virtuoso musician, and seamlessly leads a superb orchestra of Chris Tomlin on tuba, Bernard Long on drums, Anthony Wiggins on trumpet and Harvey Lockhart on saxophone. They are behind a scrim, but they breeze through the music catalogue with aplomb.

The musicians are part of this dream team that delighted in delivering a beautiful lesson in music appreciation of an earlier era.

The sound design by Justin Schmitz is splendid, and so is the look of the production, with impressive lighting design by Jasmine Williams and scenic design by Tim Jones setting the atmosphere through the decades.

Costume Designer Marc W. Vital II’s exceptional craftsmanship captured the period’s glamour perfectly.

It’s rare when you get to experience not only the cast having the best time on stage, but the audience thoroughly engaged and enchanted with the vitality of those involved.

“Eubie!” closes the Black Rep’s 46th season on a high note.

Photo by Phillip Hamer

The Black Rep presents the musical revue “Eubie!” from May 3 to May 21 at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. For more information, visit www.theblackrep.org

Photo by Phillip Hamer.
Photo by Phillip Hamer

The St. Louis Black Repertory Company continues its 46th Anniversary Season with the musical revue EUBIE!, featuring music from the groundbreaking musician and composer Eubie Blake. The production opens May 3 through Sunday May 21, 2023 at The Edison Theatre on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

On Broadway in the 1970s, Eubie! re-introduced audiences to Blake’s iconic career and highlighted his role in breaking down racial barriers with the 1921 musical, Shuffle Along –  the first Broadway musical written, directed by and starring Black Americans. 

At The Black Rep, the ensemble cast for EUBIE! includes Coda Boyce (The African Company Presents Richard III; The Light), DeAnté Bryant (TBR debut), Robert Crenshaw (Spell #7; Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope), Serdalyer Darden (TBR debut), Evann De-Bose (Lines in the Dust; Black Nativity), Samantha Madison (Do I Move You? Black Nativity), Venezia Manuel (Crossin’ Over), Carvas Pickens (TBR debut), Tamara PiLar (TBR debut), J’Kobe Wallace (TBR debut), and Taijha Necole Silas (Behind The Sheet; Death Of A Salesman).

Audiences will be treated to well-known tunes such as: “In Honeysuckle Time,” and “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” with live music featuring: Joseph Dreyer – Piano, Chris Tomlin – tuba, Bernard Long Jr. – drums, Anthony Wiggins – trumpet, and Harvey Lockhart – saxophone.

“EUBIE! showcases many of Blake’s best songs, many from Shuffle Along, which was a smashing success when it ran on Broadway in 1921,” explains Ron Himes, Founder and Producing Director of The Black Rep. “Eubie Blake not only helped shape American musical theatre as we know it today, but that show is credited with kicking off the Harlem Renaissance that swept New York City culture in the late 1920s and 1930s.”

Directed by Ron Himes with Musical Director Joe Dreyer and written by Eubie Blake, Andy Razaf, Noble Sissle and Julianne Boyd, the production showcases Choreography by Vivian Watt, Heather Beal, and Robert Crenshaw; Scenic Design by Tim Jones, Costume Design by Marc W. Vital II, Sound Design by Justin Schmitz, Lighting Design by Jasmine Williams. Tracy Holliway D. Wiggins is the Stage Manager and Zahria Moore is the Assistant Stage Manager.

Tickets are available at theblackrep.org or through the Box Office at 314-534-3807. Reduced pricing is available for seniors, educators, museum staff, students, and groups of 12 or more. The Black Rep is highly recommending face masks inside the theatre. Please visit theblackrep.org for up-to-date health protocols.

Support for The Black Rep’s 46th Main Stage Season comes from the Arts and Education Council, The Berges Family Foundation, The Black Seed Initiative, Caleres, Missouri Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Regional Arts Commission, Rogers-Townsend, The Shubert Foundation, the Steward Family Foundation, and Washington University in St. Louis, with matinee support from the Union Pacific Foundation.

About The Black Rep

The Black Rep, a 46-year-old legacy Black arts organization, is committed to producing, re-imagining, and commissioning work written by Black playwrights and creating opportunities for new voices and youth. Founded by Producing Director Ron Himes, the vision for The Black Rep continues: a more equitable distribution of opportunities and resources for Black professionals and students in the theatre; improved representation on and back-stage in the theatre industry; and a fostered community culture of support and mentorship for those who will follow. For more information: www.theblackrep.org 

By Lynn Venhaus
Managing EditorA STAR WAS BORN: It was as if scripted in a movie. You’ve heard of that classic moment in the 1933 movie “42nd Street” when an understudy takes over for an injured diva. Well, it really happened right here in St. Louis one summer 46 years ago at The Muny.
On Aug. 14, 1972, MGM musical star Ann Miller was playing Reno Sweeney to Michael Callan’s Billy Crockett in “Anything Goes.” The classic Cole Porter romantic romp was underway when right after the song “Friendship” during a scenery change, Miller was conked on the head by a steel boom. Callan had followed her off-stage, then found her on the floor, dazed and bruised.

“Is there a doctor in the house?” A call went out from the stage and 15 doctors responded. The show was cancelled and Miller taken to Deaconess Hospital with a mild brain concussion and loss of equilibrium. She spent 23 days there.With Miller out but not wanting to cancel the week, Muny brass sought a replacement. They plucked Pat St. James, a senior at Webster University, from the ensemble. She rose to the occasion.
St. James, whose parents were local broadcast celebrities Clif and Nance St. James, was praised for her soaring performance. She later thrived in a musical theater career.
But in 1999, she switched gears, earning a degree in theology and ordained an Episcopal priest. She was married to David Roberts, and they lived in Atlanta with their two children, Oliver and Julia. At age 61, after a four-year battle with cancer, she died on Dec. 5, 2010.
Her moment in the sun became a Muny legend.
“Anything Goes” may have been Miller’s first appearance at The Muny but it wouldn’t be her last. She would be persuaded to return in the next decade, for ‘Sugar Babies” with Mickey Rooney in 1984.
Miller starred in “Kiss Me Kate,” “Easter Parade,” “On the Town,” “Stage Door,” “Room Service” and “Mulholland Drive” (?!?).Side Note: I actually saw Pat St. James as Reno Sweeney that week at The Muny. Everyone was abuzz.
(“Anything Goes” photo from Muny archives, from left, Pat Paulsen, Pat St. James, Michael Callan.)
***HELLO, USA!: Congratulations to Madison Johnson of St. Louis, who has been cast in the national tour of “Hello, Dolly!” that begins in late September. She is part of the ensemble and understudy for Minnie Fay.This tour of the Broadway revival, which won four Tony Awards in 2017, will feature Betty Buckley as Dolly Levi and Lewis J. Stadlen as Horace Vandergelder. Stadlen, a three-time Tony nominee, has been in several Muny shows, including “The Producers,” “Damn Yankees,” “Meet Me in St. Louis” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Madison has been part of the Muny ensemble the past six years, recently playing Lucille Ballard in “Meet Me in St. Louis.” She was Kristine in “A Chorus Line” last summer and Frenchie in 2014’s “Grease.” She started at age 7 as a Muny Kid. A graduate of Whitfield School and Elon College, she moved to New York City in 2016.
***
SIX DEGREES OF ST. LOUIS: John David Washington is starring in “BlackkKlansman” as undercover cop Ron Stallworth, who wrote the book that Spike Lee has adapted into this acclaimed film.

He was signed by the St. Louis Rams in 2007 after he was not drafted in the NFL Draft. Later cut from the Rams, he was a running back for the Hamburg Sea Devils, a German team playing in the NFL Europe League. Fun fact: Eldest son of two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington.
Photo: Adam Driver and John David Washington
***GO SEE A PLAY! POLL: The St. Louis Fringe Festival’s local headlining act is an original musical written and composed by Colin Healy called “The Gringo.” The world premiere will be performed four times from Thursday, Aug. 16 through Sunday, Aug. 19, at the .Zack, 3224 Locust.
It’s about how art can bring a community together. Set in Miami, a local street artist is wrongfully gunned down by police. As told through the lens of a successful painter, this community faces injustice and rapid gentrification. They learn what it means to fight for your home.
The cast includes Gheremi Clay, Kevin Corpuz, Robert Crenshaw, Evann De-Bose, Riley Dunn, William Humphrey, Omega Jones, Tim Kaniecki, Alicia Revé Like, Brittany Losh, Samantha Madison, Gabby McNabb, Carly Niehaus, Janine Norman and David Zimmerman.
Healy directs, with Bradley Rohlf assistant director; Christopher Page-Sanders choreographer and Carly Uding costume design.Tieliere Cheatem contributed the artwork. On opening night, they will give this portrait away that has been signed by the cast and the crew. Tickets available at Metrotix.com

For a chance to win two tickets to one performance, enter our poll drawing!Poll Question: What Is Your Favorite Show About Art? “Art”
“Is He Dead?”“Red”“Sunday in the Park with George”“Sight Unseen”
Submit your selection to lynnvenhaus@gmail.com by noon on Wednesday, Aug. 15. Please include your phone number. You will be notified that afternoon if you won, and you can select what performance so that tickets can be arranged. The show is at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and Sunday at 2 p.m. Thanks for participating.
Winner of our two tickets to “Meet Me in St. Louis” was Chuck Brinkley. Thank you, Muny!
“Meet Me in St. Louis” received the most votes as the favorite local movie shot in or made about St. Louis.
***TRIVIA TIME-OUT: Oscar winner Shelley Winters, whose career spanned five decades, was born Shirley Schrift on Aug. 18, 1920, in St. Louis to Jewish immigrant parents. Her father, a tailor, moved the family to Brooklyn when she was a child. She died at age 86 in 2006.
Once nicknamed “The Blonde Bombshell,” she later became known for forceful dramatic roles.For what movie performances did she win her two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress?Answer: “The Diary of Anne Frank” in 1959, as a shrill Mrs. Van Daan, and “A Patch of Blue” in 1965, in which she played a slatternly mother cruel to her blind daughter.
Her breakthrough role on stage was as Ado Annie in “Oklahoma!” five years into the run, and she was noticed in “A Double Life” starring Oscar winner Ronald Coleman in 1947.But after a dissatisfying number of movie roles, she finally got the role of her lifetime in “A Place in the Sun” with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor.
Some of her other big movies were “A Night of the Hunter” in 1955 and “The Poseidon Adventure” in 1972. Earlier, she had returned to studying at the Actors Studio and became a big advocate of the Lee Strasberg method.
A lifelong progressive Democrat and outspoken on feminist issues, she became quite a raconteur on talk shows during the 1970s and ‘80s. Her two tell-all autobiographies created quite a stir, as she had some high-profile leading-men dalliances.
Fun fact: She roomed with Marilyn Monroe when they were just starting out in Hollywood.
Happy Birthday, Shelley! (She would have been 98 Monday).Photo at right: Marilyn Monroe, Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters.
***ICYMI: A movie adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning “In the Heights” is planned for summer release 2020. Jon M. Chu, who helmed the new romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians,” will direct.Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” will be made into a movie, and production is to start in November. Stars signed so far are Tony winners James Corden and Ian McKellen, along with Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson and Grammy winner Taylor Swift.
***WORD/DOWN MEMORY LANE: “Would you shut your phones off for Christ sakes?” – Stanley Tucci, during the Aug. 14, 2002, performance of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. An audience member’s cell phone kept ringing. Calls for a ban on cell phones at NYC’s theatres grew louder, and a law was put into effect in 2003.
***Have any tidbits for this people column? Contact Managing Editor Lynn Venhaus – lynnvenhaus@gmail.com
.All photos from archives or submitted. Featured image is of St. Louis native Shelley Winters.