As opened Thursday, May 3 at the Lyceum Space, Common Ground Theatre’s seemingly interminable production of Sherman Yellen and the late Wally Harper’s musical biography “Josephine Tonight!” is rife with talent, technically unready and ” in terms of focus ” thoroughly frustrating.
One of the last century’s most celebrated entertainers, Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was born to an impoverished St. Louis laundress (Ida L. Rhem) and educated, at least according to the musical, only until her school burned down during a time of interracial rioting. Talented and determined, she danced at the Piggly Wiggly (“Bad Girl Rag”) for pennies as a child. Karole Foreman imbues the girl, known as Tumpie, with gamin charm.
The determined youngster goes off to the vaudeville circuit (“Chicken Strut”) with the Joneses (Rhys Greene and Chirell Warren) and headliner Big Bertha Smith (Candace Ludlow Trotter). She plays in New York and ultimately in Paris in a Negro revue produced by expatriate Caroline Dudley (Patricia Elmore Costa). Relatively free from racial prejudice at last, Baker made her home in France for the rest of her life.
The Parisian portion of the show continues Josephine’s youthful moxie, never showing her later, fully developed sophistication and sensually uninhibited performance style, though Foreman does perform topless. The book musical takes us to only the brink of Baker’s real life and enormous success, and that may be its biggest flaw.
Opening night was plagued by slow light cues, dead space between scenes and costume malfunctions. As for the book, there’s too much wind-up and little of character-enhancing change-up and delivery. The show fails to focus on (and give songs to) people who should be major characters, including Josephine’s first husband (Jason Mallery) and her Parisian lover (John DeCarlo). Talented as they are, we get too much Bertha and Mamma, who narrates the story, in a perfect example of “don’t tell me, show me.”
Harper’s music is particularly apt and appealing and Yellen’s lyrics clever, with the hit song in my book being Josephine’s “Cinderella Me.” Music director Andrew Chukerman on keyboard and drummer Joseph Young Jr. provide excellent support.
“Josephine Tonight!” continues through May 20 only, with performances at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sundays, at the Lyceum Space, 79 Horton Plaza. For information and tickets ($22 to $30), visit www.commongroundtheatre.org or call (619) 544-1000.
