Goodman Theatre’s revival of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is the seminal event of the spring theater season. Extended through May 3 by popular demand, the play is even more relevant considering today’s social and political travails as it was in Goodman’s inaugural production nearly 30 years ago.
The Goodman is celebrating 100 years, and this revival stands as a centerpiece to this observance. For tickets and information visit GoodmanTheatre.org.
The production reunites Goodman Family Resident Director Chuck Smith with associate director/music director Harry J. Lennix, who played the Central character Levee in the Goodman’s 1997 production.
Goodman has the distinction of being the first theater to produce all 10 plays in Wilson’s Century Cycle.
Wilson’s play, which is set in a 1920s Chicago recording studio, mirrors the tumultuous racial overtones and free-wheeling atmosphere of the period.
The script reads like a jazz performance, with each of the characters stepping forward to give their own riff on an established theme, from a dollar bet on who can best remember a childhood prayer to bawdy recreations of real or imagined sexual exploits.
Hovering over it all is the anticipated arrival of the titled character, Ma Rainey, one of most popular recording artists of her time, played with whirlwind authority by Goodman veteran and Chicago theater legend E. Faye Butler.
In a time and place when Black people were emerging from the bitter psychological trauma of slavery and grappling with the written and unwritten restrictions of Jim Crow, Butler’s character takes no prisoners. She is determined to stake her claim for dignity. She plants her flag on the nearest available hill, no matter how big or small, even down to the price of a five-cent bottle of Coke.
Al’Jaleel McGhee dominates the stage as Levee, the enigmatic horn player with aspirations of leading his own band and having a starring recording career of his own. His latent ambition sets up the tension that will eventually erupt as the play progresses.
Levee’s past experiences with racial violence have left him with deep scars, both physical and emotional. Suppressed by an often-manic exuberance that will have him dancing frantically across the stage, it will later simmer to the surface and erupt in the type Black on Black violence that is both self-defeating and socially destructive.
Linda Buchanan’s set craftily reflects the hierarchy of the characters in Wilson’s socio-drama, with the white characters Irving and Sturdyvant hovering over the Black characters like deities in the control booth on the top floor of the recording studio.
Ma and her entourage occupy the middle level and main floor, while the men of her band occupy the basement rehearsal room where most of the action takes place.
There’s a sort of ‘waiting for Godot’ air to the early scenes as the musicians idle away their time in anticipation of the traditional and aggravating late arrival of the ragtime diva.
The lighting (Jared Goosing), sound design (Michael Bowden and Rob Milburn) and costumes (Evelyn Danner) all serve to evoke the atmosphere of the time and the individual moods of the characters. The multi-level set reflects the complex interactions of the various story lines as they develop between the actors.
The performances are uniformly brilliant. E. Faye Butler is luminous as Ma, breaking into lusty song at just the right times to bring down the house.
Jabari Khaliq as Ma’s hopelessly stuttering nephew Sylvester, provides welcome comic relief. Cedric Young as peripatetic Slow Drag is the fulcrum that acts as the center of the emotional seesaw between the musicians.
Tiffany Renee Johnson’s is saucy Dussie Mae, who is alternately the object of both Ma and Levee’s seductions.
David Alan Anderson’s performance as Cutler acts as a foil to Levee’s brashness, which eventually pushes the latter over the edge.
As Toledo, Kelvin Roston Jr. Is the sage of the group, offering his uninvited and somewhat misinformed advice as to what Black men ought to be doing to get ahead. I’m sure everyone has an aging uncle like him who puts a damper on the holiday dinner festivities.
As Sturdyvant and Irvin, Matt DeCaro and Marc Grapey are the Laurel and Hardy of white exploitation of black artists. At times humorous in their feigned deference, they manage to screw the artists out of their rightful inheritance in the end. It’s as true today as it was a hundred years ago!
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom has been extended through May 3, 2026, at the Goodman Theatre in the Albert Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, Chicago IL. For tickets and information, visit GoodmanTheatre.org
