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The Dallas Morning News
'BLIND LEMON BLUES'
From Deep Ellum to the world
Revue about the legendary bluesman wins applause overseas as well as at home
by Lawson Taitte | 11/04/05
The late playwright August Wilson loved the first tryout of Blind Lemon
Blues. A recent State Fair patron who calls himself Sweet Pea brought his
family to see it three times.
People in places as far apart as Paris, France, and a Harlem high school have fallen for Blind Lemon, a portrait of the great 1920s bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson and the musical scene that flourished in Dallas' Deep Ellum neighborhood during his lifetime.
More than 60 blues tunes originally performed by such greats as Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter are layered into the musical score.
Dallas will have a chance to see the latest version of this evolving musical revue this week, before it heads back to France to headline the Blues sur Seine festival on the outskirts of Paris.
Alan Govenar and Akin Babatunde have been developing the show since 1997. Mr. Babatunde stepped into the title role last year when singer David Peaston became ill. The reception from press and public was so favorable that he now owns the part.
Mr. Govenar (through his organization Documentary Arts) raised $65,000 from two local foundations to outfit the basement of Fair Park's Hall of State with modern lighting and sound equipment and turn it into a genuine
theatrical venue. The writer-historian says that it has become the off-Broadway sort of space that Dallas has always needed."
Mr. Babatunde and some of his co-stars just completed 76 performances of selections from the show for State Fair audiences in the restored space. But he says the rigorous schedule was no problem.
"Many people do not get a chance to do what they love," Mr. Babatunde says. When you do, that infuses energy. I feel more tired now that I'm not doing it every day."
Michael A. Jenkins of the Dallas Summer Musicals bankrolled the startup of the show, then called Blind Lemon: Prince of Country Blues. The 1999 premiere was the first presentation in the remodeled basement of the
Majestic Theatre, not far from where many of the events depicted in the story took place.
WaterTower Theatre producing artistic director Terry Martin had a role in that version (as a reporter, since written out of the script). He invited the creators to produce the piece again at his Addison home base, and the result was a 2001 Leon Rabin Award to WaterTower for best new musical.
After a Dallas preview that won Mr. Babatunde a Dallas Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum award for outstanding actor, a substantially rewritten version toured Europe in 2004. The success of that venture earned the piece, by then Blind Lemon Blues, a date as a Summer Stage attraction in New York's Central Park last year.
An educational version in a Harlem school scored a hit with the 300 kids who saw it.
"They were asking Akin, 'You grew up in New York. How do you get out of here? What is the appeal of blues to white people?'" Mr. Govenar recalls. Their response was amazing."
The performances in Fair Park beginning Tuesday will feature singers Benita Arterberry, Cavin Yarbrough, Alisa Peoples Yarbrough, Walter Fauntleroy and Sheran Goodspeed-Keyton, and guitarists Noel Johnston and Brady Mosher, in addition to Mr. Babatunde. He and Mr. Govenar are hoping that Blind Lemon Blues will be a "signature piece" for the city. They envision regular performances at the Hall of State, which already gets rented for convention events. The spinoff education project has a printed guide and a DVD ready for introduction to schools.
The show's calling card will continue to be dropped off around the world. Blind Lemon Blues will headline the 2007 World Music Theater Festival and tour at least 10 European cities.
We can always tell them Dallas got there first.
The Dallas Observer | 11/8/05
Blind Lemon Remembered
Chances are if you strolled through Deep Ellum past the corner of Elm Street and Central Avenue in 1912, you would have noticed a blind man singing country blues and heard the clink of coins people dropped into a tin cup tied to his guitar. In the 1920s, if you had an ear for that sort of music, you might also have known that Dallas was it in the eyes of many, the axis of a new era of American popular music. Riding the musical wave was the blind singer who was discovered on that same corner by a Paramount Records scout. Nowadays, few people remember Blind Lemon Jefferson, but at the time of his mysterious death in a Chicago snowstorm, he was a legend. Alan Govenar and Akin Babatunde have created in Blind Lemon Blues a musical biography and a contemporary Greek tragedy of sorts. The myth of Blind Lemon is set against a mod and foreboding backdrop -- an enlarged 1920s photo of a railroad created with seven strips of perforated vinyl -- and a Greek chorus serves as the memory, conscience and community of Blind Lemon (played by Babatunde). Govenar says of the whole experience, "It's like getting on a train at the beginning, and you don't get off until it's done." - Emily Jacobs
France's Zicazine | 11/09/05
De titres méconnus en standards, Cavin Yarbrough et Alisa Peoples Yarbrough ont travaillé autour de quatre-vingt morceaux appartenant à l’anthologie du blues, des spirituals et du rhythm’n’blues pour les arranger en un show homogène où les talents de chanteur et d’acteur de chacun sont mis en valeur du début à la fin. Un décor urbain, quelques valises et des micros suffiront à mettre en avant le subtil jeu de guitare de celui qui passera tout son spectacle dans l’ombre, rythmant la soirée de façon tellement précise que l’on croirait qu’une bande son passe au loin … Croisant à l’occasion des personnages comme Hattie Hudson, Bessie Tucker ou Ida May Mack au détour d’une chanson, l’histoire nous fait revivre des morceaux comme "Butcher Shop Blues", "Penitenciary Blues", "Carbolic Acid Blues", "Lectric Chair Blues", "Rabbit Food Blues" ou "Hangman Blues" et séduit son monde grâce à un jeu proche du public qui aide à faire passer le courant et à une chaleur communicative qui se dégage des fabuleux artistes qui se donnent à 200% dans le show pendant près de deux heures d’une prestation admirable tant elle est documentée et techniquement parfaite.
Après avoir reçu une standing ovation amplement méritée, toute la troupe de Blind Lemon Blues viendra se prêter à un sympathique jeu de questions et de réponses avec le public et nous permettra de découvrir à quel point chaque personne qui la compose est capée dans son domaine. Anglophones et non-anglophones se délecteront de l’accent succulent et de l’humour de notre ami Normand Perras, bénévole venu du FestiBlues prêter main forte aux cuisines de Blues-sur-Seine et improvisé traducteur officiel du débat de ce soir. Après dix jours de festival, les esprits et les rouages commencent quelque peu à s’émousser mais de telles soirées apportent une immense émotion qui permet de continuer à avancer, même si la nuit sera courte pour les musiciens et pour nous, heureux bénévoles qui auront la chance de vivre un after très très privé dans les véhicules qui raccompagnent Blind Lemon Blues à Roissy dans la froideur hivernale d’un dimanche endormi… La chaleureuse accolade donnée par chacun des artistes à l’arrivée dans l’aérogare sera sans aucun doute notre plus belle récompense de tout le festival!
Dallas Morning News | 11/09/05
Actors excel in bright 'Blues': Blues a well-rounded mix of story and music revue
by Lawson Taitte
Blind Lemon Blues is a hit in New York and Europe. But we're just now getting a full run of this homegrown Dallas product in its freshly developed state ourselves.
Before it takes off on another European jaunt, the show opened Tuesday in a newly refurbished space in the basement of Fair Park's Hall of State. Various versions have appeared around town since Alan Govenar and Akin Babatunde began working on the project in 1997. The current version uniquely combines story and musical revue to re-create an important strain of American history and Dallas history.
Texas-born bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson played and sang on a Deep Ellum street corner in the 1920s. He was part of a rich musical scene that included other greats like Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter. In fact, Blind Lemon Blues tells its story as a series of flashbacks from the studio session where Leadbelly recorded some of his most memorable hits.
Blind Lemon Blues, though, dispenses with much of the narrative paraphernalia of its previous versions. The entire cast of six is onstage virtually all the time. The ensemble adds stylized movement and even dance steps to the protagonists' songs and takes on individual roles. Crackerjack guitarists Noel Johnston and Brady Mosher accompany them offstage.
The somewhat abstract setup can seem arty and arbitrary, and the show could use more narrative and thematic focus. Once the individual performers begin to turn out whole songs, though, Blind Lemon Blues sweeps you up in the power of the music.
Many musical revues have tried to communicate a passion for this great American genre. Mostly they've concentrated on a few of the most famous songs and dropped in a bit of context along the way. This show goes for depth rather than breadth. In its 67 song cues, you'll find few favorites, unless you're a fan of the legendary singers in question. Blind Lemon Blues paints an extraordinarily rounded portrait of a specific time and place. And it's primarily our place, Dallas.
Mr. Babatunde plays Blind Lemon with masterly strength. As Leadbelly, Cavin Yarbrough displays a fascinating range of sounds and styles. The three women – Benita Arterberry, Alisa Peoples Yarbrough and Sheran Goodspeed-Keyton – all have terrific chances to shine, especially in the first act, and make the most of them. Walter H. Fauntleroy takes all kinds of smaller roles and continually surprises with his versatility.
You come away from Blind Lemon Blues with a greater admiration and love for the music. That's worth celebrating.
Review following the New York City Premiere
at Central Park Summer Stage, which happened on July 16th,
2004. From the The
Greenwich Village Gazette from
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2004:
by Ernest Barteldes
This new musical chronicles, with a deep sense of humor,
the life and times of pioneer bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson
from his humble beginning in the streets of Dallas, Texas
(where he performed with a tin cup tied to his neck) to his
death years later in Chicago.
With the help of Huddie Ledbetter (Cavin Yarbrough) and
an ensemble cast, the blind artist (playwright and director
Akin Babatunde) lays down his pain, his blindness and the
issues of his times through his immortal music.
The play opens in 1948 New York City at Leadbelly's final
recording session. As he plays the music, he tells stories
about his life, and alongside him, Blind Lemon and the cast
narrate the hard life of the black man in segregated southern
cities back in the day.
In a hilarious moment, Leadbelly tells us why he played
a 12-string guitar. As the story goes, he was playing somewhere
when string after string broke, leaving him unable to play,
until someone handed him a 12-string instrument which was
later to become his axe of choice.
The play follows no chronological order. From the post-war
days we go back to Texas in the 20s, where Blind Lemon Jefferson
is playing in the streets for spare change.
He is discovered by a Paramount Records
scout (the label then specialized on "race" records),
and after being refused at the local studios, he is taken
to Chicago, where between 1926 and 1929 he would cut numerous
records and ultimately become the biggest-selling blues
musician of his time.
From then on, it's performing from town to town, and drinking
hard. The cast talks about the troubles of the black man
(Equality For Negroes, a traditional tune, is included on
the second act), their poverty and other issues.
Leadbelly also tells us of how he went to jail and got pardoned
by Governor Neff after writing a song for him.
One of the most impressive members of the cast is Alisa
Peoples Yarbrough (she plays various characters), who is
the wife and Grammy-nominated music partner of Cavin Yarbrough.
During certain points in the play, she sits at the piano
and performs beautifully, and with the backing of guitar
man Sam Swank (who played a six-string Martin from backstage),
creates some of the most fantastic musical moments of the
evening.
The most poignant part is when, to the tune of See That
My Grave is Kept Clean, Blind Lemon wanders aimlessly through
the stage as the cast describes how, in a winter Chicago
night, he went out and (at least from the play's point of
view) died in the streets of The Windy City.
Blind Lemon Blues, which had its world premiere at the ForuMeyin
in Geneva, was a fantastic musical and educational experience,
and here's hoping we have a chance to see it again soon.
Ernest Barteldes is an ESL teacher and a
freelance writer. He lived in Brazil for many years, where
he earned a Bachelor's degree in English and Portugese from
Ceará State University
in Fortaleza, Brazil. He has been a columnist with the Gazette
since September 1999. His work has also been featured on
The Staten Island Advance, The Asbury Park Press, Gaytoday,
The Villager, The New York Press and others in the U.S. and
abroad. He lives in Staten Island, NY.
From the Dallas
Morning News from
Tuesday, February 24th, 2004:
'Blind Lemon'
is Sweet to Behold
Evolving tribute finds co-creator crafting more
vivid lead role than ever
by TOM SIME / The
Dallas Morning News
"There's just one kind favor I'll ask of you/See that
my grave is kept clean," sang Blind Lemon Jefferson
in one of his best-known songs. He probably never could have
imagined how immaculate a monument he'd get in Blind
Lemon Blues. This delightful revue serves as a musical
portrait of Dallas in the 1920s, and it was something to
be savored on many fronts – as history, as music, as
dance, as theater – in Monday's one-night benefit at
the Hall of State in Fair Park.
The show, written by Alan Govenar and Akin Babatunde, has
been evolving over seven years, with its most notable previous
incarnation as Blind Lemon: Prince of Country Blues at
WaterTower Theatre in 2001. But that version's detective-story
format – with a reporter digging up details of the
singer's life – was sometimes awkward.
Blind Lemon Blues, however,
dives into the music freely, unquestioningly – fleshing
it out, finding affinities, layering and mixing more than
60 different songs and song fragments. These include not
only those of Blind Lemon but of many other local stars
of the time, including Lillian Glinn, Hattie Hudson, Blind
Willie Jefferson, Bobbie Cadillac and others.
The almost continuous music is interwoven
in a splendid, complex tapestry arranged by Mr. Babatunde
and fellow cast members Alisa Peoples Yarbrough and Cavin
Yarbrough of Yarbrough & Peoples
fame. Sam Swank's fabulous guitar playing provides the foundation
for the voices and movements of the ace cast, which also
includes Liz Mikel, Benita Arterberry and Walter H. Fauntleroy.
Mr. Yarbrough plays Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter,
whose 1948 recording session here sets the stage for Leadbelly's
memories of meeting Blind Lemon at the corner of Elm and
the Central Track, now Central Expressway. Leadbelly's reminiscing
launches a volley of the stirring, hilarious, sexy and grim
vintage tunes that put Dallas on the musical map before the
Depression hit.
Because of illness, original star
David Peaston had to drop out of the show only days before
Monday's performance, which raised money for an imminent
European tour. So Mr. Babatunde – co-writer,
director and choreographer – stepped into the role,
and was nothing short of brilliant. Though his voice is not
as spectacular as Mr. Peaston's, Mr. Babatunde is the better
actor, and the character of Blind Lemon is more vivid than
ever. Mr. Babatunde also nails the original singer's quirky
style more accurately.
In his curtain speech, Mr. Govenar expressed hope that Blind
Lemon Blues would become "a signature piece for
Dallas." Let's hope that happens, because we couldn't
ask for a more fun, redemptive and revelatory calling card.
From the Dallas
Morning News from Tuesday, February 16th, 2004:
Dallas blues heads to Europe
by TOM SIME / The Dallas
Morning News
Blind Lemon Blues promises to bring a musically
compelling portrait of Dallas to Europe during its upcoming
tour.
But first, the revamped musical – seven years in the
making – will be presented in a workshop fund-raiser
Monday at the Hall of State in Fair Park. The performance
will raise money to help cover costs of engagements at the
ForuMeyrin in Geneva (Feb. 27-28) and at the Festival L'Imaginaire
in Paris (March 3-7).
The cast is headed by Grammy nominee
David Peaston as Dallas bluesmaster Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Cavin Yarbrough plays his friend Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter.
The setup finds Leadbelly in the midst of a 1948 marathon
recording session, reminiscing about his late friend and
mentor, sparking a flood of tunes that add up to a vivid
musical portrait of Dallas in the late 1920s heyday of black
Deep Ellum.
The show has been through many changes as Akin Babatunde,
a nationally noted actor, writer and director, and Alan Govenar,
a renowned scholar of the blues, refined their vision. Its
most prominent previous production was as Blind Lemon:
Prince of Country Blues at WaterTower Theatre in May
2001. Since then, its emphasis has changed; there's less
narrative and more music.
"We went through over 100 songs and just looked to
see how the songs begin to tell the story, to organize the
landscape and become the narrative," says Mr. Babatunde,
who has a cameo role as bluesman Blind Willie Johnson.
Mr. Govenar hopes the show will "become a signature
piece for Dallas," and plans to mount a longer run at
the Hall of State after the European tour. "This was
one incredible musical moment in the history of this city.
This was the time when Dallas was 'it' in American music."
From the Dallas
Observer from the Week of Thursday, April 15, 1999:
Blues no more
After waiting and worrying, playwrights finally see
opening date for Blind Lemon musical
by ROBERT WILONSKY / Dallas Observer
On Monday morning, Alan Govenar and Akin
Babatunde weren't quite sure what was going to become of their
surreal, ambitious musical based on the life of Dallas blues
musician Blind Lemon Jefferson. For a brief moment, the men
thought they were going to come up $30,000 short and wind
up with no money to stage the production they have been writing,
workshopping, and rehearsing for almost a year. They thought
their angel, the Dallas Summer Musicals, had flown away, leaving
the historian (Govenar) and the playwright-actor (Babatunde)
only to wonder what went wrong. After all, Blind Lemon: Prince
of Country Blues was supposed to open April 20 in the Majestic
Theatre's brand-new 100-seat basement space. That was eight
days away--though, on Monday morning, it might as well have
been 800.
It's astonishing what a difference eight
hours can make. By 6 p.m. Monday, Govenar had a new opening
date (May 27) and renewed optimism about a project that has,
at times, come perilously close to remaining nothing more
than a good idea.
"I now feel confident this is going
to happen," Govenar said, only hours after wondering
where and how he was going to raise the $30,000 needed for
costume and set designers, actors, rehearsals...pretty much
everything. Babatunde also could barely contain his glee.
So much for cynicism; so much for despair.
From the beginning, the Dallas Summer Musicals
and the city's Office of Cultural Affairs offered substantial
support to Govenar and Babatunde. According to Margie Reese--director
of the Office of Cultural Affairs, and a woman Govenar constantly
refers to as a "visionary"--during the fiscal year
1997-'98, the city gave the men $7,500 to workshop the production
last June. That was followed up with $15,000 the city gave
them during the current fiscal year to rehearse the production
and make sure actors get paid at least something.
Dallas Summer Musicals also kicked in almost
$10,000 when the two men debuted the first act of Prince of
Country Blues last June at the National Conference of the
Association of American Cultures in Dallas--to rousing acclaim
from no less than Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August
Wilson, author of Fences and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. And
according to Govenar, Summer Musicals President Michael Jenkins
often told Govenar and Babatunde a project such as theirs
was ripe for the Broadway treatment. "It was wonderful,"
Babatunde says. "People loved it."
Govenar--who estimates that the production
has so far cost $45,000, with some of that money also coming
from his Documentary Arts organization and private donations--says
that in February, Jenkins told him the Summer Musicals was
merely "redefining the terms" of their original
agreement. Sources say that after the Summer Musicals board
saw some of the production, they simply wanted to slow the
pace of the proceedings--to move forward with deliberate consideration,
since the Summer Musicals had never been involved with something
quite so avant-garde. One look at this year's Summer Musicals
schedule says more than enough: Footloose, Titanic, Ragtime,
and Petula Clark in Sunset Boulevard. A far cry from non-linear
reveries about long-dead black bluesmen wandering the streets
of Deep Ellum, getting bilked by record companies, and dying
alone in the cold.
"Summer Musicals is very, very supportive
of this thing," Reese says. "When you're putting
on a brand-new production, everything gets backed up. It's
a high-quality work, but they're putting together a brand-new
production in a brand-new space, and that takes a good deal
of tolerance and patience."
Reese says the delay came about when lead
actor David Peaston, a renowned gospel-R&B singer, took
a job that conflicted with the scheduled opening of the
musical. Govenar says Peayston accepted the gig when he
discovered there was a hold-up in the production. Of course,
it's now a moot point: Peayston will inhabit the Blind
Lemon role on May 27.
Jenkins didn't return calls from the Dallas
Observer, but Reese insists that Dallas Summer Musicals is
going to provide the final $30,000 Govenar and Babatunde need
to stage Prince of Country Blues in May. As well it should:
After all, Jenkins is spending $800,000 to stage yet one more
production of South Pacific in June--one month after the Dallas
Theater Center debuts its own version of the hoary Rodgers
and Hammerstein musical. The Summer Musicals can well afford
to underwrite Govenar and Babatunde's ambitious project. The
organization has proven it can sell golden oldies to the locals:
Last year's production of Oklahoma! raked in $1 million.
"Part of my job is to put people together,
and if people make a commitment to me, they very rarely don't
come through with those," Reese says. "The Summer
Musicals agreed to outfit the space in time, and they've done
that. That's why I can say they will come up with the money.
If one of my organizations says, 'We'll do that,' I don't
question them three or four times. I trust them, and I think
they trust me.
2001 LEON RABIN AWARD for OUTSTANDING
NEW PLAY OR MUSICAL |
