“JOE LOUIS BLUES” AT THE TIFFANY

Anne Kelly-Saxenmeyer
Mirror contributing writer

   “You’re a credit to your race,” is the mantra of the American media covering heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis in Oliver Mayer’s “Joe Louis Blues.”
   1942 Manhattan, where such barbed endorsements were the norm, is the setting for Mayer’s blues/swing/jazz infused play, a frank depiction of endurance in an extremely hostile time. Working with a wonderful cast, director L. Kenneth Richardson takes the helm of its premiere production at the Tiffany Theater.
   The action begins in a nearly empty uptown club, where the employees listen to a Louis fight on the radio. There is Leila (Shelley Robertson), who dreams of a singing career; but for now is relegated to “leading the band,” i.e. swinging her hips for the pleasure of barflies. Among her admirers is Demas Dean (Sterling Macer, Jr.), a coronet player and die hard Joe Louis fan; beneath his youthful bluster, he’s deeply ambivalent about the war raging overseas and his potential role in it. Also in their midst, legendary soprano saxophone player Sidney Bechet (Gregg Daniel); finding the acclaim he’s achieved in the music community overrated, he demurs better-paying downtown gigs for the relative security of uptown. The club’s owner, Vantyle Mayfield (Ellis E. Williams), brazenly pursues Leila and wagers ever -increasing amounts of money playing the numbers, believing that one big hit will catapult him above the humiliation of second-class citizenship.
   After defeating his opponent, Joe Louis himself (Russell Hornsby) happens into the club. He leaves with Leila, who is dutifully offered up by Demas (he weeps when she’s gone), and for all, the stakes of the battle – whether for self-respect, status, or love – seem to multiply.
   In line with Mayer’s vision, director Richardson offers a world of emotional volatility and palpable danger, and his cast responds with powerhouse performances. The production overflows with intriguing characters and memorable scenes; among them, a love scene between Leila and Louis which turns from passionate to practical; Leila’s return to Vantyle’s club after her run at a singing career and the confrontation that ensues; and, to close the show, Robertson’s stirring performance of “Joe Louis Blues,” the imperfect tribute which comes to embody survival in a context of endless concessions.
   A further feat of this production is the balance it strikes between Mayer’s stark portrait and the swirling backdrop of Julie Arenal’s exciting period choreography and Victoria Petrovich’s brightly arrayed set. Richardson gets these disparate elements to reinforce rather than dilute each other, so that the shallow glamour of Petrovich’s bright, bead-curtained world, presided over by an exaggerated underworld figure, House (Abdul Salaam El Razzac), the sensual power of Arenal’s dancers (Carmit Bachar, Sharon Ferguson, and Indira Tyler), Tuesday Conner’s vivid costumes, and the cheerily racist voice of the media (portrayed in several guises by JD Cullum) only highlight the characters’ hopelessness and the weight of their perseverance.
   “Joe Louis Blues” at the Tiffany Theater, 8532 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Nov. 10-Dec. 22. $32-$37.50. (310) 289-2999.