Features

The Ru Report #146

Power Moves
Tony Award winning theatrical wizard George C. Wolfe and Public Theater Executive Director Mara Manus recently announced that the 2004-2005 season of "Power Plays" will include the American premiere of Billy Porter's "Ghetto Superstar."

The Power Plays will offer a provocative combination of theatrical works that showcase political intrigue, villainy, clever manipulation, and outrageous wit, often befitting the times in which we live.

Just the thought of it was music to my ears.

Now, all of you avid readers of the column know that there are only but a few people who can get me in a tizzy--and the incomparable vocal powerhouse of the Broadway stage, big screen and recorded music genres is one of them.

Last May, during a sold-out run at New York's downtown performance space, Joe's Pub, I nearly had an out of body experience watching the Pittsburgh native belt out his brew of rhythm & blues. In the immortal words of Reverend C.L. Franklin (father of the great Aretha) from the classic "Amazing Grace" recordings: "I was about to bust wide open!"

So you could only imagine how I've been jonesin for more of his vocal bravado and sheer stage showmanship. Like crack.

According to early production notes, "Ghetto Superstar" is a spiritual, sexual, and musical odyssey in which the teachings of the Pentecostal church collide with the gospel according to "Dreamgirls." Yes. As in the legendary musical that keeps eluding the new generation of Broadway theatergoers. In the show, Mr. Porter will reveal with song his own take on what it means to be a man.

Directed by Brad Rouse and presented by The Public Theater in association with City Theatre in Pittsburgh, the show is expected to open during February 2005.

"I don't want to talk about it really. I want it to be a surprise," Mr. Porter quipped when asked about the subject matter. "Are you f@#%en kidding me?" I thought out loud. But after some prodding, he came together. "It's about growing up Black, gay and Christian in America. Those are the themes."

Alrightee then.

Mr. Porter, who has dazzled theater-goers far and wide with performances in Broadway musicals such as "Miss Saigon," "Five Guys Named Moe," "Grease," "Smokey Joe's Café" and "Dreamgirls 20th Anniversary Broadway Concert" over the past decade, will finally get a shot at doing a one-man-show. And he couldn't be in better company than to have Mr. Wolfe watching over the production.

"We have an amazing relationship," he shared about the out-going Public Theater leader, who cast him in "Radiant Baby" last year. "He's like a mentor and he's like a father to me in many ways. It has been so powerful to me because I've not really had that. I've never really had someone to mentor me in a way that is challenging me to be better, challenging me to grow in other directions as a writer, as a director and as an artist in general. So it's been really good and I've been very blessed to have him in my life."

In the late 1990's, the Carnegie Mellon University alum recorded his debut album for A&M Records, through an ill-fated association with President Clinton filthy rich gal pal Denise Rich. The stunning set, which was critically acclaimed, yielded the powerhouse ballad "Love Is On The Way," subsequently used as the theme song for the blockbuster movie, "The First Wives Club." Since then, Mr. Porter has shared the stage with Rosie O'Donnell, Aretha Franklin and The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. He even appeared in a few TV and film projects--all while juggling stage stuff. He recently completed a run of "Dreamgirls" in his hometown, alongside ex- "American Idol" contestant Frenchie Davis.

More about "Ghetto Superstar":

"People are asking me what's it going to be about," Mr. Porter explained. "I say, it's like 'Elaine Stritch: At Liberty' for a Black fa@#%t forty years younger."

Here's the Why factor: "I'm doing it because it needs to done. I'm speaking up because someone needs to. I think that gay people have been marginalized and we've been misunderstood for long enough and we've been sort of ignored by our own community, especially black gay men. We've been ignored, we've been sent to burning hell, exorcized from our church and our community. And I'm over it. I'm over it. I really am."

"And going through what I've gone through in my life emotionally, and in terms of the business, has just led me to this. And I've tried to run away from it for a long time. And I've tried to not be the one, and I've tried to not be the person and I didn't want to take on the responsibility and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And this is what came out. I sat down to write and this is what came out. So I have to tell my truth."

So is he really ready for his close-up?

"I'm ready. I'm terrified and horrified. I'm excited and scared," he revealed--sounding like an old Alanis Morissette song ("Hand In My Pocket"). "But, ya know," he continued, "it's been a long time coming and I've been very patient and have waited for the moment to try to figure out how to express what it is I need to express."

Ditto.

In addition to the preparation for the big show, Mr. Porter just signed on to perform at the upcoming "Black: 2 Broadway," taking place on November 7 at New York City's Birdland Jazz Club. For tickets, call: 212.352.0255. Meanwhile, his eagerly anticipated live album, tentatively titled "At the Corner of Broadway & Soul" is expected to bow at the top of the year.

White Hot
Run! Do not walk to go see the hot new Off-Broadway play "White Chocolate," created by noted "New Yorker" magazine illustrator William Hamilton and starring the multitalented Lynn Whitfield and Reg. E. Cathey. Directed by David Schweizer, the satirical tour-de-force revolves around two hoity-toity New York City socialites who wake up one morning to find out that their skin color is Black overnight. It is utterly outrageous, and hilarious beyond belief.

White Chocolate sounds sweet and paradoxical, a tone I wanted to flip the unfunny into funny," Mr. Hamilton told "The Ru Report" of his choice of the title. While some may consider it controversial, the sharp dialogue is courageous and the timing is dead-on. "I have been disappointed to find social prejudice so close to where it was before we realized how pernicious it had become in America," he continued. What I wanted to make of 'the controversial subject matter' was hay."

Through the course of the day, Brandon Beale struggles to seal the deal on his new position as Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while his daughter returns home to announce her surprise engagement to an Asian man they've never met. The wife, Deborah Beale just works on finding a good fit for her new Black self. I think it is casting genius to cast the Emmy Award winning Miss Whitfield in the role of an uppity Jewish woman. (I hope I can still write "Jewish" – e.g. "The Apprentice" controversy) "Lynn Whitfield is a gift from the gods," Mr. Hamilton stated, while also adding, "Audiences have been our salvation--especially the growing--laughing Black audience." "White Chocolate" is playing at the Century Center for the Performing Arts in the east Chelsea district of New York City.

Stages
Two Broadway shows to be on the look out for bring two of the theater world's most gifted artists back to the Great White Way.

On November 4, previews start for Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright August Wilson's latest masterpiece "Gem Of The Ocean," starring Tony Award winners Phylicia Rashad and Ruben Santiago-Hudson with LisaGay Hamilton and Anthony Chisolm. Directed by the brilliant Kenny Leon (who revitalized Broadway this past spring with the Tony Award nominated revival of "Raisin In The Sun"), "Gem of the Ocean" arrives at the Walter Kerr Theater, fresh from a critically-acclaimed run at Boston's Hunting Theater Company.

"Gem" is the ninth play in Mr. Wilson's extraordinary ten play cycle chronicling the African American experience through each decade of the 1900s. Set in 1904, it becomes the first play chronologically in Wilson's odyssey through the 20th century. Citizen Barlow, a man who in spiritual turmoil, arrives in Pittsburgh's Hill District and is soon set off on a spiritual journey leading him to startling discoveries and setting him on a course of duty and redemption. The cast also includes Eugene Lee, Raynor Scheine and John Earl Jelks as Citizen Barlow.

Entertainment Everywoman Whoopi Goldberg returns back to her roots in "Whoopi, The 20th Anniversary," which opens for previews on November 6. Presented by Mike Nichols, Tom Leonardis, Hal Luftig, Leonard Soloway and Steven M. Levy, "Whoopi" is a new production of her eponymous Broadway show, which launched her extraordinary career in October of 1984. Prior to the Great White Way, the production will play a one-week engagement in Philadelphia at the Merriam Theatre beginning October this week, with a limited engagement playing New York's Lyceum Theater through January 30.

Since her auspicious 1984 debut on Broadway, Ms. Goldberg--and her trademark dark lips and dreadlocks--have taken the entertainment world by storm with forays in film, television, publishing and advertising. The Academy Award winner appeared on Broadway for a brief spell in the ill-fated revival of "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." As a producer of another revival, "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (which was more mainstream appealing), she netted a Tony Award.

Lastly, fresh on the heels of a successful open house event held last month, InnerAct Productions, a Brooklyn-based theater company dedicated to producing quality theater of color, will continue the celebration of its fifth anniversary season with the return of the charming play "Plenty of Time," now playing at the 28th Street Theater (TADA!) through October 31. The two-act, two-character drama--inspired by the classic American drama, "Same Time Next Year"--is a poignant work that follows a thirty-year relationship that begins when a spoiled, Black southern debutante and a Black militant fall in love during the late 1960s in Martha's Vineyard. Written by InnerAct Artistic Director john shévin foster, PhD and directed by Jackie Alexander, "Plenty Of Time" stars the beautiful April Walker, who originated and received critical acclaim for her performance in the role of the debutante, and the debonair Jay J. Jones, a veteran of over 20 stage productions and numerous television appearances.

Davinci Code
Ageless rap legend LL Cool J graces the October 2004 edition of the Atlanta-based "Upscale" magazine. Writer Aliyah S. King opens the cover story, titled "Strictly Business," with a subtitle describing the versatile entertainer as 'Hip-Hop's Leonardo da Vinci.' The Def Jam Records rap veteran, who is all suited up in the photo spread shot by Mark Mann and looking better than ever, doesn't take the term lightly.

"Leonardo did a lot of things well," the former "In The House" star shared about the oft-celebrated painter of the most popular masterpiece The Mona Lisa. "That's what the Renaissance was all about--people were inventing, writing, painting…today it's acting and rapping. There's more to me than what you see. I'm not the guy with the contract who makes records. I'm an artist who expresses himself through acting and rapping."

Always exemplifying the embodiment of a seasoned pro, LL Cool J really knows his stuff. His 11th album, "DEFinition" has sold close to 500,000 copies within its first six weeks of release. He's currently on tour with fast rapping rapper Twista and chart-topping R&B starlet Ciarra as openers.

Music Notes
The "2004 Seagrams Gin Live" Tour blew into the Grand Apple last night, nearly bringing down the rafters of Times Square's BB King Blues Club & Grill with former Goodie MOB front-man Cee-Lo as the headliner, along with the beautiful southern hummingbird Tweet and rising recording star Teedra Moses as openers. It was one hell of a show. Comedian Dante Carter serves as the comic host for the 24-city jaunt, which culminates in Miami on October 23. This year's tour marks the sixth anniversary of a show that showcases the talents of urban music's hottest recording artists, while also continuing the tradition of supporting critical community issues. Proceeds from this year's tour are going towards the Russell Simmons-helmed Hip Hop Summit Action Network, which is a nationwide urban voting initiative. Queen of Hip-Hop Soul Mary J. Blige, Jaheim and Mystikal are past headliners of the tour.

Diana Ross, who reinvented the term diva during her reign of the charts in the 60s, 70s and 80s, is on the road again. According to her rep, the 60-year-old entertainment legend will embark on her North American "Forever Diana Tour" beginning November 5 in Atlantic City. The 11-date run will include performances in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis, among others. The limited engagement was personally routed by the former Supremes front-woman and the venues were selected for their intimate atmosphere.

This week saw the release of Shanachie Entertainment's Soul Satisfaction, a stellar compilation of neo-soul artists being the first to feature emerging talents alongside some of the genres most beloved notables. The 14-track disc provides aural pleasuring from the likes of Rahsaan Patterson, Zap Mama, Rosie Gaines, Eric Roberson, Me'Shell NdeGeOCello, Olu, Ledisi, AMP Fiddler and Rachelle Ferrell who unveils the live stand-out track, "Nothing In The Middle, " from her forthcoming CD. She pees! This opus will be music to the ears of fans of Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and D'Angelo.

A new rapper from Atlanta named AlfaMega, may be causing a war--a bidding war that is. Atlanta radio personality DJ Nabs has been dropping AlfaMega's debut hit single, "The New South" over the airwaves and record executives are listening up. AlfaMega's controversial lyrics--sharing the same sentiment as Jadakiss' "Why?" about President Bush knocking down the twin towers and taking jabs at other politicos like Colin Powell, and even conservative/liberal Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly--are heating things up between two major labels, which are both vying for him to sign a deal.

"I ain't about to be non-violent, honey. Oh no!"

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Message Karu F Daniels or email him directly at therureport@aol.com