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It’s 1941 and jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton has died and is lying on a gurney at the Los Angeles County Coroner. He wakes up and is greeted by the mysterious “Chimney Man” who is about to walk him through his own personal “This is Your Life” and Morton begins to realize this was not the outcome he imagined for himself.
Buckle up folks, for the electrifying exuberance of the captivating and unabashedly unfiltered show that is Jelly’s Last Jam at Pasadena Playhouse! The Playhouse continues it’s incredible run of full musical productions including “Ragtime”, “Little Shop of Horrors”, last year’s “A Little Night Music” and “Sunday in the Park with George” with this dazzling show about the short, prolific life of Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, professionally known as Jelly Roll Morton, one of the innovators of jazz, the inventor of it according to him, who was the first jazz recording artist and the top black recording artist for RCA Records in 1927.
Morton was a complicated fellow, who self-identified as Creole, descended from the French, and made it a point of differentiating himself from his black American brothers. What writer George C. Wolfe does here is to give Morton his flowers for his innovation and tremendous contribution to music while not shying away from the man’s shortcomings that may or may not have brought about his downfall. It’s a frustrating, complicated and fascinating story – one that I think few people knew until this musical and certainly a history lesson for a new generation of theatre goers today.
Director Kent Gash puts the music center stage with a killer orchestra on stage led by Darryl Archibald and a stellar cast with stratospheric voices that take you on an exhilarating journey. Leading the cast is a dynamic John Clarence Stewart giving a tour de force performance as Jelly Roll Morton that is mesmerizing. Stewart deftly navigates the character’s charisma and bravado while sharply portraying his darker side and devastating regret. Jasmine Amy Rogers is a sultry siren as love interest, Anita, singing with the buttery vocals of a jazz chanteuse. Cress Williams is powerful with a voice as deep as the ocean as Chimney Man and Wilkie Ferguson III is utterly charming and electric as Morton’s best friend, Jack the Bear.
Karole Foreman, who appeared in the original Broadway production, gives a stunning gravitas to Gran Mimi, delivering a showstopping rendition of the song, “Get Away Boy / Lonely Boy Blues”. Doran Butler is earnest and poignant as young Morton and delivers some of the most striking tap dancing in the show. The tapping was incorporated in the original as a metaphor for the syncopation of the New Orleans jazz, stomp, and blues and the choreography here by Dell Howlett sizzles throughout, beautifully illustrating the slinky, sexy and gritty world these characters inhabit.
There is an embarrassment of riches in this crackerjack ensemble of triple threat performers with a sensational Summer Nicole Greer singing her face off as Miss Mamie, and the magnetic Janaya Mahealani Jones, Naomi C. Walley, and Cyd Charisse Glover-Hill as the steamy trio of Hunnies. Every single member of this cast has standout moments and leave it all on the stage including Eric B. Anthony as Three Finger Jake, Grasan Kingsberry as Buddy Bolden, Joe Aaron Reid as Foot-In-Yo-Ass Sam, Hannah Yosef as Too Tight Nora, and Amber Liekhus, Davon Rashawn, and Chante Carmel.
It’s another home run for Pasadena Playhouse with a lush and flashy production that blows the roof off while telling the compelling story of this virtuoso musician and bandleader who undoubtedly shaped jazz itself, leaving an indelible New Orleans stamp on it by any and all means necessary.
Jelly’s Last Jam now through June 23. Tickets are available at pasadenaplayhouse.org, by phone at 626-356-7529, and at the box office at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101.
