I was not going to review Pullman Porter Blues. I thought it
would be nice for a change to go to a play and not have to be thinking about
what I was going to write. We went to see it last Sunday on Gabi’s birthday.
How could I not at least say a word or two about this one?
It’s a world premiere by a Seattle playwright, and it is outstanding.
The Seattle Repertory Theatre is known for producing plays
with a strong social conscious like My Name is Rachel Corrie, and for presenting
the black experience in plays such as August Wilson’s “Pittsburg Cycle” and for
championing new writers such as Tarell Alvin McCraney, writer of The Brothers
Size, and this play by Cheryl L. West, who has worked for TV and film and whose
plays have garnered major awards, and who has called Seattle home since 1999.
West’s Pullman Porter Blues tells a story of Pullman train
porters in the early part of the 20th century through the eyes of
three generations of porters, a college student on his first job as a porter,
his father and his grandfather, all of whom are working on the same train.
The Pullman Porters were all black. They were underpaid and
overworked —by
today’s standards not much better off than slaves, but in the early years being
a porter was one of the best jobs a black man could aspire to. For their female
compatriots, Pullman maids, the job was even harder. They were paid less and
sexual abuse was common— up to and including rape, which was never reported. Theirs
are the stories told in West’s musical through music and action by Sylvester
the son (Cleavant Derricks ), Monroe the father and grandfather (Larry
Marshall) and Cephas the son a.k.a. CC Rider (played by Warner Miller, who,
incidentally, was also in The Brothers Size at the Rep).
Yes, Pullman Porter Blues is a musical, but not a
traditional musical. It could easily be called a play with music. There is a
small blues band with a female singer that is brought on the train to entertain
the passengers, and they play a lot of swinging, toe-tapping blues music. E.
Faye Butler as the singer, Sister Juba, belts out the blues with a powerful
voice with hints of Billie Holliday and Aretha. The three leading men are also
outstanding singers. Monroe in particular is an astounding singer and dancer.
His little dance steps — nothing complex but done with magnificent rhythm and
attitude —
bring the house down.
Also outstanding in a supporting role is Emily Chisholm as
Lutie Duggernut, the unwashed white stowaway who captures the hearts of audience
members and plays a mean harp (harmonica).
Chisholm is a local actor and
graduate of Cornish College.
Pullman Porter Blues plays the Bagley Wright Theater at the
Rep through Oct. 28. If you can see only one musical this year, make it this
one.
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