Blues for an Alabama Sky Resonates in the Here and Now
Expressive high notes of the Harlem Renaissance give way to darker times in Seattle Rep’s beautifully staged slice-of-life drama. Blues for an Alabama Sky runs through 2/23.
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
— Langston Hughes
It’s always fascinating when a play written in one era takes on new, sometimes painful, resonance in later stagings. Seattle Rep’s lively production of Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky speaks to the moment we find ourselves in, loudly and insistently, touching on reproductive rights, the LGBTQIA+ community, economic instability, found family, and that feeling that comes with the end of an era.
It’s the sweltering summer of 1930, and the dizzying dreams of the Harlem Renaissance are giving way to the harsh realities of the Great Depression. Down-on-her-luck nightclub singer Angel (Ayanna Bria Bakari), dumped by her latest gangster boyfriend and fired from her latest singing gig, takes refuge at the apartment of her friend Guy (Jamar Jones). Guy, a fashion designer and self-proclaimed “notorious homosexual,” dreams of decamping to Paris to design costumes for the great singer/dancer Josephine Baker, whose portrait on Guy’s wall smiles serenely over the action of the play. Across the hall, mousy Delia (Esther Okech Lewis) is striving to open a family planning clinic over the objections of most of the Harlem community. Helping her on her quest is Sam (Yusef Seevers), the neighborhood doctor and notorious roustabout, whose partying ways conceal a tender heart. The four friends joke, and bicker, and drink (a lot), supporting each other as they strive to make their individual dreams a reality. But when Angel starts a romance with a conservative stranger from the South (Ajax Dontavius), dominoes begin to fall, setting in motion the play’s heart wrenching, perhaps hopeful, denouement.
It’s not often that the first thing about a production that I praise is the set, but in this case, it’s well-deserved. Scenic designer Matthew Smucker took what to some might sound like lemons — the play’s static location — and turned it into delicious lemonade by placing Guy and Delia’s apartments (separated by a hallway) on a turntable, rotating it like a gem held to the light to emphasize certain characters’ spaces in key scenes, and to offer differing perspectives on the action throughout. It also beautifully sets off the lovely period costuming from designer Melanie Taylor Burgess, which is stunning throughout, from Sam and Guy’s gorgeous era-appropriate ties to Angel’s stunning red and black flapper-esque performance outfit.
The primary relationship of the piece is between Guy and Angel, suffused with emotion at turns tender and toxic. Bakari and Jones, under director Valerie Curtis-Newton (Artistic Director of The Hansberry Project, which partnered with Seattle Rep on this production), have crackling chemistry, and the sort of lived-in quality that nicely conveys the sense of a longstanding friendship. Jones in particular shines throughout the production; his Guy wears his flamboyant designs like a badge of honor, refusing to hide his sexuality even in the face of growing hostility towards it as the Harlem Renaissance bubble begins to burst. But Jones also brings out a brittle edge to his exchanges with Angel as the action plays out, a sense of growing desperation for her to choose him over potential romantic partners, and a creeping distaste for her selfishness.
Bakari takes every opportunity to show off her comedy chops — and her stellar singing voice — though struggles occasionally with the hairpin emotional turns the script has her character making. The onus, however, falls more on Cleage’s script, which, at least to my mind, seems conflicted about whether Angel should be praised for her scrappy resourcefulness, or demonized for putting her needs first.
Lewis and Seevers are charming as the secondary duo of the piece. Seevers in particular finds the pathos and the exhaustion behind his character’s bonhomie; there’s a real sense that the party’s about to be over, and Sam knows it. The scene where the two decide whether to act on their feelings for one another is at turns charming in the moment and sadly poignant in retrospect.
Saddled with the “country bumpkin” role, Dontavius makes the most of it (and has the most credible accent in the bunch, so kudos to him and dialect coach Tré Cotton). His character, Leland — or “Alabama,” as Angel teasingly calls him — has the prejudices of many men of his time, reacting to the revelation of Guy’s sexuality with disgust, spurring him to try and push Angel to abandon her life with Guy and embrace a more traditional lifestyle. But Dontavius brings a sweetness and a pathos to the character that, while not making up for either his bigotry or his actions by play’s end, at least adds a humanizing element.
Finally, bringing the “blues” into Blues for an Alabama Sky is the beautiful trumpet music from two-time Grammy Award nominee and Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame member Nathan Breedlove. His character, dubbed only “Musician” and unseen by the rest of the cast, acts as a sort of non-verbal narrator, expressing the emotions of the piece throughout and embodying the soul of Harlem.
Blues for an Alabama Sky is a snapshot, a slice of life depiction of four people coming to the realization that a kinder, more tolerant, more free era had ended. Judging from the conversations in the lobby as the audience departed, that feeling hit home. You won’t want to miss this beautifully realized and timely production from Seattle Rep.
Blues for an Alabama Sky runs through 2/23 at Seattle Rep at the Seattle Center. Tickets here. Accessibility notes: main restrooms are gendered and multi-stall; gender-neutral single-stall restroom located near them. Theatre and common areas are wheelchair accessible. ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 2/22 (matinee).
Run time: 2 hours 30 minutes with intermission
Jill Farrington Sweeney is a Texas ex-pat getting to know the Seattle-area arts scene, and is perpetually on the hunt for good Mexican food. Her writing has appeared on TheaterJones, Onstage NTX, and NWTheatre.