Review: Keeping Cool with 'Blues in the Night'

While the evenings are getting warmer in San Francisco, things are staying cool in the Post Street Theatre while Blues in the Night saunters through the City.

You can grab a glass of wine and slide into a barstool in a lounge downtown, or you can settle back into a cushioned chair at the Post Street Theatre.  Either evening may provide you with a couple hours of real, smooth, sexy and relaxing blues.  But for those expecting a plot with their musical theatre, don't.  The "story" of Blues in the Night is so loosely-woven it takes a back-seat to the endless list of lonely melodies.

Conceived and directed by Sheldon Epps, the eight-week engagement of this Tony Award-nominated revue features some of the best blues music of the 1920s and 30s, sung by three lovely and lonesome women in a dimly-lit cheap hotel.  For some, this may be the ideal solution to unwind after a stressful day… Ideally, you've gotta like the blues.

The women: One, a tired lass who has left her good-times behind.  Another, a lady lost in memories of her faded star. The last, a young girl aching for her new love to walk in the door.  There's not much else to it… but then, that's the formula for the blues, ain't it?

Thumbing the Playbill, the talent is undeniable.  Regal as Ella Fitzgerald, Freda Payne eases through the evening with a voice as smooth as her sleek night-gown.  Beautiful (and with a slew of leading-lady experience under her belt) Paulette Ivory glows in each of her numbers.  Her skill, which could be over-looked in a more large or youthful show, truly shines in this production. Definitely matching her two counter-parts in emotion and power!

But the real force and fun of the show land on the superb shoulders of Carol Woods.  Between Payne and Ivory's torch songs, Woods serves as a pseudo-narrator and brings the laughs with one zany costume/hat combination after another.  Neck-deep in sexual innuendos, she adds new meanings to your favorite foods in the romp "Kitchen Man."  Woods holds her own in this entire production, but really blows you away with her second-act solo – Bessie Smith's "Wasted Life Blues" – where she earns long-lasting applause well-before the song is through.

As the Man in the Saloon, Maurice Hines struts around like an over-confident rooster, remarking here and there on the ladies' perils.  Having taken a hiatus from dancing after his brother, Gregory Hines, passed away, Maurice straps back on his tap-shoes for some speedy and stylish hoofin'! Despite efforts to cheer his fancy-footwork during "Baby Doll," Hines forces you to stay quiet until his impressive big-finish. But his three-minute boogie leaves you wanting for more.

While humming along to Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman's familiar tunes, soak in the striking set and lighting design. The slanted windows and bath of colors create seedy but eerily welcoming hotel rooms. You'll want to check into the next vacancy to be sung asleep by a solitary saxophone.

Blues in the Night: conceived and directed by Sheldon Epps, at the Post Street Theatre through September 30, 2007. 2-hrs with one 15-min intermission. Tickets ($40-$75) are available at 415-771-6900 or www.poststreettheatre.com. Post Street Theatre is located at 450 Post Street, San Francisco.

Photo by Kevin Berne: Freda Payne, Maurice Hines, Carol Woods and Paulette Ivory in Blues in the Night

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