Review: ARI GROOVES: MESSAGE FROM A WANDERER Is What the World Should Be at 54 Below

In the early days of the pandemic, it occurred to me that if we all survived this terrible time, we would see a truly golden age for the arts, a time that would expand all our minds toward new and better ideas. Somewhere in the middle of Ari Grooves' fantastic show, MESSAGE FROM A WANDERER, which had its premiere last night at 54 Below, Ariana Groover (Bare, Head Over Heels, Holler If Ya Hear Me) reminded us that we are standing in the middle of a renaissance. Like every other word she uttered, she is 100% right. And if this is a new renaissance, Ari Grooves may very well be our Michelangelo. The show she put together goes beyond entertainment. It is art.

The concept of the show is to present a woman with gifts from the future, going back to the past, to the year 2020 to find an understanding of what it means to be a "wanderer. " She makes us unpack ourselves, all of us, black and white, gay and straight, men and women, earthling and alien, and makes us see ourselves for the beautiful creatures we are. It's not an easy journey. In fact, the show starts with a trigger warning. And rightly so. Ari Grooves doesn't pull her punches when talking about the inequality, injustice, and inhumanity that made 2020 such a pivotal year in history. She names names: George Floyd, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, and forces you to admit that names mean something, that names have value. Names represent precious, individual lives.

Her show is a trip back in time to connect with ancestors, both hers personally and the collective ancestors. She paints a picture of a planet full of wanderers, staring at the sky and asking the same eternal questions. She does it through a combination of slam poetry, hip-hop, soul, gospel, dance, video, scenes, pantomime, and imagery. It is more than cabaret or theatre. It is performance art that encompasses the entire humanity of planet Earth. That's a lot to take in. The premiere of this show was timed to coordinate with the release of her first album, also called MESSAGE FROM A WANDERER.

She is helped out by a cadre of Broadway talents who act as a metaphorical group of ancestors. C-Shep (Head Over Heels, Mean Girls,) Shaq Hester (Antigone in Ferguson,) Arica Jackson (Caroline or Change, Head Over Heels, Waitress,) Akilah Sailers (Jesus Christ Superstar, ) Joy Woods (Ratatouille: a Tick Tock Musical, Little Shop of Horrors,) and Cadence Qween (Mrs. Doubtfire) act as backup singers, supporting cast and Greek chorus. Add to this a piano, a guitar, a cello, and a DJ, and you have quite a large and talented company.

The show is such a complete piece, it seems counter-productive to break it down to the warp and woof of its component parts. But there were several moments that deserve to be singled out. Ms. Groover's tribute to her grandmother, lost during the pandemic was particularly touching. A section where she spills the beans about the competitiveness of her family over parlor games called "Uno, You Know" was hysterically funny. And the finale "Star Trek Shoes" lets Ms. Groover revel in her self-confessed science geekdom. She related 2020 to a supernova. "In order for new stars to be born, old ones have to die away." It is a perfect metaphor for a hopefully better world that is being born out of the unbelievable cruelty of the past. It is messy and chaotic, but eventually, it gives birth to something that shines.

It occurs to me that it is very difficult to sum up Ari Grooves MESSAGE FROM A WANDERER with something as inadequate as mere words. Her show is felt in the heart and the solar plexus. It is a show about emotions. That, more than anything, is what raises MESSAGE FROM A WANDERER to the level of art.

To find out more about Ari Grooves, look her up @Ari_Grooves on Instagram and Twitter, and looks for her album MESSAGE FROM A WANDERER on all streaming platforms. To check out other great acts at 54 below, go to 54below.com.

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