Review: BLUES IN THE NIGHT at Arizona Theatre Company

David Appleford, BroadwayWorld’s guest contributor, gives Arizona Theatre Company’s production of BLUES IN THE NIGHT an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Arizona Theatre Company’s new production of BLUES IN THE NIGHT unfolds in a nameless, run-down 1930s hotel, where the weary and world-weary residents exist in a haze of longing and lost dreams. Stripped of names and bound by the same familiar struggles, characters drift through a never-ending night, living out the blues they know too well.

ATC’s production, now playing at Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe until March 9 and deftly directed by Ricardo Khan, captures this melancholy world, transforming the stage into a living, breathing jukebox of heartache and resilience.

Conceived and originally directed by Sheldon Epps, this blues-driven song cycle first made its mark Off-Broadway in 1980 before earning a Tony nomination on Broadway in 1982. London audiences embraced it more fully, with a West End run that lasted over a year and secured two Olivier Award nominations.

Set in 1930s Chicago, the show strips away spoken exposition and instead tells its tale through the intoxicating voices of three women, all bound by their entanglements with the same, unworthy man. This production, with outstanding musical direction from Willian Foster McDaniel, leans into the show’s sultry, aching heart, performed by an exceptional cast and supported by a top-tier five-piece blues band.

The show doesn’t waste time pretending it’s more than it is – a fever dream of late-night longing, stitched together by the kind of songs that don’t just tell stories but lives them. It’s a show that moves on mood, a smoke-filled reverie of love lost and found again in the bottom of a glass.

The ensemble delivers blues and jazz standards with the kind of effortless charm that makes you forget just how well-rehearsed they are. The music, plucked from Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, and other greats, spills over the stage like a well-worn record spinning in the corner of some long-forgotten dive. Khan’s direction and Hope Clarke’s choreography keep the show moving, giving it a pulse that’s sometimes sultry, sometimes raucous, but always intoxicating. McDaniel’s musical direction doesn’t just guide the production, he ignites it. The stories aren’t just told; they’re felt, coursing through every note with the kind of musical precision that makes technique invisible. The harmonies are air-tight, the vocals seamless, and the sound is an uncanny echo of the 1930s, not just in style but in spirit.

But beyond a doubt, this show belongs to its women. The trio of April Nixon, credited simply as The Woman of the World, Camryn Hamm (The Girl With a Date) and the ever-commanding Roz White (The Lady From the Road) shine brightest when they come together, their voices colliding and coalescing like smoke curling around a late-night neon sign. White, with a voice that could shake a church’s foundations, brings a gospel-fueled urgency to her performance, sending notes soaring and tumbling with breathtaking ease. The chemistry between the three is electric—no one overpowers, no one fades; they simply glow together, a trio of blues-drenched sirens calling the audience into their world.  Each woman finds her own heartbreak, her own tragedy in the music, and McDaniel’s band ensures that the emotional beats land with force.

However, the women are matched note for note by Darryl Reuben Hall as The Man in The Saloon, whose chemistry with White crackles with the prickly intimacy of Shakespeare’s Beatrice and Benedick – that is, if Beatrice and Benedick had spent years downing bourbon and battling demons. Their duets are thrilling, packed with years of love and regret wrapped in a few bars of music.

And then there’s the band—a group of pros who don’t just play; they breath jazz. McDaniel’s pulls double duty on piano and conducting, Sean Brogan’s bass lines hum like a heartbeat, Kurt Finchum’s trumpet wails in all the right places, Ashley Burrow’s reeds carry the night air, and Land Richard’s drums keep it all from slipping into a dream. The fusion between musicians and vocalists is so fluid you stop thinking about individual performances and just get swept away in the storm.

Edward E. Haynes Jr’s scenic design, Myrna Colley-Lee’s 1930s costumes, coupled with Craig Stelzenmuller and Paul Miller’s lighting design are rich with period atmosphere, plunging us into the kind of late night world where regret lingers like sour perfume.

Does BLUES IN THE NIGHT have a plot? Not really. And that’s the point. The show drifts in and out of moments, threading its way through the universal ache of the blues. It doesn’t hold your hand, nor does it need to. It’s about feeling - pure, raw, and undeniable. If you want a tight narrative, you’re in the wrong place. But if you’re looking to be wrapped up in a night of sensational voices and music that hums in your bones, this is a show to get lost in.

During the show’s concluding song, the cast declare I’ve Got A Right To Sing The Blues, but what they really assert is something even more primal - the right to feel, to grieve, to rage. In this company’s hands, the blues aren’t just sung; they’re lived, breathed, and unleashed like a force of nature.

Arizona Theatre Company ~ https://atc.org/ ~ 1-833-ATC-SEAT ~ Venue: Tempe Center for the Arts ~ 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, AZ

Photo credit to Tim Fuller: Camryn Hamm, April Nixon

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