Grammy-Winner Anita Jackson Kicks Off Opening Night of TWFestSTL

Tennessee Williams was often asked "After the onstage action of Streetcar Named Desire, what would happen to Blanche?" He had a stock answer: she would start an affair with the asylum doctor, seduce him into granting her an early release, and then set up a successful hat shop in the French Quarter.

If you asked, "What happens to the title character of Tennessee Williams' play Hello from Bertha after she's lying near death on her sickbed?" Maybe Bertha doesn't die: maybe she gets up from her pity party, and feeling much better after all that crying, she goes downstairs to sing. Maybe the magic of the other isn't the Paradise of Heaven, but the Paradise she's singing about: the Paradise of earthly pleasure.

Bertha in Paradise is a saucy stew of bawdy songs that Anita Jackson (playing Bertha) greeted audiences with at The Rooming-House Plays for the 2016 Festival. Anita's back, crooning the blue-sy "I Want a Little Sugar in my Bowl", slipping into the cult classic "If It Don't Fit Don't Force It," and sharing the sophisticated passion of Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin." Directed by David Kaplan, featuring St. Louisan and Grammy-winner Anita Jackson with Charles Creath on the keyboards.

More info can be found at TWFSTL.ORG.

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