Oh, Miss Rachel; Oh, Bill. How proud you would be to witness the rebirth of your stories and music as told by your beloved Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Perhaps you peeked down from Heaven opening night and saw for yourself the beauty, the pain, and above all–the love that you stamped upon his heart–as it unfolded before a grateful audience. Or were you there, in spirit, as you promised you would be.
In 2001, with composer/musician Bill Sims Jr., playwright Ruben Santiago-Hudson opened Lackawanna Blues off Broadway to rave reviews and awards for both play and music. Now through April 21st, 2019, he again brings to life the more than twenty distinct (and sometimes odd-ball) characters who populate his living memoir of growing up in the 1950s-60s under the tender care of boarding house proprietor Rachel “Nanny” Crosby. What a woman; she suffered no fools but loved plenty. She stood up to injustice, took pity on the downtrodden, protected the weak, and in a time before the Civil Rights movement, held her integrity in a society that sought to snatch it away. Santiago-Hudson’s own mother suffered mental illness, living in institutions. He makes it clear that Nanny was the real mother in his life.
Santiago-Hudson’s artistic resume is long and deep, earning awards in both directing, writing, and performing, and it shows. As he moves with seamless ease from character to character, to song, to harmonica, and back again, the audience is wooed into his rhythm, swaying along with him. His longing becomes our longing, his laughter, ours. He is like a jazz-ensemble of words and music, taking twists and turns, then bringing it all together in one complex song.
The production is dedicated to Bill Sims Jr. who whose original music for Lackawanna Blues is the cornerstone of the show. Added to it is new music from New Orleans blues guitarist/composer Chris Thomas King, whose singular guitar work is as powerful as a full band. Although Lackawanna Blues is categorized as a one-man-show, King’s onstage presence as much as his playing make it a two-hander. Check out his credits in the program – his own storied history is something to behold.
See Lackawanna Blues. Go for the stories and the music and the joy, stay for the love. It oozes out from every word and note and flows across the seats. Let your heart be open to it, and in that way, quietly add your own tribute to the great woman known as “Nanny.”
Photo cred: https://www.centertheatregroup.org/tickets/mark-taper-forum/2018-19/lackawanna-blues/