Spotty, but promising, Josephine Tonight
at times brings Lyceum house down
 

SAN DIEGO—When Josephine Baker was growing up, she knew she didn’t want to wash the clothes of rich white people like her mother did. And she didn’t! While she did clean houses and did babysitting and against all odds, hers was truly a rags to riches story and one that deserves being told.

Lyricist/librettist Sherman Yellen, (the son of Jewish –Russian immigrants who grew up in poverty himself) and composer, the late Wally Harper put together the story of Baker’s growing up days in East St.Louis to her rise to stardom and fame as a Parisian sensation. With Yellen’s book and Harper’ music their musical biography,  Josephine Tonight, is currently being mounted on the stage of the Lyceum Space in downtown San Diego in the Repertory Theatre, through May 20. It is only the second time it has been mounted. Unfortunately it was less than ready for prime time on opening night.

By now, however, things have settled in, the pace picked up and the cast is more relaxed. That said, however, Yellen’s book still needs work. It’s spotty, gaps need filling in and some of the material could be eliminated. In short, it needs tightening and more coherency. It does however, have promise and the musical numbers are lively and true to the story.

Freda Josephine McDonald was born in 1906 to Carrie McDonald and  vaudevillian- drummer father Eddie Carson. Carson flew the coop shortly thereafter and  Carrie remarried but her new husband was always out of work. While she did other people’s laundry, young Josephine, somewhat of an anomaly for those times, was an independent woman who decided what she did, with whom she did it and when. No one could have forecast her rise to fame while she toured the United States with various acts and bands. She enjoyed some success at the Plantation Club in New York but was furious when she was not allowed in ‘white only’ restaurants. When she traveled to Paris for La Revue Nėgre it proved to be a turning point in her career.

Yellen’s story begins in the streets of St Louis with Josephine’s  mother singing an ode to dirty clothes, professing that one can tell a lot from the spots in the underwear. There we meet some of the people who will be influential in Josephine’s (Karole Foreman) early life; her mother Carrie,( Ida L. Rhem who was not ready on opening night), Big Bertha Smith (Candace Ludlow Trotter) and Frenchman John DeCarlo (Paul Colin). We learn from the outset the young Josie wants to be someone, a star; famous. She dances on the street and joins a musical comedy act that tours the black vaudeville circuit. This is where she meets up with Big Bertha who takes her under her wing. Trotter is a bigger than life character and next to Foreman, is the best thing the production has to offer. Her two show stopper numbers, “A Beautiful Friend” and “Bertha’s Blues” brought the house down. 

Under the direction of founding father and artistic director Dr. Floyd Gaffney, Common Ground Theatre (formerly Southeast Community Theatre) Josephine Tonight was  made possible by the city of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and several other organizations. In his notes, Gaffney recalls, as a young man, seeing Baker in The Great White Way. It was her final farewell American Tour. It was only natural and right that Common Ground Theatre mount the staging of this important event in our history for more than one reason, not the least being about social equity and justice.

Josephine Tonight and Karole Foreman are a match made in heaven. Foreman is just right as the sassy singer who breathes life into a bigger than ever character and turns her into a stylish and mature woman. Support from Jason Mallery as Eddie Baker, one of Josephine’s husbands, Rhys Greene, and Chirell Warren as Mother and Father Jones, the couple whose act Josephine appears in gets some fun time in with the cakewalk, “Slap Happy Joneses”  and a daffy number, “Chicken Strut”.  Araceli Carrera choreographed.   Pianist Lionel Jasmin and drummer Joseph Young, Jr. provided the music. Next time out, a full band would give the overall feel of a big time musical.

Josephine Tonight will continue through May 20.For more information call (619) 544-1000.

See you at the theater.

(return to top)