Ah, those blues in the night. And in the morning, and all those times in between.
If you haven’t heard any blues lately (other than political ones), you can fix that through Feb. 12 at North Coast Repertory Theatre. There, director Yvette Freeman Hartley presents her rewrite of the 1980 “Blues in the Night,” this time featuring four fine singers and a boffo band of five led by conductor/pianist and twice Grammy-nominated Kevin Toney.
NCRT stalwart Karole Foreman is known here as “Woman of the World.” She’s been around a while and knows what’s up, but just wants to know why that man doesn’t treat her right.
Anise Ritchie, another frequent NCRT performer, is “Lady From the Road,” seemingly a bit younger than Woman of the World and just getting tired of being tired and lonely.
New to me is Ciara Stroud as the youngest, known here as Girl with a Date, just beginning to learn what those bad ole men can do to a girl’s dreams.
Elijah Rock, a fine singing actor, plays The Man in the Saloon (aka the bad man causing these women all that misery).
Marty Burnett’s minimalist set design works nicely. We’re in a seedy motel in Chicago in 1938, where nobody seems to think about food (one assumes it’s not the greatest anyway).
Matthew Novotny’s lighting and Matt Fitzgerald’s sound design (aside from some quickly-fixed opening-night feedback problems up top) are fine.
Big kudos to Regan A. McKay, making her NCRT debut as costumer. Those costumes are great; some (especially for Foreman) downright fabulous.
Kudos also to the onstage band, who take us through 26 standard blues songs by the likes of Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. Between that and Director Yvette Freeman Hartley’s adaptation of the original version of this show (by Sheldon Epps, onetime associate artistic director at The Old Globe) to make some connections between the blues-obsessed women, the show seems a bit overlong. But the talent is definitely there. These folks can sing and play! If you’re blues-deprived, this is the place to be.
The details
“Blues in the Night” plays through Feb. 12, 2023 at North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive in Solana Beach.
Shows Wednesday at 7 p.m.; Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. Matinees also at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13 and Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Tickets: northcoastrep.org or (858) 481-1055
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