THEATRE

    God's Trombones (A Musical)

    God's Trombones (A Musical)

    Presented by Hattiloo Theatre at Hattiloo Theatre

    August 13-September 6, 2009

    Avg. Event Rating (3.0 Stars): 3 out of 5 stars rating
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    Inspirational sermons of Black preachers are re-imagined as poetry, reverberating with the musicality and eloquence of spirituals. This play is a celebration of the power and passion that comes out of both the pulpit and the choir-stand. 

    Written by James Weldon Johnson

    God's Trombones Review by ArtsMemphis Rants & Ravers Bo List

    “The old-time Negro preacher is rapidly passing. I have here tried sincerely to fix something of him”.
    - - from the preface to God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse

     

    Hattiloo Theatre’s season-opening God’s Trombones is not a play. This is not a judgment, rather it is an observation. A production like this, based on the 1927 collection of poems by James Weldon Johnson, requires a larger descriptive noun. Barefoot in the Park, Romeo and Juliet, The Crucible – these are plays. They have beginnings, middles, ends, a narrative arch and a forward momentum of tension, conflict and resolution. Hattiloo’s God’s Trombones is an event, a celebration. The experience of this kind of production is less a journey – as might be said of conventional theatre offerings – and more of a destination. The time spent is not in the getting there; it is in the being there. That said (neither to dismiss nor discount – rather to clarify toward the possible expectations of its audience), God’s Trombones provides a vivid and vibrant destination.

    The original text is a series of seven poem-sermons, beginning and ending with odes to Creation and Judgment Day, and containing betwixt some of both Testaments’ greatest hits: The Prodigal Son, Noah’s Ark, the Crucifixion. There are no songs per say, though there is a strong musicality to the Johnson’s verse and, certainly, the source material of his inspiration. In hi s preface to the poems, he cites the Standard Dictionary definition of the trombone as “the only wind instrument possessing a complete chromatic scale enharmonically true, like the human voice or the violin” and then describes an experience listening to an “old time” preacher that moved him to write the series and to draw the comparison to the trombone:

    “He intoned, he moaned, he pleaded--he blared, he crashed, he thundered. I sat fascinated; and more, I was, perhaps against my will, deeply moved; the emotional effect upon me was irresistible. Before he had finished I took a slip of paper and somewhat surreptitiously jotted down some ideas for the first poem, ‘The Creation.’”

    Music, both in the poetry and in the more literal addition of hymns and songs, is the key to the success of God’s Trombones as a theatrical, and not exclusively religious event. Director Ekundayo Bandele and Musical Director Marsha Neely have added a considerable amount of spirit and shape to the piece by including this other, essential ingredient to the black church experience. Sometimes the songs stand alone, while others – like the haunting “City Called Heaven,” sung powerfully by Jackie Murray – underscore unscripted vignettes. An arrogant male member of the congregation (Keith Robinson) courts a friend’s girlfriend, then is chastised – redeeming himself by rejoining the chorus and later singing “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.” The death of Christ is illustrated by a beautiful, simple ballet performed by choreographer Lydia Matthews. These moments are brief and poignant, but ultimately take a backseat to the larger non-narrative of experiencing “old time religion” at its most expressive. When Cooli Crawford, as the Sr. Deacon, delivers his fiery oratory that asks “Where will you stand in that great day when God's a-going to rain down fire?” you better have a good answer.

    The combination of poems, songs, sermons, revelations (and Revelations!) provides an evening that is a loose confederation of sights, sounds and celebration. Most impressive is the oh-so-tight harmonies of the singers, who (served by taught musical direction) seem to, yes, trumpet the great words and thoughts of their sacred songs. With such discipline and control, there are no false notes. One could quibble that the production’s set and lights are even more loose and less confederated. The one-room church house looks hastily arranged, while the lights’ abrupt ups and downs seem to have a mind of their own and distract from the performers – but these are minor concerns in a production that rightly spotlights spirit over spectacle.

    Growing up in an extremely staid, Catholic church, I have always been pleasantly alarmed (yes, pleasant alarm is possible) by the vocal and physical qualities of black church tradition. My upbringing trained me to sit, stand, kneel, sing, kneel, stand – all on cue, and with a minimum of emotions stirred or released. Not so in the church of God’s Trombones, where feelings are not merely revealed; they are outpoured. The ensemble, uniformly gifted as musician-singers and as a believable and compelling congregation, perform generously – giving the audience the sense that all are welcome in this church, and that there is little dividing singer, speaker and spectator. Sorrow, joy, reverence, admonition and agape are on display in a manner much like poet Johnson experienced at the moment his poems were born: thunderous, blaring, crashing and fascinating.
     

    God's Trombones Review by ArtsMemphis Rants & Ravers Billy Pullen

    Ekundayo Bandele, founder and artistic director of the Hatttiloo Theatre, has grasped just the right touch for the 1927 God’s Trombones, a compilation of music and poetic sermons by James Weldon Johnson. Set in a rural church circa in late nineteenth century, this piece pulls all emotional levels from tenderness and mercy to chastisement and downright hell-fire damnation. Bandele has assembled an impeccable cast who can not only speak the cadences of Biblical proportion, but also sing angelically the mournful “Go Down Moses,” the haunting “Calvary,” the heartbreaking “Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child” and the effervescent “Every time I Feel the Spirit.” The singing is superb, and what’s more it’s a cappella and with precise and stunning harmony.
    Since this is a theatrical production of a collection of one prayer and seven separate sermons, there is no story line, and thus no linear quality. However, a few of the songs, and each sermon serve as an individual story—though many of the songs dramatically enrich each sermon which function with the poetic qualities of refrain, personification, alliteration, simile, and stunning imagery. In these poem-sermons, God is benevolent, consoling, forgiving, and both omniscient and omnipotent.
    In “The Creation” God is lonely and thus makes the world. A pine tree “points its finger to the sky” and man is created and nurtured like a “mammy bending over her baby.” In “Weep Not, She is Not Dead, “ the audience learns that man may conquer death and rest on the bosoms of Jesus. In a more traditional sermon, a young man is chastised. His haughtiness makes the pastor warn, “Young man, your arm’s too short to box with God.”
    Besides the creation, other biblical accounts include “Noah and the Flood,” the story of oppressed slavery in Pharaoh’s Egypt, a Revelation-type story of the Judgment Day when God raises the dead and gathers the human race to account for all its deeds, the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.
    Actors T. C. Sharpe, Cooli Crawford, and Tony Wright master the intonation of the sermons with both reverence and poignancy. All three actors give the intimate theatre the true sense of an old-time church. The glorious singers, Nia Glen Lopez, Jackie Murray, Delali Potakey, Mary Pruitt, Keith Robinson, and A J Tucker III give the production an ethereal quality, and the liturgical dance by Lydia Matthews empower the verbal language of “The Creation” with her legato movements. Overall, Hattiloo’s rendition of an eighty-two-year-old theatrical blend of sermons, spirituals, music, and dance still moves a twenty-first century audience.

     


     


    • At-a-
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      • Venue Info

        Hattiloo Theatre

        656 Marshall
        Memphis, TN 38103-3218

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      • Admission Info

        Info Phone: 901-525-0009

      • Dates & Times

        Dates:
        August 13-September 6, 2009

        Times:
        8pm Thurs, Fri, and Saturday
        2pm Sunday

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      • Member Reviews

        Add review/comment

        • Event Name: God's Trombones (A Musical)
          3 out of 5 stars rating "Hattiloo's season-opening God's Trombones is not a play."
          Review posted by: Bo List - ArtsMemphis Rants & Raver from Memphis, TN, Aug 31, 2009

          Hattiloo Theatre's season-opening God's Trombones is not a play. This is not a judgment, rather it is an observation. A production like this, based on the 1927 collection of poems by James Weldon... Expand

        • Event Name: God's Trombones (A Musical)
          "God's Trombones"
          Comment posted by: Billy Pullen - ArtsMemphis Rants & Ravers from Memphis, TN, Aug 24, 2009

          Ekundayo Bandele, founder and artistic director of the Hatttiloo Theatre, has grasped just the right touch for the 1927 God's Trombones, a compilation of music and poetic sermons by James Weldon... Expand

    • Member
      Reviews

      • Member Reviews

        Add review/comment

        • Event Name: God's Trombones (A Musical)
          3 out of 5 stars rating "Hattiloo's season-opening God's Trombones is not a play."
          Review posted by: Bo List - ArtsMemphis Rants & Raver from Memphis, TN, Aug 31, 2009

          Hattiloo Theatre's season-opening God's Trombones is not a play. This is not a judgment, rather it is an observation. A production like this, based on the 1927 collection of poems by James Weldon... Expand

        • Event Name: God's Trombones (A Musical)
          "God's Trombones"
          Comment posted by: Billy Pullen - ArtsMemphis Rants & Ravers from Memphis, TN, Aug 24, 2009

          Ekundayo Bandele, founder and artistic director of the Hatttiloo Theatre, has grasped just the right touch for the 1927 God's Trombones, a compilation of music and poetic sermons by James Weldon... Expand

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