Last night I was privileged to see the closing of the beautifully produced one-woman show Josephine and I; written and performed by the incredibly warm hearted Cush Jumbo and directed by Phyllida Lloyd.
It’s crazy that saying “art imitates life”, challenged with “life imitates art”- well whichever is true for you, was the case for us. Accompanied by the always stylin’ Andrew Shade (BroadwayBlack’s founder) we’d both found ourselves on quite the Easter Egg hunt this Resurrection Sunday. Arriving past curtain, in a bit of a sweat and rather upset, at ourselves, but upset nonetheless,- the two of us were lost in translation from there. Naturally the frustration in us met sweat and upset at the door because we were late on the closing day of a performance of a lifetime- you understand. Driven by our sensitive passion, we were were taken care of very graciously by the Public box office staff for the final performance that evening. So we paid for our tickets and let it all go-
Until a girl dressed in a winter coat and scarf, running on stage, late in a sweat and rather upset along with her dog she takes everywhere, begins speaking. Huffing and puffing she apologizes and explains that she’s running over from her 7th callback for a spin off of a crime-show series, “not saying which”, begins commanding the lighting gods to shine her with that good ol’ stage light, that she’s ready. Someone takes her dog and she begins with the story. Suspended in theatrical disbelief (or choiceful ig’nance) I turned to Drew, Is this part of the show? gently he said “Yeah– yeah. That’s was us earlier today. It was meant for us to see this performance.”
Born into poverty in the slums of St. Louis, Josephine Baker became one of the most famous and groundbreaking stars of the 20th century. The first African-American performer to rise to international prominence, she was a French Resistance spy and civil rights activist who was married twice by age 16 and served as muse to Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, who called her “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw.” Now, nearly forty years after her death, Baker’s life inspires a young woman to face up to the sacrifices required to follow one’s dreams.
Playing in Joe’s Pub (a nightclubesque bar and restaurant), I expected more of speakeasy style performance but immediately let that go when Cush ran in late in a sweat and rather upset and with her dog, for whatever reason. Accepted so graciously by a mostly white audience, this “high yellow” gifted us with a performance that was “jazzy and black” – “needy and white” – said by Josephine, who at a young age began working for a highly acclaimed nightclub. The performance whoozed by with laughs and giggles and aaahs as Cush graced us with a black female character “that wasn’t the maid.”
The audience seemed to take interest to the awareness of racial conflict, showed a bit of confusion at the ‘shade system’ Josephine spoke about, but were enthralled when she included us in the show, breaking that fourth wall. [I have a question actors: Do you like when the audience plays back once you break that 4th wall?] Some people in the audience seemed to enjoy it, some didn’t think they could “touch the statue”, some looked at Mommy for approval [there was a child present]- but all in all, it was welcomed. A black woman was vulnerable on stage telling her own story because she wanted to- and it was welcomed. The 2 hour performance was beautiful and seemed to cover so many topics about Josephine’s life and the life of the girl portraying her. You never really get the name of “the girl” but she drove the narrative about Josephine that helped you understand and relate to both characters in a very smooth way that you wouldn’t have without the two together.
We were able to speak with Cush later that evening who thanked us as we thanked her. She expressed how excited she was about what Broadway Black stands for and admires our openness to talk openly and positively about black bodies on stage. She saluted us and we saluted her for a magnetic performance that truly brought up a lot of thought, wonder, questions, and possible solutions in all of us present.
It was brilliance.
