Sharon E. Scott's voice brings Mahalia Jackson to life
By John Fleming, Times Performing Arts Critic
In Print: Wednesday, October 21, 2009
PHOTO BY DESMOND CLARK | Special to the Times
Sharon E. Scott stars at Studio@620. The show had difficulties, but the soaring music more than redeemed it.
Sharon E. Scott is sensational in her singing of the hits of Mahalia Jackson, giving a riveting performance in the musical numbers of her play about the legendary gospel singer, Just As I Am: The Life, the Times, the Voice of Mahalia Jackson.
Scott is a beloved performer in the Tampa Bay area, and she has never been better than in belting out Move on Up a Little Higher, We Shall Overcome, This Little Light of Mine and other spirituals, turning the Studio@620 into a cross between holy-rolling church and hard-rocking blues joint. She also acts the part of Jackson with passionate conviction, especially in scenes that depict tense encounters with a crooked concert promoter and brutal Mississippi motorcycle trooper, two of the multiple roles played by Steve Garland.
Scott also wrote the script of the play, and that is much less successful than her performance. In particular, there is a long, hapless scene in the first act between Mahalia and her old friend Louis, a Chicago DJ played by Garland, that stops the show dead in its tracks. In trying to cover just about every significant episode of Jackson's life, the script gets bogged down in minutiae, losing the dramatic momentum of her extraordinary story.
The production, directed by Bob Devin Jones, features three video screens that display photos and text on Jackson's life. These were a distraction on opening night Friday, when the technology malfunctioned.
But none of the problems with the script or the staging matter when Scott sings, deftly supported by pianist Ozanda W. Gray Jr. Though she has a big voice, she never overwhelms the intimate space. Her diction is precise, her intonation secure, her phrasing expressive. And when Scott kicks out the jams, she is like a musical force of nature.
Just as I Am has performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg. $15, $20. (727) 895-6620; studio620.org.
Dharma bum: Jack Kerouac's last interview — on William F. Buckley's Firing Line in 1969 — is the setting for The End of the Road by Steve A. Rowell and David A. McElroy, who plays Kerouac. The play, directed by Marilyn McGinnis, opens at 9 tonight and runs through Sunday as part of the after hours series at American Stage, St. Petersburg. Pay what you can. (727) 823-7529; americanstage.org.
More music: PBS airs Gustavo Dudamel's debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at 8 tonight on WEDU-Ch. 3. The program: John Adams' new symphony City Noir and Mahler's First Symphony.
• Soprano Sandra Lynne Locher has an artful program that includes German lieder by Hugo Wolf, arias by Handel and Puccini, and Messiaen's Trois Melodies. Locher, with pianist Constantine Grame, sings these and more at 4 p.m. Sunday at the historic Springs Theatre, 8209 N Nebraska Ave., Tampa. $10-$20. (813) 239-9707.
John Fleming can be reached at fleming@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8716. He blogs on Critics Circle at blogs.tampabay.com/arts.
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