“A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical” delivers a quite candid and revealing look into the life of this gifted performer. Playing at Studio 54 on West 54th Street, the musical depicts the trumpet player extraordinaire, singer, and actor who was a talented man who faced many obstacles and found himself face-to-face with the racism in this country.
Through the book by Aurin Squire, the audience gets to meet a man who grew up poor and struggled with his mother. A man who found his gift and love in being a musician and singer. A man who had looked at love in a cavalier way and paid the price for it. Armstrong’s story has levels that we can all identify with and some we may find hard to handle, but, no matter his talent, he was a man.
James Monroe Iglehart steps out on the stage and has been transformed into Armstrong. He seems to channel Armstrong’s spirit as he speaks, sings, and smiles as the great performer did. You can tell that Iglehart has a great deal of respect, love, and admiration for Armstrong as he painstakingly allows the audience to experience all the negatives, all the fun, and all the triumphs that Armstrong encountered in life. You also know this musical is close to his heart as he is also a co-director!
A large part of this musical depicts the ups and downs of Armstrong’s life and four marriages. Of course, a musical about Louis Armstrong is going to include a lot of fantastic vocal performances. Songs like “Oh, When the Saints Go Marching In,” “Hello, Dolly!,” and “What a Wonderful World,” had the audience going wild. The way that Iglehart delivered these songs was stunning. While, of course, the character of Armstrong is going to perform marvelous numbers, know that there are many more fantastic singing performances throughout this production. You will truly enjoy the songs performed by Louis’ four wives, wife #1, Daisy — stirringly portrayed by Dionne Figgins; wife #2 Lil, phenomenally played by Jennie Harney-Fleming; wife #3, Alpha, delightfully played by Kim Exum; and wife #4, Lucille — dynamically and passionately played by Darlesia Cearcy. Gavin Gregory also shines in his role as big band leader King Joe Oliver, his voice was marvelous.
This production features a brilliant cast that delivers riveting performances. In addition to the superb singing, there is the choreography, particularly the dazzling tap choreography of DeWitt Fleming Jr., who also performs in the production as Fate Marable, whose screen name was “Stepin Fetchit.” This musical has people with multiple irons in the fire. As I mentioned earlier, Iglehart is a co-director, an honor he shares with Christina Sajous. Christopher Renshaw who is listed as director, co-conceived this musical with Andrew Delapaine. There is marvelous music supervision, vocal and incidental music arrangement and additional orchestration by Daryl Waters, orchestrations and arrangements by Branford Marsalis, and choreography and musical staging by Rickey Tripp. There are also dance arrangements by Zane Mark, music direction by Darryl G. Ivey, and music contraction by David Lai.
The large, 26-member cast brings the energy and charm throughout the musical. They look like they are having a great time! Creativity flies off the charts with the costume designs of Toni-Leslie James, scenic and video design of Adam Koch and Steven Royal, lighting design by Cory Pattak, sound design by Kai Harada, wig and hair design by Matthew Armentrout, and makeup design by Kali Taylor.
James T. Lane also plays Louis Armstrong at certain performances. I was excited to know that they were going to do a musical about Louis Armstrong and when you experience it you will walk out saying “What a wonderful world!” Go and enjoy! For ticket information visit www.louisarmstrongmusical.com.