It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues is a musical revue written by Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor, and Dan Wheetman. It was originally produced at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and later presented by the Crossroads Theatre, in association with San Diego Repertory Theatre and Alabama Shakespeare Festival in New York.
The revue traces the history of "blues" music with more than three dozen songs. Ron Taylor acted as singing narrator. It was directed by Randal Myler with movement by Donald McKayle.
It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues started as a Denver Center Theater Company school touring show in circa 1994. The Denver Center production played at the Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.), in November 1996. It subsequently opened in New York at the New Victory Theater in March 1999 for a limited run, and then transferred to Broadway. It opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on April 26, 1999, transferred to the Ambassador Theatre on 9/7/1999, and ran until January 9, 2000, with 284 performances.
In 2011, the show was revived by the New Haarlem Arts Theater at the Aaron Davis Hall on the City College of New York campus.
Read more about It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues: Cast, Songs (partial)
Famous quotes containing the word blues:
“The blues women had a commanding presence and a refreshing robustness. They were nurturers, taking the yeast of experience, kneading it into dough, molding it and letting it grow in their minds to bring the listener bread for sustenance, shaped by their sensibilities.”
—Rosetta Reitz, U.S. author. As quoted in The Political Palate, ch. 10, by Betsey Beaven et al. (1980)