On the Fly—Other Places We've Been,
Things We've Seen

By the Red-Eye Crew
SeeingBlack.com Contributing Writers

A Reprise for "The Island"

In reprising roles in "The Island" that won them world acclaim 30 years ago, John Kani and Winston Ntshona have brought gray hair, baldness, wrinkles and a paunch to the show. They have also maintained their startling brilliance at transporting an audience, using a nearly empty stage, to a prison cell on South Africa's notorious Robben Island during the era of apartheid. Much of the play focuses on rehearsals for another play as the two political prisoners prepare to present Sophocles's Antigone. The climax of their production is Antigone's defense of her moral and human rights in the face of unjust laws and tyrannical rulers. This strategy by playwright Athol Fugard to expose apartheid's evil and hypocrisy is stark and easily understood by the end. But for much of the play, the gravity of South Africa's political situation takes a backseat as it-with much humor and profanity--focuses more on personalizing the two Black men. On the evening we saw them at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Kani and Ntshona gave added emphasis in the script to how people, like those in South Africa opposed to apartheid, were referred to as terrorists. With a quick emphasis and a change in their lines, they connected this island of the past to the present. —November 2001

Martial Arts on a Mission

Long before the big splash of the film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Fred Ho was constructing what has become "Once Upon A Time in Chinese America," a full-scale martial arts ballet and music-theater production for the stage. The one-hour show offers a 17th-century martial arts legend as an allegory for Ho's take on how the modern-day Asian American Movement was destroyed by a combination of betrayal and opportunism.

Premiering at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival on November 7, the show was energetic, filled with humor, a swinging jazz score and, as an allegory, was not weighed down by either didacticism or preaching. Telling the story is narrator Shyaporn Theerakulstit as a multi-cultural cast of martial artists portrays various warriors of the Shaolin temple and the Imperial Court. The production is at its best when it highlights the strength and action of the martial arts masters. Before the show goes on its national tour in 2003, writers Ho and Ruth Margraff, as well as director Mira Kingsley, should tighten up the dialogue at the start, insure that the beginning is as easy to follow, and is as swinging as the middle and finale. —November 2001

Femi Kuti's Party and Passion

Those of us living in African America are not unaccustomed to partying to a beat about our pain and pathology. Remember Gil Scot-Heron's "Angel Dust?" But little of our experience prepares us for the torrent of emotion, social commentary and fierce musical abandon of Femi Kuti.

On his new album, "Fight To Win," which he has toured in support of in recent weeks, he continues to be Africa's synthesis of 60's soul, 70's funk, 80's decadence and 90's conscious rap. He is sooo current that he easily segways from Africa's suffocating poverty to the fertile ground that yields young "terrorists." At Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club, he sang, played on his saxophone and mixed new cuts with those from his first album, "Shoki, Shoki."

He spoke on topics ranging from African history to the "Traitors of Africa," specifically today's dictators and corrupt bureaucrats who continue to destroy his beloved, native Nigeria. Accompanied by a full band, including a bold horn section and those three swiveling dancers, he also made some questionable choices in his line-up, like following the song "Fight AIDS" with his party anthem "Beng, Beng, Beng," which talks about, well, you know, folks who go bang in the night, probably bareback. (www.femikutimusic.com) —October 2001

The Bitter and the Sweet…

We are here to bear witness that Sweet Honey in the Rock TORE DOWN D.C's Warner Theater on October 21. It is not clear if the many folks in attendance knew what they were in store for but, if they didn't know, Bernice Johnson Reagon soon made it very clear. Within the mix of soulful ballads, spirituals and goddess harmonies, Reagon let everyone know that this was not a concert in support of warmongering, flag waving, or for forgetting racism, sexism and the consequences of our country's history.

During a rendition of "By and By," it seemed like folks might actually start shouting, especially on the refrain, "We'll tell the story of how we've overcome. And we'll understand it better by and by." At some point, Reagon marched around the stage, invoking a power greater than any power in this world and showering it throughout the room. We were feeling it. —October 2001

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