Playwright: Jackie Taylor. At: Black Ensemble Theater, 4450 N. Clark St. Tickets: 773-769-4451; www.blackensembletheater.org; $55-65. Runs through: March 29
Nothing in this world happens alone. In order to keep its account of Curtis Mayfield's life and career within the limits of modern performance practice, Black Ensemble was required to excise enough material for another full-scale musicalso the savvy Jackie Taylor commandeered one. Now playing in repertory with the aforementioned biodrama, Chicago's Golden Soul expands the boundaries of his legacy to explore the Windy City music industry headquartered along what historians dubbed "Record Row."
Imagine an urban promenade, its sidewalks teeming with pedestrians packing guitars, horns, portable drums and thick folios of sheet music. That was South Michigan Avenue from 1964 to 1979specifically, the blocks between the studios of Chess Records at 2120 ( yes, just like in the Rolling Stones song ) and those of Vee-Jay at 1449where artists trawled for producers willing to give them an audition. The rhythm-and-blues melodies that would define the era might have been emerging in Detroit, Memphis and Philadelphia, too, but Chicago's inclusion in the pop pantheon is well-founded. When the second measure of an introductory riff draws cries of recognition from the back rows of the audience, we're not talking house concerts.
The show's generous exhibit of significant aural moments includes familiar classics such as "Raindrops" and "Hello, Stranger" ( hits for Dee Clark and Barbara Lewis, respectively ), as well as the indispensable "Duke of Earl," with Gene Chandler togged up his trademark top hat and tails. We are also acquainted with such legendary artifacts as Billy Stewart's James Brown-meets-Cab-Calloway arrangement of the retro-rep "Summertime." Ditties spawning the dance craze of the '60s and '70s are recognized, toothe Twist, the Twine and the "Go-Go-Gorilla" ( a heavy-duty version of the more mainstream "Monkey" ).
Even the cast of 10 Olympic-stamina vocalists eventually are forced to concede that "there's so many [songs], we can't do them all," as they exhort us to search the Internet for information that their play's text cannot supply. The Impressions, the Chi-Lites, a bevy of female chart-toppers and other luminaries whose photos and local rootsneighborhoods, alma materswe see displayed on video screens, are covered in medleys or countdowns, offering only brief hints of their influence. Since the refrain to "Welcome Home" takes on fresh resonance in 2014 and Dudley Owens' whinnying sax would electrify any room, any time, would it be too much to ask Taylor to write yet another show?