Playwright: David Barr III and Joe Plumme. At: Black Ensemble at the Uptown. Hull House Center, 4520 N. Beacon. Phone: 773-769-4451; $45
. Runs through: March 22
Despite his inclusion in the roster of the Atlantic Records "Soul Clan"—a fraternity boasting crooner Ben E. King, shouter Solomon Burke and slinker Wilson Pickett—the reputation of Joe Tex, born Joseph Arrington, Jr., remains curiously restricted. Even at the peak of his career, you were likely to hear his music only in the Southern states, in predominantly Black conclaves. This might have been a factor prompting him to settle in that region, following his conversion to the Nation of Islam in 1966 and retirement from performing. Whatever his reasons, his self-imposed seclusion facilitates the premise of David Barr III and Joe Plummer's play, set in 1981 on the occasion of Tex's 48th birthday party, to which his former colleagues have come in hopes of persuading him to join them on a reunion tour.
Devotees of Black Ensemble's musical biodramas don't ask for much in the way of plot beyond the minimum necessary to place the headliner's artistic legacy into context. Barr and Plummer, however, are not content merely to serve as emcees to a string of warbles and hoofs. Their text may fall short of August Wilson's profundity, but nevertheless builds its spoken-word dynamic on a consistent and recognizable foundation, where the distinction between external progress and inner turmoil is always clearly delineated, the hero's struggle to reconcile his religious convictions and troubled past with his expedient desires is explored with candid compassion, and the anticipated resolution is hindered by just enough doubt to earn our emotional investment in its outcome.
None of this, however, impedes the music that is the evening's main attraction—a program delivering plenty of communal hand-clapping, toe-tapping, shoulder-twitching, sing-along ( and at one point, dance-along ) exuberance. BET regular Lyle Miller wins our sympathies as the shyly ambivalent Tex, but is almost eclipsed by the floods of effusive warmth forthcoming from the trio of Daryl D. Brooks, Trinity P. Murdock and Magellan Watts, who replicate the vocals and—with amazing accuracy—the physical appearance of their respective personae, the aforementioned Burke, Pickett and King. Jimmy Tillman's orchestra is in top form, likewise, its sturdy brass section featuring the show-stopping Hank Ford on saxophone. The results are a joyful noise sufficient to bring this hard-working company's plans for a new theater facility a step closer to fulfillment.
