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by George Patterson
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

Jelly Roll! A Sweet Treat

The Historic New Orleans Collection, currently featuring a display of historical artifacts on New Orleans' jazz legend, Jelly Roll Morton, (and timed to coincide with Jazz Fest) in association with the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, recently presented, for 5 performances, the acclaimed musical biography called Jelly Roll! The Music And The Man, created by and starring New Orleans' native and Broadway star Vernel Bagneris, at Le Petit Theatre.

It was ninety minutes of pure bliss.

It was ninety minutes of incredible singing, dancing and, most of all, piano playing by Mr. Bagneris' musical partner and soul mate, the Norwegian Morten Gunnar Larsen, who has been with Mr. Bagneris since their 1979 New Orleans' bred One Mo' Time.

In those fleeting minutes the audience was regaled with twenty-three songs and musical numbers written by or made famous by the New Orleans Creole legend born Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe in 1885.

On a set designed by John Grimsley that evoked a balconied old New Orleans parlor, with Spanish shawl-draped grand piano, revolving ceiling fan, heavy red velour draperies, and potted palms, Mr. Larsen kept the intricate ragtime, foot-tapping, heavily synchopated music flowing, seemingly effortlessly, while Mr. Bagneris, turned out in pinstriped three-piece suit, spoke Morton's words, sang his songs, and danced with feet that seemed to float above the floor.

Created in 1995, several months into the run of Jelly's Last Jam, the bloated Broadway musical created by George C. Wolfe, that seemed to mock Morton's music and turned him into a racist and was not a success, Mr. Bagneris' show, which originated at Michael's Pub in New York, a cabaret, was an immediate hit, based as it is on a musical autobiography that Morton recorded at the Library of Congress in 1938.

Listening to a radio quiz show on which the question, "Who invented jazz?" was asked, with the program's answer being Eubie Blake, Mr. Morton was furious. He was the inventor and he proves it by deduction. If New Orleans is the cradle of jazz and he was born in New Orleans and Blake was born in Memphis...well....? We also learn the origin of his nick name and, of course, "jelly roll" does NOT refer to a bakery product.

In the hands of the estimable Mr. Bagneris, whose stage persona literally drips with charm and self-effacement, even a pompous braggert becomes sympathetic-Mr. Bagneris could make the devil himself warm and compassionate. When he dances, every second liner and flambeau carrier you've ever seen is recalled, especially on "Didn't He Ramble," "Milneburg Joys," "Tiger Rag," and "Ballin' The Jack." And in the also capable hands, and fingers, of Mr. Larsen, this music rips the roof off-especially the outrageous exercise called "Finger Breaker," which stopped the show and caused Mr. Larsen to have to shake the tenseness out of his arms, hands and oh so capable fingers.

The New Orleans edition was, in fact, a warm-up for a performance given at the Library of Congress on Apr. 25.

Bagneris and Larsen have created their own annuity with this show-which will last long after their stamina goes.

Tharp!

Another roof-ripper played New Orleans recently when the New Orleans Ballet Association presented, for the first time, the Twyla Tharp Dance Company in its newest program entitled simply, Tharp!--a program of three exciting dance pieces with decidedly autobiographical overtones.

The first, Heroes, an almost epic piece that she has described as her take on the notion of heroes and set to Philip Glass's Heroes Symphony which was inspired by music by David Bowie, is much more than a warmup for her company of 13-indeed it seems to put them through such strenuous and arduous paces that one wonders where the energy will be found for the rest of the evening.

Introducing us to three heroes, dressed in Kasia Walicka Maimone's silver pants (Roger C. Jeffrey, Nigel Burley and Andrew Robinson) the various sections are titled "Abdulmajid," "Sense of Doubt," "Neukoln" and "V2 Schneider," and one assumes the heroes Ms. Tharp is extolling are from WWII. With almost all exits accomplished walking backward, and with effective slow motion moves, the dancers exhibit astonishing control and the piece seems to eat itself up as it unspools movie-like.

A piece called Sweet Fields follows. Set to Hymns from William Billings, the Shaker tradition, and The Sacred Harp relates to Ms. Tharp's very early past. Yet another very rigorous dance that has to do with an anchor in faith, it recalls Martha Graham. It was originally called "Bluff Point," the name of the Quaker meeting house in Indiana attended by Tharp's relatives. Again standing out from the troupe was Jeffrey Robinson, who, as the preacher, seemed to preside over the proceedings which evoked the joy of communal faith juxtaposed against the sadness of death. But even as the cast bore aloft its dead, they came back to joyful life. Norma Kamali's white silk trousers and sheer flowing coats gave the dance a wonderful ethereal quality.

Ending the evening on a vintage Tharp note was a piece called 66. With a backdrop designed by Santo Loquasto of a highway juxtaposed against an enlarged map of the cities Route 66 goes through as it moves from east to west, this was clearly retro Tharp. Set to "bachelor-pad" music, it recalled her smooth, dreamy early work set to Frank Sinatra tunes-here we get Dean Martin's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head," along with "You're the Top," "Satan Takes a Holiday" and "Ebb Tide," among others.

Ms. Kamali's costumes had a decidedly 40's bobby soxer quality. Again grounded in autobiography, Ms. Tharp has recalled how her mother operated a drive-in movie theatre on the famous highway while her father operated a Chrysler dealership at the intersection of Route 66 and Rialto, CA. Combining trios, duets, quartets and one Old Man played ably by Shawn Mahoney, this bit of whimsy brought down the almost full house and resulted in a very well earned standing ovation.

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