WINSTON-SALEM – Mangin Media‘s How High the Moon: The Music of Ella Fitzgerald swung the Gerald Freedman Theatre Tuesday afternoon with a concert of songs made famous by “The First Lady of Song,” Ella Fitzgerald. Conceived and directed by Rob Ruggiero, it starred Tina Fabrique and a stellar band.
The show will be performed twice again on Wednesday (July 31) at 2 and 8 p.m.
Fabrique swept onto the stage glittering from shoulder to hem in midnight sparkles and launched into “It Don’t Mean a Thing (if it ain’t got that swing),” Duke Ellington‘s song that ushered in “swing” music.
Fabrique was partnered throughout the show by a virtuoso band: Music Director George Caldwell on piano, Ron Haynes on trumpet, Rodney Harper on drums, and Nolan Nwachukwu on bass.
Next came “Lullaby of Birdland,” a song George Shearing famously wrote in 10 minutes in 1952. George and Ira Gershwin‘s “Fascinating Rhythm” followed, then their “S’Wonderful.”
Sam Coslow‘s “Mr. Paganini” was perfect for Fabrique’s – and Ella’s – agile scatting. Actually titled “You’ll Have to Swing It,” the song contains the line “Mr. Paganini, please play my rhapsody” and has become known by the name of the 18th- and 19th-century Italian composer.
The musicians performed a wonderfully upbeat “Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin and a soulful “Someday He’ll Come Along” by the Gershwins.
Explaining that Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong and Ella were lifelong friends who made three albums together, Fabrique invited trumpet-player and Satchmo-style singer Ron Haynes to join her center-stage.
Haynes added great counterpoint scatting to Fabrique’s fine singing on Berlin’s “Dancing Cheek to Cheek,” the Gershwin brothers’ “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off ” and their “Our Love Is Here To Stay.”
“Flying Home” by Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman was followed by Ella’s 1938 breakout hit “A-Tisket A-Tasket” that she co-wrote with Van Alexander. A soulful “I’ll Never Be the Same” by Matty Malneck and Frank Signorelli was followed by “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” by the Gershwins.
The concert climaxed with a rollicking version of “That Old Black Magic” by Harold Arlen, and the show’s titular song – one of Ella’s best-known – “How High the Moon” by Morgan Lewis.
Fabrique came back for a well-deserved encore with “Lady Be Good,” by the prolific Gershwin brothers.
Tina Fabrique is a renowned interpreter of Fitzgerald’s canon. While she didn’t exactly sound like Ella, she didn’t need to. She has a nimble, emotive, and distinctive voice of her own.
The concert provided only the most basic biographical information about Ella Fitzgerald, but what it lacked in theatricality, if more than made up for in musicianship.
Besides How High the Moon, the International Black Theatre Festival is presenting the heritage, the history, and the newest American and African theatre experience with more than 120 theatrical performances, an international colloquium, a free film festival, and more between now and Aug. 3.
How High the Moon has one more performance at the Gerald Freedman Theatre on July 31 at 8 PM.
