Ella Fitzgerald was called the "First Lady of Song" and "Ella" at the Repertory Theater of St. Louis delivers a first-rate evening of entertainment with superb music and wonderful story.
"Ella" is not a one-woman show in the usual sense but in a way it is. Tina Fabrique as Ella Fitzgerald shares the stage, and sometimes the spotlight, with other actors playing her band and manager, but just like the real legendary jazz bebop songbird, they are really just her backups.
Fabrique's fabulous performance dominates the evening. She truly is the whole show.
"Ella" uses the occasion of a concert rehearsal and performance in Nice, France, late in Fitzgerald's career. Ella Fitzgerald was a world famous singer with a remarkable voice and a legendary career.
She was a big woman with a bigger voice and a remarkable style that set her apart from other singers in the late big band jazz era of the '40s and '50s. The era is the birth of cool, the same era as Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack.
"Ella" delivers plenty outstanding music, along with laughs and tears and the tale of a remarkable life. There was nothing ordinary about this life. In the first half of the play, Fitzgerald prepares for her concert she looks back on her life, both the highs and lows.
We get a sample of Ella's music as she relives her beginnings. Born poor and growing up in an abusive household where her older sister was her lifeline, the then-skinny black teen ran away from home, won a talent contest at the legendary Apollo Theater and then got her big break from big band leader Chick Webb.
The second half of the play has Ella performing, while engaging in very personal and warm patter with the audience. Both her career and her personal life and romances are mixed in with occasional songs. And such songs, performed with such style by Tina Fabrique.
It has to be an intimidating thing to be cast as one of the greatest jazz singers of all time, yet Fabrique seems born to the role. Her acting is wonderful and she creates a full and warm character, but the quality of her singing clearly took the audience by surprise. One had the sensation that she was channeling the great singer and we had been transported back in time to one of her concerts.
In the second half of the play, the performance became so real that the audience gave its standing ovation to the last musical number, and the curtain call was replaced by an encore. The effect was magical.
Fabrique was certainly well-supported in her powerful and engaging performance. The set, the performance hall first as it looked for rehearsal and later decorated in colorful, big-budget show biz style, and costumes, first casual period attire then sequined gown and tuxes, were perfect. The other actors and musicians supported her, and the illusion, well, helping make the effect seamless.
Rob Ruggiero directs the production with style. Ruggiero and Dyke Garrison conceived the play, with a story written by Jeffrey Hatcher. The cast also includes George Caldwell, Thad Wilson, Rodney Harper and Clifton Kellem as Fitzgerald's band and various people from her past, and Harold Dixon plays her manager Norman Granz.
"Ella" is the last production of the Rep's '07-'08 season. The Rep is located on the Webster University campus at 130 Edgar Road. For information on tickets, and bargain rate rush tickets for students, call the Rep at 314-968-4925 or visit their Web site at http://www. repstl.org. "Ella" runs through April 13.
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