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Dancing Queen
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| Kimberly “Q” delivered an engaging if not altogether enlightening portrayal of the vaudeville diva in the recent J’ai Deux Amours … A Journey With Josephine Baker, at True Brew. |
On a recent Sunday, I rode my bike down to the True Brew Theater in order to see J’ai Deux Amours … A Journey With Josephine Baker. At the counter, I was served a coffee by Roch Eshleman, a young man known to all in the theater world for various and sundry ventures, including a box office company he founded that handles reservations for Southern Rep, among other places. He is also the new owner of True Brew.
For the moment, Roch is, as he put it, “honoring” the theater’s previous commitments, most of which have to do with actor/director/ producer Dane Rhodes. Meanwhile, the 22-year-old Roch is concentrating on learning the ropes in the coffee-shop business. So is the rest of his family. His father, mother and sister were at work, serving, busing tables and mopping floors, while I sipped my coffee.
J’ai Deux Amours is the title of one of Josephine Baker’s hit songs. The two “loves” in question are Paris and her own country, for Baker was born in poverty in East St. Louis and became the epitome of glamour and show-biz success in the Jazz Age capital of old Europe.
The one-woman bio-drama was written and performed by New York actress Kimberly “Q.” (Christopher Siren, discretely tucked away at an onstage upright piano, handled the accompaniment, for the show features lots of music) The set (by David Raphel) was a dressing room. There was a makeup table, a chaise lounge, several posters of “La Baker” and lots of vampy outfits suitable for Mata-harrying the Nazis or taking your pet leopard for a stroll down the boulevard.
Kimberly (I can’t bring myself to call her “Q”) is an attractive, vibrant lady, who appears in a golden leotard and announces that she will bring the spirit of the legendary vaudeville diva back to life. The first step involves the donning of a Folies Bergeres type get-up — plumed turban, large collar with pearls and one of those discreet, low-slung, belt-like affairs that by some erotic jujitsu turn your thoughts to what it conceals. Costumes are the visuals of the show throughout, and they become a sort of symbol toward the end, when Josephine falls on some rough times. At one point, a mob of villagers ransack her castle hideaway. They cause a lot of damage, and Josephine is already deeply in debt due to her 12 adopted children, not to mention her extravagant lifestyle. But, by a lucky twist of fate, her gowns are spared. These flimsy couturier creations, in which she has bluffed her way to worldwide fame, are in fact worth a fortune. They help see her through, until she can make a show-biz comeback.
There is no doubt that Josephine Baker is one of the great show-biz personalities of the 20th century. She had her own version of that indefinable voltage that makes for stardom. This was a woman famous for cooch dances, who sang in a surprisingly light, high voice. She got picked up at a young age by someone with a traveling black show troupe who saw her dancing on the streets of St. Louis to earn money. Her first fame, as I recall (although it wasn’t dealt with in Deux Amours) was a staggering ability to make funny faces in rapid succession. Anyway, she went to New York City and got herself cast in the chorus of Eubie Blake’s 1921 musical Shuffle Along. Then she landed a job with a theater company headed for Paris. Soon she became perhaps the most photographed lady in France. She was awarded the Legion D’Honneur, married a count, did undercover work for the Resistance and etcetera and etcetera — with each etcetera more amazing than the last.
There is also no doubt that Kimberly “Q” is a compelling stage presence. She dominates the room and at the same time, paradoxically, connects in a personal way with her audience. On the afternoon I saw the show, she got a warm, standing ovation from a roomful of strangers. They gave you the feeling they would have liked to go home with her.
I have to say, however, that as much as I enjoyed Kimberly “Q” and as much as I’m a (vicarious) fan of Josephine Baker, I didn’t feel the former really captured the latter. Of course that may be my problem. For instance, Vaslav Nijinsky is another of my (vicarious) heroes. I once got a tape of Rudolf Nureyev dancing a recreation of Nijinksy’s famous Ballet Russe choreography of The Afternoon of a Faun. All I could think while watching was that Nijinsky must have been utterly and completely different. I was left with more questions than answers.
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