MAHALIA: A powerful performance
Piano Lesson
I got no right not to sing," says Mahalia Jackson in Swift Creek Mill's "Mahalia." "It's a gift from God for His glory."
As much can be said of Cora Harvey Armstrong, the vocal powerhouse who plays iconic gospel singer Jackson in Tom Stolz's musical biography. Armstrong has a great big voice, packed with musicality and spirit, and she's the reason to see this reprise of Swift Creek's 1998 production.
Joining Armstrong this time are her sister, Virginia Harvey Young, and Tim Harris, both of whom play a variety of roles. They're excellent singer/actors, and they're accompanists, too, on piano and organ. Among the chief delights of this production, though, are the few occasions when these three combine voices in magical unaccompanied harmony. It's simply beautiful.
Stolz's book is a slight thing, a sketchy telling of Jackson's life that manages to leave out her two marriages and divorces. He concentrates on her young womanhood in 1920s New Orleans under the care of an aunt; her move to Chicago to escape Jim Crow and to study nursing; and her installation in the choir of a Windy City church that frowns on her undignified clapping and swaying while singing. There's a bit about her collaboration with songwriter Thomas A. Dorsey, her landmark concert at Carnegie Hall and her long association with the civil rights movement.
Slightly more interesting is Stolz's emphasis on Jackson's strong and deep commitment to her religion and her God, which she credits for her talent and her success. There are gentle chuckles, too, about the rolls of cash she stashes about her person, and the fearfulness of her longtime accompanist, Mildred, played by Young.
Swift Creek artistic director Tom Width strikes the perfect modest note with his set and lighting, and he elicits charming performances from each of his actors. Costume designer Maura Lynch Cravey merits special mention for the well-chosen attire, glittery but not glitzy.
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