From Broadway To 52nd Street

Ain’t Misbehavin’ opened at the Longacre Theatre on May 8, 1978 and ran for 1604 performances, establishing it as one of the blockbuster musicals of Broadway. Thomas “Fats” Waller who left an indelible imprint on the music by the time of his death at age 41 composed the music that included jazz favorites “Ain’t Misbehavin”, “Honeysuckle Rose” and “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Right Myself A Letter”. Richard Maltby directed Nell Carter, Andre Deshields, Armelia Mcqueen and Ken Page.

The Story: Began performance at the Manhattan Theatre Club, this musical retrospective of the life of Fats Waller, master of the stride piano, comedian, last of the great Black minstrel showmen, uses his songs written with various lyrics. In spirit, Ain’t Misbehavin’ evokes the late days of Prohibition when “vipers” smoked “reefers” and bootleg booze could be the worst or the best depending on the source of supply. Title song first sung in the 1929 revue “Hot Chocolates”. The musical won a Grammy in 1978 for Best Cast Show Album.

Broadway History: By the Seventies Broadway is a disheveled cornucopia of porn shows, strip clubs, drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, runaways, hustlers and street people. The American Musical was not dissuaded by this environment as it morphed into a cultural consciousness during the Seventies to become an instrument of social commentary bringing plays with mixed casts like Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Two Gentlemen From Verona and the longest running play on the avenue A Chorus Line. Though the country was still reeling from Vietnam, plays like Company gave audiences an opportunity to view middle-class morality and their problems. Black audiences got to see shows like Bubbling Brown Sugar, Timbuktu, Eubie and Purlie opening up the stage for more Black actors and musicals to shine on the Great White Way.

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