A Look at After Midnight at the Paper Mill Playhouse
New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse continues their 2023 – 2024 season with a rousing production of After Midnight. This show ran on Broadway from 2013 – 2014. It utilized the talents of a number of different artists both as regulars and replacements including Wynton Marsalis, Fantasia Barrino, Patti LaBella, Toni Braxton, and Vanessa Williams. The production was conceived by Jack Viertel.
For the presentation at the Paper Mill, press notes state that this is a “fresh, reimagined version, After Midnight intertwines the poetry of Langston Hughes with songs from big-band legends Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Harold Arlen, Dorothy Fields, and more.”
For the first time, this production features an all-Black design team, stage management team, music team, cast, and band. Music direction is by Sean Mayes. Scenic and lighting design is by Adam Honor. Azalea Fairly provides costume design. Sound design is by Sadah Espii Proctor. Hair and wig design is by Alfreda Howard.
This is a very enjoyable show to go to see. You will be dazzled by the music provided by a first class group of musicians in the band. The cast is superb. They sing and dance and allow those by gone years to bloom anew again.
What is After Midnight About?
After Midnight is a retrospective look back at the Harlem Renaissance. Running approximately from the 1910’s through the mid 1930’s, the Harlem Renaissance is considered to be a golden age in African American culture. This musical provides a chance to experience music and literature that would have been a part of that time.
The setting is the legendary Cotton Club where people knew to go to hear many of the greats of that era. Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong were among those who performed there. The patrons attending were white who gathered to see black artists perform. Yes, this was a time of segregation. One has to feel respect and admiration for the performers who played in the Club.
A unique feature of this show is that there is no overall story holding it all together. Instead, the audience experiences what someone might have experienced if they had gone to an actual show at the Cotton Club. So the songs and dancing give the show its content.
There is a good variety and a lot of it with 26 songs making up the score. Some are compositions by Duke Ellington and others come from Dorothy Fields, Ted Koehler and Harold Arlen and others as well.
However, even though there isn’t an overall story, there are still a number of smaller stories woven into the individual performances. You are invited to open your minds to what is said and done with songs and the music.
The opening and the closing of the show give one a chance to feel like they are actually arriving at and then leaving the Cotton Club. The stage is neatly set up as it represents the inside of a jazz club. However, it is pleasantly open so the dancers have plenty of room in which to perform.
Music
If you enjoy the era of music featured in the show, then you will be in music heaven. Under the direction of Sean Mayes, the on-stage orchestra plays brilliantly throughout the show.
The exquisite score features such hits as “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” “Stormy Weather,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” The Exit Music is “Take the ‘A’ Train” which is a great way to end a wonderful show.
And What a Cast this Show Has
An outstanding cast performs in this show. After Midnight stars Angela Birchett, Sasha Hutchings, Joshua Lamar, and James T. Lane. The cast also includes Stanley Martin, Aramie Payton, Destinee Rea, and Awa Sal Secka. Additionally, the cast includes Liv Symone, Harris Matthew Turner, Jasmine Pearl Villaroel, and Anthony Wayne.
The cast includes outstanding singers and dancers. The costumes are lovely including many gowns that sparkle and glow adding glamour to the setting.
Go to See After Midnight
Treat yourself this month and go to the Paper Mill Playhouse to see After Midnight. The show is an absolute joy to see. You will be tapping your feet as you watch the production unfold.
After Midnight runs at the Paper Mill Playhouse through February 25, 2024.
The show is 90 minutes and performed without an intermission.
For more information about the show, visit the Paper Mill’s website. You can locate the link for purchasing tickets on that site.
Visit the Gallery’s Exhibit about the Harlem Renaissance
Be sure to take some time to visit the Paper Mill’s Gallery to see their exhibit Afrofuturism: 100 Years After the Harlem Renaissance. This exhibit runs concurrently with After Midnight and is a fine way to celebrate Black History Month.
This exhibition is curated by Atim Annette Oton of Calabar Gallery. It features the work of African, African American, and Caribbean artists. The focus is on the way they are using AfroFuturism to center reclamation, black liberation, and revisioning of the past and predictions of the future through a black cultural lens.
The Gallery at Paper Mill is free and open to the public daily 12:00–6:00 PM.