Kudos to hair and makeup designer Corey Cochran.Ĭiarra Stroud, as Armelia, was equally talented and feisty in her song “Squeeze Me,” and I loved her wavy red hair.
Key also wore sparkly, bright-red eyeshadow and had a sassy haircut. Autumn Key, as Nell, was phenomenal, and I especially enjoyed her number “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling.” She was super-sultry and sexy, and as outfitted by costume designer Damarius Kennedy, Key was decked out in a well-fitted, silky, red dress with a large flower in her hair. The performers present an evening of rowdy, raunchy, and humorous songs that capture the different moods of the era and reflect Waller’s view of life.
Timber Lake's latest boasts five cast members, and their characters are listed in the program, and during Friday's show they introduced each other using their real names. At times, the musicians also clapped along to the songs. And those musicians were outstanding, treating us all to a big-band sound complete with drums/percussion (Ben Heppner), bass (Deana Deal), reeds (Cathy James), trumpet (Jon Rarick), and trombone (Joe Titus). Michael McBride, the keyboard player and music director, was seated at his piano in a sunken circle carved out in the middle of the stage, and there was an extravagant structure that resembled a marquee that was lit up and framed the stage.Īin't Misbehavin's band was seated upstage and elevated underneath a beautifully fancy ruby-red curtain. The overall feel of the evening’s festivities was that of a cabaret, with Matt McClure's set designed to look like a smoky nightclub with round side tables covered in white tablecloths. The joint was really jumping at the Timber Lake Playhouse on Friday as the company presented its rendition of Ain’t Misbehavin', an energetic tribute to the songs of Thomas “Fats” Waller.ĭirected and choreographed by Donterrio Johnson, this musical revue has a book by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby Jr., with tunes by various composers and lyricists as arranged and orchestrated by Luther Henderson, and it's set in the 1930s, when Manhattan nightclubs including the Cotton Club, Savoy Ballroom, and Waldorf were the playgrounds of the high society.