You don't want to miss 'Paradise Blue' at Ensemble with an all-star cast. TET_Houston
Back in the 1930s and 1940s, a prosperous, predominantly Black community thrived just east of downtown Detroit. By the 1960s, that neighborhood, known as Black Bottom, and its commercial district known as Paradise Valley, had been razed to the ground in the name of urban renewal., now playing over at The Ensemble Theatre, we are transported back to 1949 and a fictious jazz club, owned by the mercurial trumpeter Blue, in a community on the brink.
To call the talent assembled for this production all-star is not an overstatement. Just Google some of the names when you get a chance. You’ll find multiple glowing reviews . If anything, a collection of talent like this is enough reason to see a show – any show – period and, in a surprise to absolutely no one, they deliver. Oh boy, do they deliver.
As Pumpkin, Crystal Rae is the wide-eyed innocent. Naïve to the point of being childlike, and far from self-possessed. Rae embodies a youthful energy and awkwardness, speaking with wide gestures and in starts and stops. Rae’s Pumpkin is often contrasted with Liz Rachelle’s Silver, and their scenes together are easily some of the production’s best.
Brandon J. Morgan is the frustrated and suspicious P-Sam. But he is a natural charmer, and slick, too. With Morgan’s great sense of timing and knack for humor, any time he’s on stage is a joy to watch.
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