Last night, as part of Shakespeare in Washington, the Kennedy Center staged Such Sweet Thunder — a performance that combined the words of Shakespeare and the music of Washington's son, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington. The show combined musical, theatrical, dance, and narrative elements, all inspired by Shakespeare's work, to create a unique event. While the singularity and the quality of many of the performers made for an enjoyable night, the whole was less than the sum of its parts. The production fell short of its potential for brilliance because of choices made in the structure and pacing of the show.

Avery Brooks, best known for his portrayal of Captain Benjamin Sisko on the television series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, hosted and acted in the performance. The show also featured three other actors, two vocalists, local dance students, and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra ("SMJO"). The music came from Such Sweet Thunder, a thirty-five minute Shakespeare inspired jazz suite composed in 1957 by Ellington and his most important collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. The pieces were not meant to serve as a score to Shakespeare's plays, rather they were written as the composers' personal reactions to individual characters and moments within the plays.

The show began with short introductory speeches by Brooks and Mercedes Ellington, the choreographer of the dance elements. The show was then divided into segments with each devoted to a different Shakespearean play. Each segment began with Brooks telling a story, usually involving amusing quotes of Ellington's take on the particular play. The actors then performed a reading from the play that was followed by the SMJO playing the corresponding piece from Such Sweet Thunder.

Photo of Duke Ellington provided by The Kennedy Center

The actors were the shining point of the performance with their spirited portrayal of what was essentially a "greatest hits" of passages from Shakespeare. Joining Brooks were experienced Shakespearean actors Helen Carey, David Costabile, and Karen Pittman. The actors, performing with scripts in hand, absolutely delighted in the text and exuded enthusiasm and verve. In a segment entitled "The Telecasters," the players delivered a scene that juxtaposed one of Iago's soliloquies from Othello with the three witches "double-double, toil and trouble" passage from the Scottish play. In "The Madness of Great Ones," lines from Hamlet were set to music via a delightful duet between SMJO trumpet player Joey Tartell and spoken lines. The show concluded with "Perchance to Dream," a segment where each actor read passages that evoked powerful imagery of dreams, sleep, and the stars.

The SMJO, with conductor David N. Baker, was the other central "character" of the performance. The big band consisted of some of the finest musicians in the area including bassist James King, saxophonist Lyle Link, and trumpetist Tom Williams. The group created an authentic reproduction of the classic Ellington sound complete with vibrato filled sax solis, high pitched trumpet stabs, and plunger muted trombones. The ensemble delivered strong performances throughout, but they especially stood out on "The Telecasters," a baritone sax feature, the delightfully titled "Hank Cinq," named for Henry V, and "Circle of Fourths," an uptempo swinger. The balance was perfect through most of the performance, however during some of the uptempo passages it was difficult to hear the soloists over the ensemble background.

Vocalists Darby Dizard and Marion Cowings joined the band for three segments wherin they used Shakespeare's words as lyrics to the music. While both had strong voices and delivered entirely acceptable performances, there was something that did not quite mesh between their vocals and the unadulterated swing of the big band. This might be because of the the lyric's iambic pentameter created odd phrasing within the music. At points, the singers were also a bit too operatic in their delivery and thus did not seem to fit in context. Perhaps using two pure jazz singers would have been a better choice. Interestingly, the best vocal performance came from Brooks who sang the standard, "In My Solitude." Though his delivery was the least precise out of the three singers, it had a passion the other vocalists did not produce.

Likewise, there seemed to be some minor awkward moments involving the dancers, who performed on "Lady Mac," a tune inspired by Lady MacBeth, and "Half the Fun," inspired by Antony and Cleopatra. The dancers came from the Washington School of Ballet, Howard University, and Catholic University. The choreography was imaginative and the inclusion of a dance element definitely added flair to the proceedings and evoked the big band era. While the dancers delivered strong individual performances, there were moments where the ensemble was not quite in unison. In certain moments this was clearly by design, but at others it may not have been so. The show was put together in a relatively short period of time and the dancers were taken from different ensembles, so it did not seem as though they ever had the chance to develop a strong group sympatico.

The one truly weak element of the show was its pacing. This problem existed, in part, because Such Sweet Thunder had to grow from a thirty-five minute musical piece into a two hour show. Though the show was billed as a meeting of the minds between Ellington and Shakespeare, in terms of stage time the balance shifted in favor of Shakespeare. In order to compensate, the show had to incorporate the introductory elements that described Ellington's interpretation of each piece. While these segues were often amusing, they took the energy out of the performance and were essentially filler material. Further, they served to disengage the audience because hearing Duke's interpretation deprived us of the ability to bring our own imaginations to the performance. These segments put too literal a point on the evocative imagery of the poetry, music, and dance.

Though the show had its shortcomings, we applaud the Kennedy Center for such an ambitious undertaking. Despite these flaws, the event was worth the price of admission. We simply note that with few tweaks here and there, a re-staging of the performance could make for a truly magical evening.