. tebruary 1. 2002
PHOTO BY OWEN CAREY
28
Artists Rep stages the life
o f a celebrated blues singer—and
doesn’t leave out the lesbian bits
castle’s
rockin’
by Kronda Adair
ou learn something new every
meet someone on a plane who had seen her per
form in her later years. By all accounts, she was
day, or so my mother always told
me. I like jazz as much
an outstanding singer
as the next person, so
and quite risqué for
I’m not sure why I’d never heard of
her time— even
Alherta Hunter.
when performing for
If you’ve never heard of her either,
the president of the
she was a jazz and blues diva of the
United States.
’20s, ’30s and '40s with a long and
Hunter, or the
varied singing career that took her to
Queen of Jazz as she
New York and Chicago as well as
was known, was mar
throughout Europe. She was one of
ried for a short time
the first blues singers ever to record
hut apparently never
and was the first black singer to be
consummated the
backed by a white band. This month,
union, reportedly
Artists Repertory Theatre brings her
telling her husband
story vividly to life in its new produc
she didn’t want to
tion, My Castle's Rockin’: The Alberta
have sex in her moth-
Hunter Story.
e
,
a *
. . , ,
er’s house. The truth
Director Stephen Alexander is glad
.
...
Director Stephen Alexander had
r
^
was she was a lesbian.
he got to know Alberta Hunter
never heard of Hunter either, but he
But you wouldn’t
did plenty of research in the course of develop
know it from her songs, which often co n
ing the play. He even had the good fortune to
tained blatant innuendo directed toward
■
men— com mon for female
blues singers— such as
“Som etim es h e’ll wake up
just before dawn, to trim the
edges off my front lawn.”
Som e of her stuff was a little
too risqué to have made it
into this production, but
plenty of the diva’s trade
mark flirtation is there, and
so are the facts of her long
term lesbian relationship.
My Castle's Rockin' is
blessed with talent at every
level. Alexander brings both
theatrical and musical direct
ing experience to the produc
tion, while the exceptional
Demene Hall brings Hunter
to life. And no one could be
more fitting to accompany her
than Portland’s own piano
master, Janice Scroggins.
A ctress Demene Hall gets a kick
out of playing the Queen of Jazz
,
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