The Tony Award-winning Old Globe Theater in San Diego has been singing the "Blues" all spring, but this weekend the song is over. Pearl Cleage's drama, Blues For an Alabama Sky, which began previews March 31 and opened April 3, ends its scheduled run May 9. The remaining performances are sold out.
Sky is set during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s. Its focus is a group of friends pursuing various dreams. From a down-on-her-luck night club singer to an aspiring social worker hoping to open a clinic, to a costume artist who dreams of traveling Paris and designing clothes for Josephine Baker, all the characters character strive to pursue their dreams in a world that is rapidly crashing around them. The play looks at the passion of young, ordinary individuals in an extraordinary world.
Author Pearl Cleage is no stranger to the Old Globe stage. They, along with other regional companies including Alliance Theatre Company, St. Louis Black Repertory Company, the Long Wharf Theatre and the Kennedy Center, have all been home to Cleage's various works, including Flyin' West and Late Bus to Mecca. Her first novel, "What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day," was just selected to be in Oprah's Book Club.
Seret Scott returns to the Old Globe to direct Alabama in its California premiere. Her last show with the Old Globe was John Henry Redwood's The Old Settler. Scott also directed the American premiere of The Joy Luck Club.
The cast for Alabama includes Michael Genet (A Few Good Men, Off-Broadway's Northeast Local), Joe Latimore, Brenda Pressley, from the Broadway show Dreamgirls; Glenn Turner, recently seen on Broadway in High Society, and Elsa Davis. Sky's creative team includes scenic designer Ron Vodika, lighting designer Dione Lebhar, costume designer Jeff Ladman and sound designer Raul Moncada.
Blues for an Alabama Sky began previews March 31, opens April 3 and runs through May 9. Tickets are $23-$39 with discounts for seniors and students. For tickets call (619) 239-2255.
The Old Globe's next production Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg and directed by Andrew Traister, begins previews May 26, opens May 29 and runs through July 3.
-- by Rebecca Heller
