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After 65 years, "Mule Bone" has come home to Karamu and it is one joyful homecoming. This lost play by Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, which was never produced in Cleveland in 1931 because "the collaborators fell out", is billed as a comedy of Negro life, a warm look at the small all-black town in Florida where Hurston grew up. And it is a rich, funny, colorful life that spills out onto the broad stage of the Jelliffe Theatre -- full of jokes, feuds, children's games, jiving, preaching, and a never-ending fountain of soulful blues singing and explosive dances.
"Mule Bone" isn't much on traditional plot, but once you settle into its expansive, down-home rhythms, that doesn't matter a whit. In Sarah May's formidable directorial hands, the town itself is the protagonist, brimming over with comic characters, precisely and deliciously rendered by an huge cast of 31, including a generous armful of cute kids. This isn't your average community theatre ensemble. The cast is chock-full of dozens of Karamu's most capable veteran character actors and singers, who make each part funny and real -- it's impossible to single out by name every terrific performance. Their individuality is aided immeasurably by JoAnn Hawkins' wonderful costumes, which delineate character and are a feast for the eyes. Russ Borski's sets are also excellent.
The wafer-thin story is about a "bone of contention": how pretty Daisy Taylor's flirtatious ways cause two close friends to fall out over her, until Jim socks Dave on the head with a mule bone. Their fight brings all the town's petty quarrels and jealousies to a head, splitting the town into two feuding factions, Baptists and Methodists, and culminates in a comic trial held in the Baptist church, with dueling preachers (Hassan B. Rogers versus Grant Banks) and the presiding mayor (Rob Robinson) futilely pounding for order.
This production is doubly blessed with an inspired original score by "Mississippi" Charles Bevels and choreography by Barbara Finley, creating more than a dozen terrific musical numbers that lift the show up every time the music starts. Niles Rivers as the guitar-playing Jim can sing the blues like an angel, and Kyle Primous is boneless fluid elegance as his dance-partner Dave. Sonya Leslie is a 5 foot bundle of mischief as Daisy, with wide eyes and a pretty voice.
In the show's nearly three hours, there is always something delightful to listen to and watch, for adults and children alike -- men sitting on the porch furtively girl-watching and playing checkers, while big-butt women sort laundry, diss their men, and shimmy like there's no tomorrow. Every director within shouting distance will marvel at the stage pictures, at May's ability to have four or five activities going on at once without pulling focus from the main event, at the rich detail. It's like being invited to a big fun-filled community party, and slowly getting to know everybody.
Karamu has lavished love, attention, and top-notch resources on "Mule Bone", and every bit shows. It elevates the show beyond a historical reconstruction (a worthy enough goal) to a living celebration of black culture and community. I felt privileged to be invited to the party.
Originally published in the Plain Dealer. May, 1996.
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