Somewhere or another, according to the old record-company slogan, Ma Rainey is always singing to you. To be exact, right now that somewhere is in London. The Royal National Theatre has revived the 1984 play about her by August Wilson, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”The 1920s star was a black, bisexual woman who was often poor and a heartbreakingly passionate singer. For years she had to fight managers and music executives. They were white, straight, rich and only interested in cash. She had to fight to make herself heard and make any money at all.Ma Rainey is still a queen bee, flamboyant and flawed. Sharon D. Clarke is composed and convincing in the role of a strong woman with attitude and weaknesses, a diva who cannot sing without her Coca-Cola.The title is a reference to Rainey’s now classic song “Black Bottom.” It was controversial and misunderstood. Rainey is struggling to get it put down in the studio: her musicians bicker, tempers flare. There are more than just musical differences over jazz versus blues. Rainey is insisting it is done her way or forget it. This is not a musical, though the music is likeable and authentic.The one member of the band who can read, the bookish Toledo (Lucian Msamati) tries to put the disagreements in context. “The colored man is the leftovers,” he says. Black people are “just a leftover from history.” In the US, “soonawhile they began to make one big stew.” Rainey became known as the Mother of the Blues and was famously quoted in her lifetime as saying while people hear the blues come out, “but they don’t know how it got there.”Fortunately the action keeps moving, even if it mainly consists of grouchy spats between the men, so this political subtext rarely overwhelms. This is of course one of an earnest series by the Pulitzer-winning Wilson about African-American experiences through the last century, so some lecturing by Toledo and context-adding is understandable. (It is also the only part of the 10-part “Pittsburgh Cycle,” one for each decade, to be set in Chicago, not Wilson’s native city.)While the Ultz-designed set is a little less than convincing, with its industrial look and odd moving parts, overall this is an impressive production. Director Dominic Cooke does well with a slow-build play. Tensions between the ensemble develop gradually. It’s quite some time before Ma Rainey shows up, but it’s worth the wait. She bowls in along with her nephew Sylvester, girlfriend Dussey Mae, and a policeman, who threatens to arrest her for assaulting a cab driver. Is the whole world against her? Ma Rainey was never doing to have it easy. Blues music is why she gets up every day. Rating: ****.At the Lyttelton, National Theatre, through May 18. Information: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/ma-raineys-black-bottom
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