C’mon, let’s misbehave: ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Drury Lane Oakbrook

The Company. Photo by Justin Barbin.

Sometimes it’s about the vibe. Sometimes about the ghosts. Sometimes, like this summer in Oakbrook Terrace, it’s about both.

Stage superstar E. Faye Butler shows off her directing chops here with an impeccable production of Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show. The revue of mostly Waller music, ostensibly set in Chicago’s Bronzeville, immerses audiences in the likely parallel experiences of juke joints in New York’s Harlem, Kansas City, Memphis, and other dives. The piece is short on story, but oh-so-long on vibe.

Created by Richard Maltby Jr. and Murray Horwitz, produced on Broadway in 1978, Ain’t Misbehavin’ showcases the great talents and resultant spirit of the jazz pianist, composer, singer and innovator of the Harlem stride style that laid the foundation for modern jazz piano. Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller is an international jazz and swing icon whose signature compositions "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose" earned spots in the Grammy Hall of Fame, though long after his untimely death at 39. The prolific New Yorker Waller copyrighted over 400 songs, many of them co-written with his closest collaborator, Andy Razaf.

Skillfully marrying the composer’s music to the choreography of Mz. Flo Walker-Harris, Butler moves her talented six-member cast and five-member onstage jazz band through more than 30 tunes. All are performed with an energetic wisdom that telepathically transports patrons back to necessary moments of exuberance for pre-civil rights African Americans through Waller’s visiting ghost.

The production is piloted by music director/pianist William Foster McDaniel, whose upright piano never stays in one place for long. He’s accompanied by his magnificent team of Yosef Ben Israel (bass), Rodney Harper (drums), Dudley Owens (clarinet and tenor saxophone) and Fernando Pullum (trumpet and flugelhorn). As is the case in any top-notch revue, cast members each take their moments in the spotlight while the truest magic comes through their lovely harmonies and subtlety nuanced relationships. Among one observer’s favorites are “Honeysuckle Rose” (of course), “When the Nylons Bloom Again,” “The Viper’s Drag,” “Your Feet’s Too Big,” “Fat and Greasy,” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”

With a nod to Laurel and Hardy, rubber-legged James T. Lane and the booming, stage owning Lorenzo Rush Jr. slay the male parts. The gorgeous, talented trio of Sharriese Y. Hamilton, Alanna Lively and Alexis J. Rosten show off their triple-threat flexibilities. They’re all adorned in elegantly sexy costumes designed McKinley Johnson and saunter through the upscale nightclub unit set of Andrew Boyce, with the right touches of light by Lee Fiskness.

The advice here is to give into a little Misbehavin’. Allow Butler and her stellar Drury Lane team to infuse Chicagoland with the resurrection of an iconic ghost, talents left behind but not forgotten, and the undeniable vibe that adds some honeyed sweetness to summer’s heat.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ runs through Aug. 18 at 100 Drury Lane, Oakbroook Terrace. For tickets or more information, please call (630) 530-0111 or visit drurylanetheatre.com.

For more reviews on this or other shows, please visit theatreinchicago.com.