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| Tad Truesdale. |
A stimulating revue
of Black music covering hundreds of years of Black history, conceived by and
starring Tad Truesdale, performed in a small, basement theatre on W.
Forty-sixth Street. The 10-person company included Lari Becham, Ernest Andrews,
Joyce Griffen, Holly Hamilton, Onike Lee, Fredi Orange, Andre Robinson, Grenna Whitaker,
and Dorian Williams. They sang and danced spiritedly on a bare platform stage
with a ramp at the rear, conveying the pain, sorrow, anger, joy, and humor of
their racial experience. Popular singer-musician Richie Havens served as the
producer.
The music ran the gamut from African ritual chants to slave
melodies and hymns to 1920s Harlem jazz to 70s rock and rhythm ‘n blues. Howard
Thompson observed that much of the show was “blazingly dynamic and alive.” He
noted that Truesdale “has a voice best described as friendly. He is far more
effective fitted into the ensemble numbers.”
