Reviewed by Judd
Hollander
People of a certain
age may recall the joy of going through dusty bins of vinyl recordings at a
record store or flea market and seeing one that unexpectedly caught their eye.
Said discovery opening a window to a world the finder never new existed and
which was now long forgotten by all but a precious few. Such is the effect
one has after attending "The B-Side: Negro Folklore From Texas St. Ann
Berryman came
across "The B-Side”, which was released in 1965, while searching the
virtual offering found on Amazon. Intrigued by this particular album, and after
undertaking some appropriate due diligence, he began working with The Wooster
Group to create an interpretive work that wonderfully succeeds in enfolding the
audience into the music and feeling of said material. More than simply playing
the various tracks, or “bands” as they are referred to here, Berryman adds just
enough narrative to make those who have little or no knowledge of this type of
music, or the circumstances under which they were recorded, to be able to
understand exactly what the words presented mean. The songs painting a
picture that is quiet, melodic and not very pretty.
Eric Berryman in The B-Side: "Negro Folklore From The Texas State Prisons," A Record Album Interpretation. At St. Ann's Warehouse. Photo by Teddy Wolff.
Popular culture has
long had a tendency to romanticize certain situations, especially where music
is involved. The work these prisoners were given, doing manual labor on what
were basically chain gangs - with tasks ranging from logging to picking cotton
and cutting sugar cane - were anything but. While these men often sang to keep
their spirits up or to remind themselves they still had their faith - as
evidenced by the song "Just Like A Tree Planted By The Water" - many
of the others contain bitter warnings, grim reminders and instructions for survival.
One such example of this being "Rattler". On the surface a song about
a dog employed by the prison guards; but in reality, a mournful dirge about
escaping prisoners the dog is trained to catch until they can be brought back,
or killed. There's also "If You See My Mother”, a song seemingly
about prisoners working together in the fields cutting grass, but actually a
warning to every man so engaged not to fall behind the rest. For if they did,
they might be whipped by the guards who saw them as not doing their share of the
work.
Adding to the
flavor of the songs and also making the music more three-dimensional, as it
were, are the efforts of Berryman, Jason McGruder and Philip Moore as they sing
the songs aloud; accompanied by the music and vocals from the record itself. This
method allowing the company to further bring those songs to life while helping
those in attendance understand just what kind of a world the prisoners were
living in when these tracks - some sung, some consisting of spoken words - were
originally recorded.
Berryman in
particular does an excellent job with the material. He becoming a virtual
chameleon when it comes to accents and expressions as he helps bring forth the
different moods, speech patterns and dialects from the recording. Most
importantly, he lets the songs themselves take center stage. He providing only
a brief overall introduction to the work at the beginning, as well as some
quick descriptions before the different pieces begin.
(L-R) Eric Berryman, Jasper McGruder, Philip Moore in The B-Side: "Negro Folklore From The Texas State Prisons," A Record Album Interpretation. At St. Ann's Warehouse. Photo by Teddy Wolff.
The only major
problem is that it’s sometimes hard to clearly hear all of the song lyrics when
the record is being played, and thus fully comprehend their meaning. In his
intro, Berryman mentions the difficulties he himself had when first listening
to the album. He using folklorist Bruce Jackson 's book “Wake Up Dead Man: Hard
Labor and Southern Blues” to help him better appreciate exactly what the album
contained. Jackson
Kate Valk’s
direction works fine, the show and songs nicely segueing from one track to the
next. Though the last few bands are presented without any narration; the
use of which would have been helpful to make thing just a bit more complete and
well-rounded.
The term
“B-Side” usually refers to a song not as important as the tune most people
would be buying the record for in the first place; i.e. the so-called “A-Side”.
Yet the “B-Sides” of records throughout history have yielded some unexpected
musical gems. Such is definitely the case with The Wooster Group’s latest
presentation. Sobering, powerful and hitting home, especially in the final number,
thanks to a grainy black-and-white video accompanying the music, this B-Side gets
an A+ in delivering its message, with a A- in overall presentation.
Featuring: Eric
Berryman, Jasper McGruder, Philip Moore.
The B-Side: “Negro Folklore From
Production Design:
Elizabeth LeCompte
Lighting Design:
Ryan Seelig
Sound Design: Eric
Sluyter
Video Design:
Robert Wuss
Costume Design:
Enver Chakartash
Musical Director:
Gareth Hobbs
Stage Manager: Erin Mullin
Video Engineer: Wladimiro
Woyno
Lighting Board
Operator: Emery Reyes
Technical Fellow:
Danasia Miller
Technical Director:
Jacob Bigelow
Production Manager:
Bona Lee
Producer: Cynthia
Hedstrom
General Manager
& Associate Producer: Pamela Reichen
Marketing &
Development: Mike Farry
Archivist: Clay Hapaz
Archivist: Clay Hapaz
Arts-in-Education
& Outreach: Michaela Murphy
Director: Kate
Valk
Tickets:
718-254-8779, 866-611-4111 or www.stannswarehouse.org
Running Time: 60
minutes, no intermission
Closes: March
31, 2019
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