Nothin Heats Up Broadway Like 'After Midnight'

They called it the Harlem Renaissance.
It was a sort of golden age of black-inspired art, literature, music, dance, theater, and nightlife. Lots of nightlife.
In its heyday it made Harlem Manhattan's shimmering northern nexus -- a place where white folk came to see and be seen -- and to misbehave.
And most of it happened after midnight and continued not only into the wee hours of the morning but sometimes all through the night. Harlem was hot, fizzy, dreamy, sensual, misty, snazzy, fleshy, loud, bluesy, and most of all jazzy.
Over the years it has all become sort of romanticized amidst a sea of distinctive characters: singers, dancers, comedians, writers, poets, social commentators, gangsters, musicians and assorted self-promoters and denizens of the night.
When the decade was over, the great poet, novelist and playwright Langston Hughes observed: "The '20s are gone and lots of fine things in Harlem night life have disappeared like snow in the sun--since it became utterly commercial."
But now it's all back. Back and very much alive. Back in New York. Back on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre via the Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars, Wynton Marsalis and director Jack Viertel with Fantasia Barrino, Dule Hill, Adriane Lenox and a huge cast. Back as After Midnight a musical sensation that will leave you positively breathless.
Let this be know right now: In a 90 minutes review (without an intermission) After Midnight gives us the best singing, the best dancing and the best music -- ohhhh, the music! -- on Broadway right now. The best!
A sensational 17-piece orchestra up on stage, full-throttle. A cast of 25 incredible performers. High production values. Great pacing. Superb, split-second timing. A spirit that is positively joyous!
This is a musical show that is pure entertainment and it will have you wanting to get up on your feet, clap your hands, shake what you've got and abandon all inhibition.
But you won't have to do that.
No, no -- we don't want you to sing and perform because we don't want anything to distract from the great performers on the stage. They are amazing!
Dule Hill is the moderator, sometimes-commentator and syncopator who keep everything moving along. Fantasia is the sultry goddess of song who delivers one knockout number after another. Adrianne Lenox is the sassy, knock-down, drag-out comic relief. Jared Grimes is the evening's agile tap mesiter and charmer. The aptly-named Julius "i-Glide" Chisolm is the suave, choreographic seducer. So much more: Karine Plantadit, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Virgil "Lil' O Gadson. In fact, the entire cast works seamlessly together.
In fact, here's a magical number of five gentlemen dancing in high hats as one ensemble that you will never forget.
Much of the music is by the great Duke Ellington including many pieces you may have never heard (or heard only rarely) before. The show opens with the rapid-fire Daybreak Express and then heads into Braggin in Brass, East St. Louis Toodle-oo, The Skrontch, the haunting Creole Love Call, The Mooche, The Gal From Joe's, Black and Tan Fantasy, Cotton Club Stomp and finally the incredible Rockin' in Rhythym. There's also music by Cab Calloway, Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh, Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen and Sidney Easton and Ethel Waters.
Do whatever you have to do. Save up your pennies. Spend your last dollar. Play hooky from work. Leave your home and family if you have to. But see After Midnight.
See it at least once!