Barry Shabaka Henley in Satchmo at the Waldorf. (Photo by Alicia Donelan)
Actors like one-man shows because they present opportunities for them to display their performance versatility and stamina. Producers like one-man shows because they, by definition, have low payrolls. If only there weren’t those darned reviewers, for whom one-man shows are the bane of their existence, being dramatically inert and theatrically artificial.
The latest case in point is Satchmo at the Waldorf, a one-man biographical sketch of renowned jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, now on view at Palm Beach Dramaworks. Curiously enough, it is written by Terry Teachout, longtime drama critic for The Wall Street Journal, who falls into most of the traps of the genre. Teachout is also making his directorial debut at Dramaworks, a worthy enough effort but not one that glosses over any of the playwright’s shortcomings.
Satchmo at the Waldorf is certainly well researched and full of interesting information on Armstrong’s life and career, much of it recited rather than dramatized. In fact, at center stage in the Waldorf Astoria dressing room that Armstrong occupies is a vintage reel-to-reel tape recorder.
Armstrong traveled with such a machine to capture his first-person recollections, source material that Teachout used for his definitive biography, Pops: The Life of Louis Armstrong, and subsequently for the somewhat fictionalized play script.
Often during Satchmo’s 90 minutes, the charismatic Barry Shabaka Henley sits, microphone in hand, and dictates his memories, from his childhood in the rough-and-tumble Storyville section of New Orleans to the many racial impediments to his success to stardom on the concert stage, on television and in the movies.
Reading Teachout’s book might be preferable, except for the commanding performance by Henley. He is the reason to see Satchmo at the Waldorf, an actor who almost allows us to forgive the shortcomings of the material. In fact — here is Teachout’s most inspired touch — Henley actually plays three characters. In addition to Armstrong, he occasionally slips into the skin of his agent, Joe Glaser, who helped his primary client open racial doors, but never invited him into his home. And he also briefly plays horn-playing great Miles Davis, soft-spoken but angry, who clashes with Armstrong over his happy-go-lucky stage persona, calling him an Uncle Tom to the white world.
Henley moves among the three characters, changing voices and carriages, with chameleon ease. Seeing Satchmo at the Waldorf, you are bound to learn a great deal about Armstrong’s inner struggles, his turmoil beneath the ebullient mask, and see a remarkable performance you will not soon forget.
SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF, Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. Through Sunday, June 12. $64. 561-514-4042, ext. 2.