Bubbling Brown Sugar

BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR tells the story of Harlem in its Golden Years. Taking many of the great songs from the era, Loften Mitchell weaves an ebullient tale of a time gone by. This musical, which started a whole wave of Broadway shows by and about black composers, had its beginnings at Rosetta LeNoire’s Amas Rep. It then moved on to a lengthy run on Broadway, London’s West End, and both national and European tours. .. . [a] really fizzy musical revue … recreates the night life of the 1920s - when they drank ‘scotch in teacups’ and bathtub gin - and the 1930s, from downtown speakeasies to the Savoy Ballroom and Small’s Paradise uptown … the songs here are standards, not only extolling the oeuvres of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and Eubie Blake, among others, but also epitomizing their essence. Finally, the finale, ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing, ’ which is performed by the company, is fabulous. -Alvin Klein, The New York Times