Feather & Bone

Laurel Massé gave me a copy of her CD, “Feather & Bone,” one Sunday after Mass at our church, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. I had fallen in love with her singing when she sang “His Eye is on the Sparrow” several weeks earlier. She has a way of reaching right to the soul of her listeners, and that is apparent on this CD as well.

Beginning with the lovely old Quaker hymn “How Can I Keep from Singing,” through “I am the Mountain Singer,” a poem by Joseph Campbell she put to music, and mystical selections including a 12th century hymn by Hildegard von Bingen, Massé in 12 largely a cappella tracks gives expression to spirituals and Celtic folk songs, ragas and Bach, millennium-old French hymns and modern pop songs to create what the Absolute Sound called "a recording of extraordinary sonic and musical value."

This CD has a deep, earthy quality that feels both ancient and eternal. It could easily lead someone into prayer, either at retreats or for silent times alone. Check out Massé’s web site at www.laurelmasse.com to order this beautiful CD.

C.S. Lewis

“So it was you all along --
Everyone I ever loved, it was you.
Everything decent or fine that ever happened to me,
Everything that made me reach out and try to be better,
It was you all along.”
--C.S. Lewis

Cutting edge theatre

Much is being made about the historical nature of the current New York revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” When it opens tonight it will be the first time an all-black cast has appeared in an American classic on Broadway. For me it’s yet another proof that if you want innovation, you’ve got to go Off-Broadway or to regional theatres like Baltimore’s CENTERSTAGE. It was at CENTERSTAGE in 1972 that I saw the first all-black cast of “Death of a Salesman,” another American classic. Arthur Miller came to the opening.

That was just one of my powerful theatrical experiences over the years at CENTERSTAGE. A junior in high school at the time, it was my first encounter with Miller’s classic. I was a volunteer usher -- my way of getting to see good theatre for free -- and was so moved I went back a couple more times.

That performance, like so many I saw, became my point of reference for all others I would see in the future. As a theatre critic now in New York I often refer to something I saw all those decades ago, first in the old Oriole cafeteria on North Avenue and later, after that building was destroyed by an arson, at the present home on Calvert Street. I recently reviewed a mime artist and described how I first fell in love with the form. Sophie Wibaux and Bert Houle, who as I recall were husband and wife, choreographed “Julius Caesar” in the 1972-73 season and included their mine. It was spellbinding to watch them perform their wordless dialogue of Shakespearean drama. They were part of CENTERSTAGE’s resident company and were incorporated into shows over several years. That was in keeping with CENTERSTAGE’s creative approach to theatre. It certainly had an influence on me.

Through the years I was to experience my first performances of many Shakespeare plays there. And I also encountered new works. It was at CENTERSTAGE I discovered my first Tina Howe play, “Painting Churches.” I was so impressed that many years later when I was working on my second masters thesis, at N.Y.U., I decided my topic would be Howe and her plays. I interviewed her for that, and several times years later for newspaper and magazine features. I then taught a course in her plays one summer at Brooklyn College, all because of that first encounter at CENTERSTAGE.

Seeing all those plays was so important to my development. I ushered all through high school and college and during my years working as a reporter at the “Carroll County Times,” a small daily newspaper about 30 miles outside of Baltimore. I also volunteered at opening night parties, for the annual auction on the air and painting faces at the City Fair. The seeds of my current life were firmly planted at CENTERSTAGE.

When Broadway finally presents its groundbreaking staging of a major work with an all-black cast, I’ll be there to review it. And I’ll remember that CENTERSTAGE took the risk first -- 36 years ago.

True Success

Winston Churchill said success “is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Keep your spirits up this week. That’s important. As Zig Ziglar said: “Others can stop you temporarily -- you are the only one who can do it permanently.”

Salt N Pepa

I had a lovely phone chat last week with Cheryl James Wray, the Salt of Salt N Pepa, the wildly popular female rap duo. We spoke about her hot new show on VH1, but mostly we talked about her Christian faith, which has been deepening over the last several years.

In case you don’t know about Salt N Pepa, and I confess I didn’t, let me fill you in. They were the first female rap act to have gold, platinum, or multi-platinum albums, and although they were inactive for the five years prior to the launch of their new show last month, they were still the best selling female rap act in history. They disbanded in 2002 because Cheryl had grown tired of the music business after a 17-year run. She also questioned whether, having devoted herself to her faith, she should still be singing the same provocative songs with their sexual innuendo.

“There’s so much negativity in the music industry,” she told me. “That’s so much more popular than being responsible. People don’t understand if they haven’t transformed their lives.”

But transformation is just what she needed, she says.

“The reason I left was that I was sick. I had unresolved issues from childhood that were eating me up. My career became my god. I was pursuing everything but God.”

One of the ways this manifested was in bulimia, acerbated by the need to be thin for public appearances and all the wear and tear of traveling and performing.

“I came to a place I felt I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to step away to find out who I was under the image I had created. I asked God what I had to do to be healed. It was a revelation moment.”

I asked Cheryl, now 41, what made her turn to God and she quoted the old saying about no atheists in a foxhole. “It’s innate,” she said. “It’s in us to call out to God when we’re desperate. A lot of Christians try to act like they’re not suffering, but I still suffer. It’s just before it would be a downward spiral. You have to do the work, to pursue God daily to be healed.”

So in 2000 she joined a Bible study and a “word-based church.”

“I grew up in church. I always believed, I just never knew I had to have a relationship with God.”

Through the years that followed, as “a suburban soccer mom” on Long Island, and now with developing the new show, she continues to work on this relationship.

“Change is not an event,” she says. “It’s a process. It’s a daily challenge to have convictions.”

This effort becomes part of “The Salt N Pepa Show,” a “reality” program in which Cheryl and Sandra Denton (Pepa), work out there relationship, which suffered after Cheryl decided to quit the business and Sandy took it personally, Cheryl says. Now the relationship is getting back on track.

Although it appears they are “total opposites,” much of that is just a pretense for the show, Cheryl says. “She does have her convictions. Pep is at Bible study every other Tuesday. She’s studying the word in a way she comprehends and is not threatening.”

And while Cheryl has led Sandy to Bible study, it seems they are really helping each other. “Pep is teaching me patience,” Cheryl says. “She’s stretching me and pulling me out of my comfort zone.”

She’s also helping Cheryl discern whether she should again sing the songs she sang before. “I’m uncomfortable with some of the words and lyrics, but I haven’t closed the door. I haven’t figured out how to make it valuable. I’m not confident to do it now.”

But she does realize she can influence more people through her high-profile role as an artist.

“I’ve definitely been appointed. I might not reach everybody, but I can reach certain people. Pep pulled me out of my box. She said, ‘If you think you’ve got a message, you’ve got to be out there.’”

“The Salt N Pepa Show” is on VH1 Mondays at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times; 9 p.m. Central time. (The posted photo features Cheryl on the left and Sandy on the right.)

The Jazz Age

What a disappointment. I was looking forward to this play about Ernest Hemingway and Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald because I have such good memories of discovering those two writers when I was in college. I loved their work and reading about their lives lived on such a large scale. But in this new play by Allan Knee, only Zelda is alive. The men are one-dimensional wimps who don’t seem capable of doing more than pouring another drink and certainly could never have produced some of the most memorable fiction of the 20th century.

Yes, I know both men drank too much and had ego problems -- either too little or too much of it. And I know about the prospect of homosexuality underlying their bravado, but they were also blessed with creativity and the ability to envision characters and stories we never forget. I wish their genius had been presented to balance their extraordinary weaknesses. All we got was vulgar talk of sex and obsession with their manliness, most annoyingly presented with their whose-is-bigger groping of each other’s crotch. The play seemed a whole lot longer than two hours.

Only Zelda, played by Amy Rutberg, was fully diminutional, whether in her glamorous and flirtatious period, or in her decline at the psychiatric hospital where she appeared vulnerable and fragile. The play only worked when she was on stage. Dana Watkins as Fitzgerald was somewhat convincing when with her; PJ Sosko as Hemingway never was. For one thing, Hemingway was a large, robust man, which Sosko is not. But Sosko never even conjured the spirit of a vibrant man; rather he resembled in appearance and behavior a small town insurance salesman.

Mr. Knee had been inspired by Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast,” and went on to read several biographies about Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Zelda. Unfortunately, he didn’t recreate the atmosphere of “A Moveable Feast,” a book I’ve read two or three times and loved because I could feel Paris through Hemingway’s writing. None of that comes through in this flat production of “The Jazz Age.” For this absence, director Christopher McElroen needs to share some of the blame.

The Jazz Age began previews February 8 at 59E59 Theaters and closed Sunday.

Lynn Redgrave

I received a lovely note from Lynn Redgrave on Saturday. She’ll be joining us for Broadway Blessing this year, so mark your calendars -- 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 112th and Amsterdam. More news about other guests will be appearing, so stay tuned!