Black Light
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Cititour.com Review
Incandescent. Illuminating. Luminous. These are just a few words that might cross your mind as you watch, listen and simply bask in the glorious divaliciousness of Jomama Jones during “Black Light,” the 90-minute cabaret show-cum-concert-cum-church service now on view at the Greenwich House Theatre. It’s a truly original evening of theater, that while falling short of perfect, continually manages to make you think while also providing plenty of serious and not-so-serious entertainment.
Credit for that feat belongs to the multi-talented writer and performer Daniel Alexander Jones, whose on-stage alter-ego Jomama is, among other virtues a brilliant raconteur, excellent singer and fashion icon. (Her succession of utterly fabulous costumes, plus the satiny suits for the superb four-piece band and to-die-for sparkly purple pants suits worn by stunning back-up vocalists Trevor Backman and Vuyo Sitash, are by the superb Dana Boyez.)
One minute, she’s a high priestess preaching the gospel of spiritual and political involvement, the next, she is a quasi-historian reminding us about how hard African-Americans fought for their freedom (and are continuously in danger of losing it, as are many of us), and finally – and for much of the show – Jomama is an almost ordinary woman recalling childhood moments spent in the South with her taciturn, one-armed Aunt Cleotha (who eventually reveals the almost unthinkable horrors of her past) or revisiting her teenage years arguing with her closest girlfriends about who is most in love with one Prince Rogers Nelson.
No matter the subject matter, Jomama rarely fails to captivate – whether she is standing right by your side or on the stage where her nightclub act takes place. (The black-box theater has been cleverly refashioned by Gabe Evansohn, with added help from lighting designer Ania Parks.) One suspects many of us could listen to Jomama talk all night and many an audience member might almost be tempted to ask her out for coffee (or something stronger) after the show.
While Jones (as writer and performer), along with the skilled director Tea Alagic, works hard to pull all the show’s thematic threads together, the piece never completely becomes a whole cloth. In part that’s because, as musically pleasing as the evening often is, the show’s songs (all written by Jones with various collaborators) don’t always add as much heft as I expected -- or I think Jones intends.
While the second number in the show, “Shattered,” packs a truly powerful punch, I tended to prefer some of the lighter tunes such as “Joy” (a purple-hazed ode to Prince) or the elegiac yet funky “Supernova” over some of the other songs, whose lyrics do little more than reiterate points made in Jomama’s patter.
Still, don’t allow yourself to be kept in the dark. Let this “Black Light” – and the wondrousness that is Jomama Jones –shine brightly on you.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
https://www.nycblacklight.com/
Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/11/2018
Closing 11/11/2018
Theatre Info
Greenwich House Theater
27 Barrow St.
New York, NY 10014
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