Kevin Ramsey: Live at the Apollo
The Milwauke Rep salutes the music of a storied Harlem theater
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For his new musical revue Soultime At The Apollo, which covers music associated with the Harlem landmark from the ’30s to the ’70s via the reminiscences of a fictional stagehand named Soultime, Kevin Ramsey drew on a variety of personal experiences, including his time living in Harlem for 13 years and his relationships with Motown choreographer Cholly Atkins and veteran vaudevillian Ernest Brown. The result is another must-see show from a longtime creative partner with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, whose relationship began in 1993 with If These Shoes Could Talk, a tap show Ramsey co-wrote. He's directed shows at the Rep every year for the last four seasons, including last year's Fire On The Bayou. Ramsey talked with The A.V. Club about Soultime At The Apollo, which plays at the Rep's Stackner Cabaret though Nov. 8, .
The A.V. Club: How did you put 40 years of musical history into a single show?
Kevin Ramsey: My method is always to look for the through-line. What is this man's journey? Soultime is reliving his life; he has seen every single act that has come through the Apollo. "Music is a woman and you're waiting for a woman to appear." He recalls those lines that Duke Ellington spoke, and these women appear who embody the spirit of Lena, the spirit of Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday—the list is long. I'm fascinated by the amount of musical history that has come through the Apollo, more than any other cultural arts center. Each generation—especially in the period from the ’30s through the ’60s—ushered in this new sound that reshaped America, how we thought about ourselves, our lifestyle. In the ’30s and ’40s they were doing variety-format shows. Then when doo-wop came in, and R&B, it kind of ushered that out, because of radio and having song-pluggers lining up daily looking for the next singing group. And as I was starting working on this, Michael Jackson dies, which had an impact on me because I'm of that generation. So not to give anything away, I found a way to at least acknowledge that he's part of these walls, part of this history.
AVC: How did you research this show?
KR: I always start with the music; I started with 200 songs. I spent some time in New York in the Lincoln Center For The Performing Arts. I had interviews with people who were still around who auditioned for Ralph Cooper's Amateur Night At The Apollo. I keep hundred of photographs just to look a silhouettes—how people held their hands, their body language. They were drilled. It was a school, you know, not just a theater, where you could come and hone your craft. And you got a great barometer as to where you fell in place. [Laughs.] Like they say, if you could make it at the Apollo, if you could play in front of that audience and not get booed off the stage, you had accomplished something.
AVC: All of the roles in the show are played by two people. How do they do that?
KR: By being good actors. Embodying the spirit, the quality and essence of Billie Holliday, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald—women of that generation had a different sensibility than Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, or Moms Mabley. How do put that into action without doing an impersonation? It can be simple things, just by how they held their body, how they held their hands. As the whole women's movement matured, women became more confident as to who they were. I found that with Fire On The Bayou, in the second act people got on their feet and were dancing—this is predominantly white, upper-middle class, conservative audience for the most part. I went, "Wow—that's theater!" It was very exciting for me. Until the audience comes into the mix, it's just sort of marking time. [Laughs.]
