Review: (Montreal) Ain't Misbehavin'

(photo by Andrée Lanthier)

This Joint is Jumpin'
by Élaine Charlebois

If you’re looking for a laid back yet highly entertaining night out at the theatre, Ain’t Misbehavin’ is the show to see. Starring the extraordinarily talented Kim Richardson, this tribute to the works of jazz legend Fats Waller is packed from beginning to end with amazing musicality and humorous banter. In spite of the absence of an actual storyline, each musical number became its own story, effortlessly capturing the mood of the 1930s American jazz scene. 

The Abominable Showman, September 27, 2013

Photo Andrée Lanthier

In Praise of Extraordinary Women
CharPo sits down for a revealing tete-a-tete with theatre legend Roger Peace and Canada’s First Lady of Soul, Kim Richardson, about their collaboration on the iconic Broadway musical Ain’t Misbehavin' …

By Richard Burnett (all photos by Richard Burnett unless otherwise noted)

@bugsburnett

Legendary theatre director Roger Peace sailed from London to Montreal in 1957 on the ocean liner SS Columbia at the age of 21 and experienced the tail-end of Montreal’s famed and infamous golden Sin-City era. Montreal theatre scene wasn’t quite London’s West End, where Peace had landed a bit part in the musical Call Me Madam at the London Coliseum in 1952.

Kim Richardson
(courtesy Ms Richardson)

Roger Peace
(courtesy Mr. Peace)

But he has loved the theatre ever since, especially musicals, and has spent much of his professional life as a director and producer casting larger-than-life divas in his productions, notably his longtime muse, Montreal jazz great Ranee Lee, and another of his favourites, soul queen Michelle Sweeney. Lee and Sweeney co- starred in Roger’s first remount of Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Montreal’s La Diligence dinner theatre back in the late 1980s.

A quarter-century later, in his upcoming remount of Ain’t Misbehavin’ which opens at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts on Sept. 29, Peace cast another glorious diva in the role made famous by the late Nell Carter on Broadway, Kim Richardson, the pitch-perfect Juno Award-winning soul singer I have long called Whitney Houston of Canada.