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By Donna Lamb |
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Harlem Week to feature special performance of
"Tell-It, Sing-It, Shout-It"
"Tell-It, Sing-It, Shout-It" (What God Has Done for You) is back!
This gospel musical written and directed by Hazel Rosetta Smith will
take the stage in a special performance on Saturday, August 23rd,
as part of the Harlem Week celebration.
Ms. Smith wrote the play in 1994 when she was in Sloan Kettering
Hospital, the week following cancer surgery. Little did she know then
that it would help lead to her new life's mission. In June 2002 she
retired from her post as Managing Editor of the New York Beacon so she
could devote herself full-time to her Help Somebody Theatrical
Ministries (HSTM), which she founded in 1964. HSTM now has a portfolio
of seven plays, and "Tell-It, Sing-It, Shout-It," will be going on its
first tour in September, heading out to Durham, North Carolina.
I had the good fortune to attend a performance of this play, and I
want to tell you - I thought it was stupendous!
Now, when I went, I didn't have the slightest idea of what it was
going to be like. I was told only that it was a Gospel production. For
all I knew, it would be too preachy, incredibly sanctimonious, or
so full of any number of other unappealing things that I would wish I'd
saved my money and stayed home. But from when the ladies first began
making their entrance, I loved it.
The thing that surprised me most was that it was so funny! And the
humor came from recognizing traits in ourselves and being reminded of
experiences in our own lives, not from mockery. Also, it's astonishing
that it was so funny, because the content of the stories was very
painful - such as child abuse, wife battering, and life-threatening
illness - not exactly the things we think of as making for comedy.
Hazel Smith has united torment, sincere religious feelings, and the
raucous in this work - a difficult feat by any standard. And she brings
it off, too, creating a work that packs a real emotional wallop. I
laughed, I cried, and I went away feeling truly uplifted.
Basically, "Tell-It, Sing-It, Shout-It" is Church ladies giving
testimony about how their faith in God brought them through the
toughest, most agonizing things in their lives, combined with superb
gospel singing. In the wrong hands, it could have been nothing more than
your standard melodrama performed by your stereotypical Church Lady
characters, punctuated by music. But in how Smith wrote it and how her
exceedingly well-chosen cast performed it, the play transcended that. We
feel this is real life told of by real people.
In fact, some performers, such as Alicia Flakes, who reveals a 15
year affair with a married man,
 and Antoinette Boone, who tells of being
molested at age 12 by her mother’s live-in boy friend, are so convincing
they made me forget that what they were saying was scripted. For all the
world it seemed as though they were just telling us about their own
lives. I felt like a 6-year old perched on the edge of my seat, riveted
by the stories unfolded by each of the women before me. They held me
spellbound.
Other members of the cast are Anita Wells, Lovetta Goodman and Clara
Garner. The musical direction is by Alvin Freeland,
 and John David
Bratton is the musical conductor. Some of the memorable gospel songs in
the production are "I Won’t Complain" "How Great Thou Art," His Eye Is
On The Sparrow," and "Because He Lives."
I could say even more about why I recommend "Tell-It, Sing-It,
Shout-It," but I don't want to give anything more away. So all I'll tell
you is, go see it for yourself. They may be singing your song and
telling your story.
The performance is at 7 pm SHARP at The Christian Parish for
Spiritual Renewal, located at 2044 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. (Corner
of 122nd Street) in Harlem.
Tickets are $20, seniors $15. Call (212) 362-3681 for reservations.
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