Once again because of a show in town, it seems like a good time to recount some too-recent history. On September 15, 1963, in the midst of the civil rights movement, which was particularly active in Birmingham, AL, a bomb went off at the 16th Street Baptist Church. It was during Sunday school hours. Four little girls, ranging in age from 11 to 14, were killed. The church, badly damaged, had been very involved in the movement and was the starting point for many of its marches.
Nina Simone, a popular singer and pianist, became deeply involved in the movement. Nina Simone: Four Women puts her in Birmingham in the immediate aftermath of the bombing as she’s writing a song about the struggles. She’s in the ruins of the church composing. One at a time, three other women come in.
Leah Stuart is Nina Simone, strong and angry and not disposed to put up with interference. Sarah, whose name we don’t learn until late in the show, is a maid. Denice Thimes moves like a woman of some age, maybe a little arthritis in the knees and hips, guarding her dignity and puzzled about Simone’s whole slowly revealed story. Alex Jay is Sephronia, a teacher, who fairly quickly recognizes the woman trying to compose, and wants her out marching as well as writing songs about it. Then Sweet Thing – and that probably isn’t her real name, either, but we’ll never know – sweeps in, all cleavage and a pair of turquoise blue spike heels. Played by Camile Sharp, she’s not much interested in the movement, just having a white-hot talk with Sephronia and laying verbal waste to the others who protest her overall attitude.
Through all this, there’s talk about the movement, the violence, Dr. King and the four young lives that have been lost. “They say,” signs Sarah, “you can hear them crying sometimes.” As to violence, well, there was a reason the city was called “Bombingham” for a while.
Director Ron Himes pulls great performances from all the cast. Charles Creath, the musical director, who’s on the piano Simone is using as a desk, is a guy one could listen to all night under most any circumstances. Much of the music is what Simone co-write. Scenic design from Tim Jones is deeply evocative.
One wishes the script were a little better. The aura of magical realism works well, but there’s so much exposition, one wonders if it were intended at one point for young audiences, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Still, we’ve got some fine work here from the whole cast and crew. And there is the deeply still-relevant line from the script:
We all have a lot to learn.
Nina Simone: Four Women
through June 2
The Black Rep
Edison Theatre
Washington University in St. Louis