‘Thunder Knocking on the Door’ @ Soul Rep
—Martha Heimberg
The house lights go down and five smiling actors welcome us to the show with a get-down song about the roots of Black culture, rising up from the soulful words and singular rhythms of the blues. Dancing and singing with happy fervor, they soon have their opening night audience clapping and shouting along to the rousing opening number.
Soul Rep Theatre closes their 2023-2024 season with the regional premiere of Thunder Knocking on the Door, a blues-based family fable written by Keith Glover, with music and lyrics by Grammy Award-winning bluesman Keb Mo and a second composer-lyricist, Anderson Edwards. Directed by Soul Rep Co-Artistic Director Guinea Bennett-Price, the production is staged in Undermain Theater’s basement space in Deep Ellum, the historic home of many early Texas blues musicians.
The Dupree family is deeply rooted in the East Texas blues tradition, and widowed Good Sister Dupree (Yolanda Williams in feisty matriarch mode) intends to pass on the heritage of her great blues guitarist husband to her son Jaguar, Jr. (athletic, eager Keelyn Singleton) and daughter Glory (quietly determined Olivia Lewis)—who was blinded in an accident just before she was to be married. Dregster Dupree (patient, comic Jeremy LaVergne), Good Sister’s amorous brother-in-law, has always loved her, and now sings the blues because his lady, widowed 17 years, still can’t make up her mind.
Drop into this already busy plot a mysterious stranger knocking at the door. He calls himself Marvel Thunder (Sinclair Freeman, menacing and charming by turns), and is invited to move in on the spot, eating fried eggs and grits with the family. Turns out that Thunder, a shape-shifting blues spirit, once lost a guitar playing contest to Jaguar, Sr., and is now challenging his old rival’s son and daughter to a winner-take-all “cutting contest.” The consequences of losing the competition would include not only forfeiting the guitars their father left his children, but much more. Only practical Dregster objects to the new guest: “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have a supernatural being in the house,” he says. Duh.
Motives and ambitions are gradually revealed, and don’t truly surprise after a while, given the familiar devil-bargaining trope and some magic fixes stirred into the plot. Despite some stagnant spots in the script, the actors give real feeling to the sometimes-stereotypical characters, and get welcome laughs in comic scenes. LaVergne’s skeptical Dregster and Singleton’s disappointed Jaguar, Jr. are happily slapstick as they bond over homebrew and drunkenly try to track Thunder’s invisible trail.
Zenora Collier’s simple set design circles Undermain’s center column with just enough furniture to indicate a small-town household; this allows director Bennet-Price to create easy movement for her actors, and accommodates choreographer Hunter Smith’s bluesy moves. The show is bright with Renee Jones’ costume designs, including a wildly sexy red suit for Junior and a sophisticated satin and sequined dress for his transformed sister.
The fun of the show is in the energetic song and dance numbers, which enhance both story and characters. The cast are accompanied by a pre-recorded trio, featuring music director Gary Williams, plus musicians Jamil Byrum and Carter Elliot. A live band would be better, but the well-rehearsed singers stay on the beat throughout. When Thunder and the challenged son and daughter play air-guitar on one of the two carved wooden props, some expert guitar riffs fill the stage.
Williams and LaVergne make “Believe Me,” a sweet, middle-aged love song, downright romantic. An exuberant Singleton executes easy high splits and a virile modern dance sequence as he tells of the spooky encounter that led him to lose his guitar. Voices blend seductively when Lewis and Freeman sing “See Through Me,” a beautiful song inviting loving intimacy. Lewis gets a well-deserved round of applause for Glory’s resolute rendition of “I’m Moving On.” You go, girl.
WHEN: June 13-30, 2024
WHERE: performed at Undermain Theatre, 3200 Main Street, Dallas (Deep Ellum)
WEB: soulrep.org
