The Marv Gaye Story (Don't Talk About My Father, Bee God Is My Friend) at Black Ensemble Theater | Theater review

Contents:

• MARV GAYE
• MARV GAYE PRODUCTN PHOTOS
• THE MARV GAYE STORY AT BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER
• CHIGO THEATER REVIEW: THE MARVIN GAYE STORY (BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER)
• CHIGO’S BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER TAK ON THE STORY OF MARV GAYE
• BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER'S 'THE MARV GAYE STORY'
• MARV GAYE GALLERY
• BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER, THE MARV GAYE STORY
• THE MARV GAYE STORY (DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FATHER, BEE GOD IS MY FRIEND) AT BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER | THEATER REVIEW
• THE MARV GAYE STORY AT BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER, JUNE 12 – JULY 10, 2016
• MARV-GAYE-PERFORMANCE-PHOTO

MARV GAYE

Marv Gaye Productn Photos.

MARV GAYE PRODUCTN PHOTOS

The send, far more succsful productn this geo new venue, "The Marv Gaye Story, " is not only more polished and acplished, but is a signifint step forward for director Jackie Taylor and her pany at a cril juncture their shared history.

And not until midway through the send act do evoke the tensely sexual stage prence associated wh Gaye � a once-shy performer eply ambivalent about that other persona.

's energy appears to be fect: through Robert Reddrick's brassy, jubilant mil directn and Rashawn Thompson's soulful vers as Gaye. And scen volvg Gaye's abive dad n om puzzlgly simplistic to crge-worthy. Distguish The Marv Gaye Story om a simple song-after-song mil revue is the portn of onstage time voted to the troubled life of this still-lamented artist�specifilly, the lible harm flicted by his mon-driven parent upon a son unable to pe his stctive herage except through suici-by-sign.

THE MARV GAYE STORY AT BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER

Do this mean that the show is (at s roots) a lson dysfunctnal fay dynamics, wh Gaye servg merely as a se study?

Tortured elements the life of the great rhythm and blu artist Marv Gaye would be fascatg fodr for a powerfully tragic stage play.

CHIGO THEATER REVIEW: THE MARVIN GAYE STORY (BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER)

Eher that, or bypass his story, ncentratg stead on the ample material Gaye left behd for a terrific mil revue. The Black Ensemble Theater premiere of The Marv Gaye Story mov between each optn.

CHIGO’S BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER TAK ON THE STORY OF MARV GAYE

Razor-th book only gave sketch tellg Gaye�s life story.

BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER'S 'THE MARV GAYE STORY'

Wh repetive scen pictg Gaye�s dg e, low self-teem, womanizg and nstant work ethic, we sure see Marv Gaye�s personal mons still left him the abily to acplish outstandg mil succs. We see both sis of Marv Gaye � the smooth artist and the self-stctive flawed human often paralyzed by dgs and a paful past.

Tragic and paful as much of Gaye�s life was, we are left wh his geo, soulful mic, and each time the Black Ensemble�s terrific band and st started to another Gaye classic, you uld feel the dience�s ep love and appreciatn for this mic. Jackie Taylor has wrten and produced more than 100 plays and mil bgraphi, cludg The Marv Gaye Story, The Jackie Wilson Story, All In Love Is Fair, The Other Crella, I Am Who I Am (The Story of Teddy Penrgrass), Don’t Make Me Over (The Story of Dnne Warwick), Don’t Shed A Tear (The Billie Holiday Story), Somebody Say Amen, At Last: A Tribute To Etta Jam; among a myriad of other acclaimed productns.

Marv Gaye productn at the Black Ensemble TheaterThe Black Ensemble Theater Chigo has cid to pture Marv Gaye's plex life their most recent productn, The Marv Gaye Story: Don’t Talk About My Father Bee God Is My Friend. L+T: Marv Gaye is one of the most revered stars of the Black muny – and Amerin history  general – so how, if at all, did that affect how you all portrayed him?

MARV GAYE GALLERY

I didn’t take to acunt the fact that Marv Gaye is loved by the mass.

I took to acunt what the purpose and missn of the Black Ensemble Theatre is, and that’s what guis how I shape my Marv Gaye was a difficult person to portray, but I did my rearch.

BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER, THE MARV GAYE STORY

I wanted them to fet that was Rashawn Thompson dog the part and I wanted them to know that this was Marv Gaye on the stage. The tortured elements the life of the great rhythm and blu artist Marv Gaye would be fascatg fodr for a powerfully tragic stage play. Eher that, or bypass his story, ncentratg stead on the ample material Gaye left behd for a terrific mil revue.

THE MARV GAYE STORY (DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FATHER, BEE GOD IS MY FRIEND) AT BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER | THEATER REVIEW

But he was also a man afflicted wh mons, all of them, acrdg to the show, emergg om Marv’s tortured relatnship wh his father, Marv Gaye, Sr., portrayed as an abive psychotic. The father killed Marv a day before the son’s 45th birthday 1987; iends later said that Gaye givg his father the gun was “a premedated suici, ” as the sger had ma failed suici attempts the show begs wh a montage of projected newspaper headl announcg Marv’s gunshot ath at the hands of his father. The dience loved , but the songs stopped the narrative s tracks jt when Marv had reached cril mass mentally and show’s 15 mil selectns clu only six posed by Gaye, omtg such hs as “Mercy Mercy Me, ” “Got to Give It Up, ” “Inner Cy Blu, ” and pecially “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).

” The show ncentrat on Gaye’s smooth, romantic si but his social cricism may be his most lastg ntributn to Amerin pop culture and that’s too short supply at the BET. Rashawn Thompson giv the mandg role of Mar Gaye a valiant try. Thompson is most succsful the mellow Barry Whe si of Gaye’s mic.

Thompson livers a nvcg portrayal of Gaye’s scent to secury, bterns, paranoia, and nfn, but the script don’t give the dience much sight to what triggered Gaye’s cle. The sign team is Denise Karczewski (lights), Carl Ulaszek (set), L Spir and Mike Pierce (sound), and Mike Tutaj (projectn sign) by Danny NicholasThe Marv Gaye Story Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center 4450 N. Marv Gaye led a plex life.

THE MARV GAYE STORY AT BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER, JUNE 12 – JULY 10, 2016

Difficult as may seem to pture his wi rangg personali, Chigo’s Black Ensemble Theater do jt that wh their current productn, The Marv Gaye Story: Don’t Talk About My Father Bee God Is My Friend. Centered around Gaye’s turbulent relatnship wh his father, the Marv Gaye Story, wrten, directed and produced by Black Ensemble Theater founr and executive director Jackie Taylor, shows the soul pneer evolve om his early days wh Harvey Fuqua and The New Moonglows through his 1980’s move to Europe and return to the Stat. Rashawn Thompson assum the role of Marv Gaye, and do a fe job embodyg the legend the play, which featur several of Gaye’s top hs, cludg “Pri and Joy”, “I Heard It Through The Grapeve” and “Sexual Healg.

Life+Tim: Talk about the goal and purpose of the Black Ensemble Theater, and why Marv Gaye was selected as the subject of your latt productn.

So of urse, Marv Gaye is an in. Of rse, jt mak sense that Marv Gaye would be one of the legends we celebrate and honor. Marv Gaye had about 15 books wrten about him and I read all those books.

MARV-GAYE-PERFORMANCE-PHOTO

I also talked wh Jan Gaye, his ex-wife, and did rearch on the ter terms of magaze articl and terviews that he did. L+T: Marv Gaye is one of the most revered stars of the Black muny – and Amerin history general – so how, if at all, did that affect how you all portrayed him?

Rashawn Thomas: Marv Gaye was a difficult person to portray, but I did my rearch.