Don’t Miss This Very Special Musical
“Speak of Me As I Am”
A Musical Tribute to Paul Robeson
A Musical, a Play, an Experience, a One-Man Show
Starring
KB SOLOMON as PAUL ROBESON
Sunday, February 8th - 2:00 PM
St. Agatha’s Church
2646 S. Mansfield Avenue, Los Angeles 90016
Tickets $25
For Reservations Email: kbsolomon@gmail.com
This is a Fantastic Historical Musical. I Loved it a second time. KB Solomon is Paul Robeson! - Frank Dorrel
Written & Produced by KB Solomon & Krys Howard - www.kbsolomon.com
This stirring tribute to Paul Robeson, a real American hero, brings to light his political stand and reflects upon the heavy
price he paid. The 1 hour 45 minute show features twenty-one patriotic, popular and spiritual songs. KB Solomon brings
to life the spirit, sound, and music of Paul Robeson.
"There can be no greater tragedy than to forget one’s origin and finish despised and hated by the people among whom one grew up. To have that happen would be the sort of thing to make me rise up from my grave."
- Paul Robeson, 1938.
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Here is a Review of “Speak of Me As I Am” by Ed Rampell
*LOS ANGELES JOURNAL*
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Old Man Robeson Keeps Rolling Along
This year has been a year of progressive biopics, bringing Che Guevara, Harvey Milk and Richard Nixon back to life on the screen (lauding the first two, reviling the latter). Add to this distinguished company Speak Of Me As I Am, a leftist bio-play starring the stirring K.B. Solomon in an inspiring one-man show about Paul Robeson that is perfect for the holiday season.
The son of a slave, Robeson was a Renaissance Man, an all-star athlete at Rutgers who earned a law degree and went on to become an actor (his most famous role was as a character of the Renaissance, Othello, from whom the play’s title is taken), singer and probably most importantly, a pro-Communist black militant who stood up to "whitey," be he a Southern racist or German fascist.
The first act of Speak of Me As I Am tells much of Robeson’s story through film clips, songs performed live accompanied by a pianist and cellist and most of all by Solomon’s commanding presence. We see how Robeson went from all-American to "un-American," the star of stage, screen and concert hall’s annual salary of $100,000 reduced to $2,000 per year when he was black listed during the HUAC-McCarthy era.
Accused of being a Communist, Robeson was denied the right to perform at home, and his passport was seized by the State Department, preventing the internationally acclaimed celebrity from accepting the numerous gigs he was offered abroad. Although the play doesn’t mention it, one of Robeson’s greatest "crimes" was declaring during the Cold War that African Americans wouldn’t fight for the USA against the Soviet Union, about 20 years before another black activist, Muhammad Ali, refused to serve in Vietnam because no Viet Cong had ever called him the N-word.
Robeson died in the 1970s, and for today’s generation, the closest they’ll come to "meeting" this extraordinary man is through this show written and produced by Solomon and Krys Howard.
Solomon’s performance is a marvel not to be missed. The towering basso profundo opera singer has the icon’s stature, mannerisms and smile down, an= d his mellifluous voice is a delight that sometimes had the audience singing along to numbers such as "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night." Deftly cutting from the spoken to the sung word to tell Robeson’s saga, Solomon’s renditions of classics like "Porgy’s Plenty of Nothing," "The House I Live In," "Danny Boy" and but of course, Robeson’s signature tune, "Old Man River," shall have you tapping your tootsies and perhaps tearing up, as your inner self is transported heavenward. It’s almost as if this life force, which tirelessly stood up for the "little people" against injustice, has come back to life.
Indeed, this is the premise of Speak of Me As I Am =96 Robeson returns from heaven (where Solomon wittily observes he can’t find J. Edgar Hoover or Joe McCarthy) to tell his story. In particular, Robeson seeks to redeem himself against charges that he was unpatriotic, insisting that he was a real American in the revolutionary tradition of 1776, fighting for truth, justice and the democratic way. The play glosses over Robeson’s relationship with the Communist Party and Soviet Union, which he was accused of being a stooge for. Indeed, during a visit to the USSR Robeson did confront the Stalinists over the imprisonment of an artist or intellectual, whom I believe was Jewish.
This incident is powerful ammunition against those who denigrate Robeson as a Stalin apologist, and could be incorporated into Act II. In this much shorter second act, which seems to be a work in progress, the modern day Robeson comments on today’s recession and the election of America’s first black president.
I called Speak of Me As I Am a one-man show, but in fact the play makes clever use of an enchained black mannequin onstage, so that at times it almost feels like a cast of two. Photos of famous radicals and infamous reactionaries, from Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglas and John Brown to Hoover, McCarthy and Harry Truman, also decorate the set and are also put t= o good use.
Speak of Me As I Am joins the illustrious company of Che, Milk and Frost/Nixon, as well as the play Marx in Soho by people’s historian Howard Zinn as a work of art that brings great personalities and issues vividly back to life. This is one of the greatest things art can do. By the end of Speak of Me As I Am you, too, will feel Robeson and Solomon have got the whole wide world in their hands. Don’t miss this life affirming theatrical experience, which will be performed from time to time in 2009 as Solomon and Howard seek to bring Robeson’s thrilling story to a theater near you.
