If you’ve heard of Sister Rosetta Tharpe — and it’s entirely possible you haven’t — you might know that she influenced early Rockers including Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Even Elvis. Why isn’t she better known? Perhaps it’s because she straddled two musical worlds in the 1930s and 1940s. She’d play church in the morning, and The Cotton Club that night. She considered her principal rival to be Mahalia Jackson, who stuck to the Gospel world and became famous.
Sister Rosetta’s bluesy, sassy spirit could not be contained. She rocked and rolled and shook her hips, even when she sang in church. She played mean guitar riffs and early on picked up a flashy white electric guitar. She shared her music wherever she could, and she wasn’t ashamed to mingle the secular with the sacred. She was quick to say, “Jesus forgives me seven times 70 a day. You’ll just have to believe.” She did, and she preached that to Marie Knight, who became her protégé and stage partner starting in 1946.
George Brant’s stage play Marie and Rosetta, currently at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, begins in 1946 at an African-American funeral parlor in Mississippi. Rosetta (Miche Braden) is embarking on a tour with Marie (Chaz Hodges), who has been singing in a backup quartet for Jackson. Rosetta hears something in Marie’s voice and presence that sounds like a kindred spirit. But she needs to get beyond her uptight demeanor.
Why a funeral home? They’re in the deep and segregated South where hotels refused to accommodate black performers so they’re readying for a concert in a nearby warehouse and they’ll spend the night amid (or perhaps in) the coffins. It was a necessity of touring widely, as much as eating whatever food was proffered, including “Gospel chicken,” Rosetta’s phrase for cold bologna.
Marie is not quite the child she initially appears to be. In fact, she’s married with two children — but unhappy with her preacher husband. She’s ready for a new path, although her churchy demeanor is at odds with Rosetta’s earthier, brash ways. It’s not that Rosetta is without faith: In fact, she’s certain that she has more impact on sinners in a concert hall than in worship services. She reaches them through her powerful Blues tunes.
Marie needs some schooling. When Rosetta launches into a Gospel number, “Rock Me (in the Cradle of Your Love),” Marie is shocked at her “dirty” delivery of the word “R-R-Rock,” with swinging hips and more than a hint of sexuality. “You really want me to sing like that?” Marie asks. “That’s right,” Rosetta tells her. “I ain’t made a’ china. I ain’t gonna break.” Marie proves to be a quick and willing learner.
That truth is demonstrated over and over as Marie and Rosetta connect through music and life stories, especially about Rosetta’s “squirrels,” her series of unsatisfying husbands. Brant’s retelling could be more dynamic. Themes and lessons are repeated as bridges between the dozen or so musical numbers, ranging from the pious — “Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)?” and “Peace in the Valley” — to the profane — “I Want a Tall Skinny Papa” and “Four or Five Times” (after which Rosetta exclaims, “Now we are both going to Hell”).
The music tells us the most about these women, and Braden and Hodges are impressive vocalists in songs ranging from the emotional “Didn’t It Rain” to the moving “Strange Things (Are Happening Every Day).” However, they mime playing (the actual piano and guitar playing is handled by Katreese Barnes and George Naha behind a scrim). That means some of the staging (Neil Pepe, who directed the show’s original New York production) keeps distracting our attention from hands on a keyboard we can’t see and guitar playing that’s not quite fueled by genuine physicality.
The 100-minute production takes an unexpected turn in its final moments to pull together threads of Rosetta’s career. It’s a bit jarring, but it does complete a loving portrait of this remarkable performer. On April 14, Sister Rosetta will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
Marie And Rosetta, presented by the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, continues through March 31. Tickets/more info: cincyplay.com.
This article appears in Mar 7-14, 2018.
