By Marilyn Lester***Over a fantastically long and celebrated career of writing music, America’s greatest composer, Duke Ellington, was no stranger to dance, from the early days of the Cotton Club, to suites such as A Drum Is a Woman and the adaptation of The Nutcracker to The River ballet. What’s mor
e, big bands until the post World War II years were dance bands. This is a knowledge front and center to granddaughter Mercedes Ellington, renowned dancer-choreographer, keeper of the Ellington flame and founder of The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts (DECFA). Such Sweet Thunder—A Shakespearian Jazz Holiday Celebration at at Symphony Space, presented by DECFA in association with the American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF) and co-directed by Ellington and Tony Waag, ATDF co-founder, brilliantly married dance and theatrical elements to the musical suite, bringing Duke and dance to vibrant life once again.
What has always characterized (Mercedes) Ellington’s choreography and work is a highly creative thought process, which, like her grandfather’s, marries artistry with keen insight. Thus, from concept to execution, the result of this production was full of charm and wit. The cohesive thread of Such Sweet Thunder was, of course, the suite itself, played by the Duke Ellington Center Big Band, led by musical director, pianist and longtime Ellington associate, Eli Yamin. The band 
was in the pocket, and the collective musicianship produced a tight sound, serving as a solid platform for the show’s dynamic lineup of dancers and vocalists.
Ellington, with his musical partner, Billy Strayhorn, released Such Sweet Thunder, an instrumental ode to the works of William Shakespeare, in 1957. The suite was inspired by the Duke Ellington Orchestra’s appearance at the Stratford (Canada) Shakespeare Festival in August 1956, triggering an intense deep dive into the Bard’s canon. The title is from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the line deliverd by Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons: “I never heard / So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.” Ellington viewed the suite as a series of musical portraits, emulating Shakespeare’s sonnets in fourteen-line melodies within a modified twelve-bar blues framework. And typical of the Ellington genius, titling of the work’s 12 parts are clever, often whimsical, and entirely hip.
The twelve parts of the suite at Symphony Space were performed as follows:
1, “Such Sweet Thunder”—a white-masked, black-clad, full-cast performed expressive modern dance to the dramatic opening musical salvo.
2. “Sonnet for Caesar”—Mark Mindek executed an amazing dance…on stilts!
3. “Sonnet to Hank Cinq”—the very talented AC Lincoln tapped as Prince Hal
4.”Sonnet in Search of a Moor”—an added song, with lyrics by jazz vocalist Marion Cowings, doing a deep dive as the doomed Black regent, Othello
5.”Lady Mac”—a wittily conceived tap number, with the story of the “Scottish Play” interpreted by ace tappers Karen Callaway Williams and DeWitt Fleming Jr
6. “The Telecasters”—The Precision Dancers: Karyn Tomczak, Vanessa Guitierrez-McMahan, Stephanie Bishop and Mary Lilygren Cane were a spooky dance troupe of witches plotting and planning their “double, double, toil and trouble”
7.”Up and Down, Up and Down (I Will Lead Them Up and Down)”—the elegance of ballroom dancers swirled through a dreamily-plotted number: Michael Choi and Ema Nohalova, Rafal Pusteiny and Jennifer Mumylo, and Ray Davis and Akemi Kinukama, referencing A Midsummer Night’s Dream
8.”Sonnet for Sister Kate”—celebrated jazz vocalist Antoinette Montague took on the role of The Taming of the Shrew‘s Katherine, bringing her original lyrics and creative stylings to another adapted tune
9. “The Star-Crossed Lovers”—more elegance in the beauteous ballroom stylngs of Danai Avloniti and Milos Jadzic as Romeo and Juliet
10.”Madness in Great Ones”—innovative tapper, vocalist and percussive artist Max Pollak rendered a truly amazing portrait of the tortured Danish Prince Hamlet, pulling out all the stops of his multi-partite talent
11.”Half the Fun”—more beauty from the three ballroom couples in a tribute to Cleopatra
12.”Circle of Fourths,”—a tribute to Shakespeare himself with the full cast, leading to the performance conclusion and bows
The band wrapped up the evening with DECFA’s signature outro, “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.” This top-class band was comprised of Shawn Edmonds, Michael Cruse, Mark Jon McGowan, and James Zollar (trumpets); Jason Curry, Langston Hughes II, Chris Byars, Jason Marshall, and Jay Brandford (saxophones/woodwinds); Jason Jackson, Alex Jeun, and Becca Patterson (trombones); Jennifer Vincent (bass); Alvester Garnett (drums); and Sandra Billingslea (violin).
Among the overall success of this delightful production of Such Sweet Thunder—A Shakespearian Jazz Holiday Celebration, lurked a weak link: the text that introduced each number. The narration, written and delivered by Miles Purinton, was overly long and not especially cohesive. In distracting attire, Purinton also lacked the polish that could have significantly elevated an otherwise enjoyable and remarkable presentation.
Photos by Kyle Martin
