*A romping, stomping good time awaits at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center with the opening of The Ebony Repertory Theatre’s presentation of Five Guys Named Moe.
The hilariously stimulating musical is on stage now through June 11th 2017. The show debuted in London in 1990 and on Broadway in 1992 and has since played around the globe by numerous variations of talented quintets, plus one.
The show intertwines the hits of bandleader and composer Louis Jordan who reigned in the era of jazz and swing from 1930’s through the 1950’s. Louis “King of the Jukebox” Jordan and his Tympany 5 helped innovate what is known as Jump Blues. The storyline of Five Guys Named Moe centers around a character named Nomax, a drunken guy whose love life has hit rock bottom.
Emmy Award winning Obba Babatunde delivers a sparkling embodiment of Nomax, who is transformed when the songs that he is listening to on the radio come to life. One by one Five Guys Named Moe take No Max through a singing and dancing journey filled with lessons in life and love. Stellar performances are displayed by Octavius Womack as Big Moe, Trevon Davis as Little Bitty Moe, Rogelio Douglas, Jr. as Four Eyed Moe, Jacques C. Smith as No Moe and Eric B. Anthony as Eat Moe.
Director & Choreographer Keith Young, along with his assistant Dominique Kelley did a brilliant job of staging this theatrical work to achieve the highest level of entertainment value. The band deserves a bow as well, under the direction of Abdul Hamid Royal. And yes, it was all about “Azure Te’” in Act One and those hilarious “Chickens” in Act Two, but then again calling out favorites ain’t even fair in a show filled with songs like Let The Good Times Roll, Messy Bessy, Saturday Night Fish Fry, Caldonia and Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby.
“The vibrations of their joy is enough to go ahead and move you.” Clarke Peters to EURweb.com on the return of Five Guys Named Moe. Major kudos are due to the writer & visionary Clarke Peters, who was on hand for opening night. EURweb’s Jazzy Rita was fortunate enough to chat about the current Los Angeles run of Five Guys Named Moe.
Photo by Paige Petrone LAArtsonline.com
Producer, Wren Brown and theatre manager Gayle L. Hooks worked tirelessly, along with the passionate guidance of Obba Babatunde’ to bring this production about, along with sponsor support from City National Bank, US Bank, Northrop Grumman, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the California Community Foundation and many more. Show times for Five Guys Named Moe are 8:00 PM Friday-Sunday through June 11th at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, located at 4708 West Washington Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90016. Convenient free parking is available. Click here for ticket info.
Additional photos appear courtesy of Paige Petrone of LAArtsOnline.com FB@LAArtsOnline [email protected]
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