MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM By August Wilson [Netflix]

Diane and I saw the play version of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 1995 at the Studio Arena Theater in Buffalo, NY. This more recent movie version on Netflix features Viola Davis as the Diva of the Blues, Ma Rainey. Davis plays Ma Rainey as capricious and moody as a legendary blues singer could be. Chadwick Boseman delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as troubled trumpeter, Levee Green, a member of Ma Rainey’s band, The Seasoned Georgia Jazz Band.

Most of the action centers around a recording session in Chicago at the Paramount recording studio in the 1920s. The white men who run the company try to cater to Ma Rainey’s whims because they know her records will earn them a lot of money.

As in many of August Wilson’s plays, there’s an undercurrent of violence in the action as race, art, religion, and the historic exploitation of black recording artists by white producers trouble the characters.

Have you seen Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom? GRADE: A

16 thoughts on “MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM By August Wilson [Netflix]

    1. george Post author

      Steve, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM was a ground-breaking play when we first saw it in the 1990s. The movie version highlights these factors.

      Reply
  1. Michael Padgett

    I’m so far behind on streaming stuff that I’m just getting around to “The Queen’s Gambit”, so I’m a couple of months behind the curve. This is a definite Must See, and I’ll get to it eventually. My TO BE WATCHED stack now rivals my TBR stack.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Michael, you and I have a lot in common! Our DVR is 51% full (fortunately for me, it’s mostly HALLMARK movies). But THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT is still waiting to be watched. AMAZON delivered a bunch of books that when added to my Read Real Soon stack is threatening an avalanche!

      Reply
  2. Patti Abbott

    I liked it a lot although I have to agree with Megan, it remained more a filmed play than a movie. I thought that with FENCES too. But I have loved all of his plays that I’ve seen including the fairly obscure GEM OF THE OCEAN. But most especially THE PIANO LESSON.

    Reply
  3. Jeff Meyerson

    Yes, it was a filmed play, but filmed brilliantly. Unlike so many stars, Davis did not try to glamorize her performance. Ma Rainey has been described as looking like the makeup was melting off her face, and that is exactly what they achieved with Davis. And Boesman (who looks almost painfully thin) was fantastic.

    Glynn Turman (Toldeo) played the corrupt Mayor in THE WIRE. He was married to Aretha Franklin for six years. We saw Colman Domingo’s one man autobiographical show A BOY AND HIS SOUL, about his difficult childhood in Philadelphia and his escape through music, off-Broadway in 2010.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I’ve read some criticism of Viola Davis’s performance, but I thought she captured the essence of Ma Rainey perfectly. And you’re right about Boseman looking sick and emaciated.

      Reply
    1. george Post author

      Rick, hopefully the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine will be approved. They have 100,000,000 doses ready to go. We’re going to go from a shortage of vaccine to a glut!

      Reply
      1. Rick Robinson

        But it’s only 65% effective, instead of the 90-95% of the other two! Won’t matter, against CDC recommendations, Oregon Governor has seniors in third group, behind all health care workers, all teachers and school employees and all other front line workers such as grocery store employees. It will be many months before I, at 75, will get a shot. Also, Oregon has very few doses for some reason.

        We got our first snow yesterday. I have to go in for labs today. More books came in at library and I’m overwhelmed.

  4. Beth Fedyn

    They did this play at the Milwaukee Rep and we walked out.
    I was expecting more music so was disappointed.
    The woman I went with saw it in Florida but the lesbian aspect was really downplayed there.

    Reply

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