"Eyewitness Blues," a tale of a tired jazz star and his feisty muse directed by Chay Yew, actually plays a lot like a jazz jam session: packed with passion and energy, but often lacking focus and direction.
The play tells the story of Junior McCullough (Steven Sapp), a trumpet player who has lost his musical direction, and a visiting muse (Mildred Ruiz), who reminds him of the source of his musicality and leads him through a recollection of his past. The memories are recalled in the form of stream-of-consciousness ramblings, poetry and rap-inspired-riffs. A backdrop of jazz, blues and flamenco music enhances the words.
The muse introduces Junior as a musical genius from the ghetto with talent enough to place him among the greats of jazz. Unfortunately, Junior has "lost his breath." In an attempt to appease the masses, he has sacrificed his musical integrity. Now he is merely a tired trumpet player with a serious alcohol problem.
Junior's muse invokes the name of jazz legends of old and memories of Junior's height of fame as a jazz man in order to inspire him. Yet Junior resists inspiration, and his muse becomes increasingly unrelenting in her insistence that he seize his rightful place among jazz legends.
The muse's angry lectures evolve into a bizarre combination of flamenco dancing, foot-stomping and seemingly improvised songs. Her relentless rampages become wearisome to listen to, annoying Junior and the audience alike. While Ruiz has a powerful presence and singing voice, her character's attitude and lines are abrasive to the point of being annoying.
Junior's dialogue is somewhat more successful. His lines are peppered with clever rhymes and turns of phrase. Sapp gives a strong performance filled with emotional fervor in voice and body presence. However, one sharp note is not enough to make a melody, and Junior seems to only know how to play one note: anger. Junior goes from irritated to annoyed and from furious to livid, but he explores few other emotions.
Creative writing teachers warn students against the overuse of exclamation points. Too many and they begin to lose their effect. The writers of "Eyewitness Blues" should have taken this advice. An overabundance of exclamation points reduces the emotional impact of each subsequent angry outburst from Junior's mouth. Eventually the performance becomes monotonous and annoying, and the audience begins to wish someone would stick a trumpet mute in Junior's mouth.
While the show takes the audience up and down an emotional mountain, it fails to take them on a path to anywhere. The show lacks direction. It has no clear concept of time and space. "Eyewitness Blues" is a series of musical episodes from Junior's life, which lack a unifying framework. A simple linear progression of time would have given this disjointed play some much-needed organization.
"Eyewitness Blues" does not bore, but it fails to inspire. The music is beautiful and the choreography is energetic, but the story is jumbled and the dialogue one-dimensional. This is a case where two strong artists need some better material. Those looking for a wonderful evening of jazz and blues should skip "Eyewitness Blues" and taking a stroll down U Street instead.
