As seen in the Chicago Sun-Times – December 2002

‘Ella’ recounts life of ‘first lady of song’

As the Black Ensemble The-ate's Jackie Taylor reminds us in "Ella: The First Lady of Song (The Ella Fitzgerald Story)"—her latest biographical revue of a legendary black musical figure—no movie has ever been made about the life of the virtuosic vocalist.

"There was no drug abuse or alcoholism, and nobody ever cheated her out of a dollar," Taylor, the show's writer and director, notes with just a tinge of sarcasm. Of course that doesn't mean there wasn't plenty of heartache. There was. Yet through it all—for five action-packed decades—Fitzgerald reigned as one of the all-time most popular jazz vocalists in the world. And her blissful musicality, her exuberant scatting, her direct rendering of everything from nov-ely numbers to the most glorious ballads in the American songbook, continues to set the gold standard.

In "Ella: The First Lady of Song," Taylor once again employs her well-tested formula for tap-ping exceptional local talent to evoke the stars of decades past. As always, she gives us a brief timeline of the star's life and career—the high-points and set-backs, the offstage pain and the onstage triumphs. And above all, she makes sure that there are plenty of big musical numbers, a few sleek dance interludes and a solid showcase for the band.

Three different actress-singers portray Fitzgerald in her youth (the ebullient Evelyn Banner), mid-career (the sophisticated Ava Logan) and maturity (the enigmatic Marilyn Grimes)—and each of them is sensational. Shepherding the star all through her life is Georgiana (the restrained and stylish C. J. Maddox), the devoted cousin who served as confidante and caretaker, especially when the singer's love interests—including one of

While Fitzgerald's adult years may not be the stuff of sensational movies, her teen years and discovery story certainly had all the elements of intense drama. At the age of 13 her mother died, and her stepfather began abusing her. She ran away from home, dropped out of school and was eventually sent to the Colored Orphan Asylum in the Bronx, from which she also ran away. Homeless, she lived on the streets of Harlem for two years, dancing and singing for tips, making the rounds of "black Broadway" and entering an endless array of talent contests, primarily as a dancer.

It was at the Apollo, in November 1934, that she decided to try out as a singer rather than a dancer, and she won. Overweight, awkward and poorly dressed, she was given the cash prize but denied the week of performances that came along with it because she was deemed not pretty enough for show business. Bandleader Chick Webb had the same response to Fitzgerald when his male vocalist, Charles Linton, brought her hi to see him for the job of "girl vocalist." But once Webb heard her, he changed his mind, and a star was born.

Although none of the three singers at Black Ensemble can precisely replicate Fitzgerald's distinctive timbre, each has a powerhouse voice, and each captures many other aspects of her style.

By Hedy Weiss
Theater Critic