Ask Your Mama
Watching the seats fill in at Carnegie Hall while the orchestra was tuning up for Langston Hughes’ Ask Your Mama.
I have yet to be able to effectively communicate how awe-inspiring this show was. Between the full orchestra, Questlove on drums, Black Thought’s phenomenal performance, the three singers who did things with their voices I had forgotten could be done, Langston Hughes’ voiceovers, and the incredible video, I don’t even know where to begin.
The best example I can give is this:
- First, start with this clip of Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson and Shirley Temple from “The Littlest Rebel” projecting onto the wall.
- Then, imagine all of the orchestra’s drummers drumming along to the rhythm of their tap dancing
- While the drummers are drumming, have the orchestra’s horn and wind sections accompany them with kazoos.
- Next, slice and dice it all so it is finely mixed in and integrated into “Ask Your Mama”
- Finally, imagine seeing it happen live at Carnegie Hall.
This all happened about one-third into the show, and it was nowhere near the highlight.
Incredible.