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Your Stars

Oscar-shortlisted filmmaker develops Sun Ra doc

By JORDANNAH ELIZABETH

Special to the AmNews

Documentary filmmaker, Stanley Nelson, whose current documentary “Attica” is shortlisted for an Academy Award has announced that his production company Firelight Films is developing a new documentary about the other-worldly experimental jazz musician Sun Ra. The film, entitled “Sun Ra and the Rise of Afrofuturism,” will feature the only surviving member of the original Sun Ra Arkestra, 98-year-old Marshall Allen who is set to perform at Carnegie Hall’s Afrofuturism city-wide event series in New York City with the current Arkestra lineup.

Sun Ra is hailed to be one of the early creators within the genre of Afrofuturism. “Anchored by archival footage of Ra and his performances as well as interviews with musicians who performed with him over the years, ‘Sun Ra and the Rise of Afrofuturism’ will live up to the second half of its title by exploring how the theory and practice of Afrofuturism evolved, diversified and developed from Ra’s foundational concepts through interviews with contemporary writers, visual artists, musicians and curators,” Reelscreen reports.

This documentary is very timely as the world begins to recognize the importance and poignancy of Black historical figures who have been largely left out of the Western music and arts canon. This is largely due to the post-George Floyd international awakening toward racial justice and the newfound desire to reexamine and update historical documentation that includes Black innovators and visionaries.

“Without Sun Ra, it is hard to understand George Clinton, Erykah Badu, Janelle Monáe, Ras G, Kamasi Washington, Shabaka Hutchings, Moor Mother, Black Panther, Lovecraft Country, [or] Afrofuturism itself,” expressed Nelson. “Ra was part mystic, genius, showman and possibly alien. He was one of the most prolific, creative and visionary musicians the world has ever known.”

The Criterion Channel has released a series, “Black History Rising: Documentaries by Stanley Nelson,” featuring five of his films, “The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords,” “A Place of Our Own,” “Freedom Summer,” “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” and “Tell Them We Are Rising.” His most recent documentary “Attica” explores the five-day rebellion at upstate New York’s Attica Correctional Facility in 1971, which can be streamed for free on Showtime’s YouTube channel until the end of Black History Month.

American jazz musician Sun Ra in a publicity photo promoting the 1973 reissue of his album “The Magic City” through Impulse! Records and ABC/Dunhill Records (Public domain: https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Sun_Ra_(1973_publicity_ photo_-_Impulse_ABC_Dunhill).jpg)

Ebony ’s iconic Test Kitchen on view in Harlem

The iconic Ebony Magazine Test Kitchen—saved from wreckage thanks to preservationists Landmarks Illinois—is now accessible to the public as part of a first-of-itskind exhibit.

Presented in partnership with the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD), “African/American: Making the Nation’s Table”—displayed within the newly-constructed home of partner The Africa Center at Aliko Dangote Hall (1280 5th Avenue, New York)— reveals the stories of innovators, cooks, mixologists, and entrepreneurs as it emphasizes that African American food is American food.

Curated by Dr. Jessica B. Harris, widely considered the world’s preeminent expert on the foods of the African diaspora, this exhibition celebrates the countless contributions of Black chefs, farmers, and food and drink producers who have laid the foundation for American food culture—recognition that is long overdue. Understanding the rich and expansive stories underlying any good meal, African/American seeks, in its immersiveness and historic scope, to offer a portrait of the immense breadth of African American traditions and innovations in cooking.

The centerpiece of the exhibition, the Legacy Quilt—illustrated by Adrian Franks, sewn by the quilting collective Harlem Needle Arts using period-appropriate fabrics, and featuring blurbs on each block by writer Osayi Endolyn— depicts, through traditions stitched together and interconnected across the Diaspora, space, and time, a selection of hundreds among countless stories that deserve recognition. This awe-inspiring artifact stands 14 feet tall and nearly 28 feet wide. The Legacy Quilt also includes an interactive, virtual experience whereby people can submit their own stories of African American culinary heroes to add—emphasizing that these culinary histories are not finite, that the work of documenting and celebrating them is ongoing.

Visitors are then carried through four centuries of influence on agriculture, culinary arts, brewing and distilling, and commerce. The movement of people, whether enslaved Africans across the Atlantic or over 6 million Black Americans from the South to the North during the Great Migration, and in turn, their food traditions across place and time, is a central theme of the exhibition.

While the Legacy Quilt offers a breathtaking panorama, the Ebony Magazine Test Kitchen offers immersion into a specific institution (and its vivid, Afro-Modernist aesthetic representation of its historic moment) that served as a culinary touchstone for more than two generations of African Americans. Described by The Chicago Tribune as “the most distinctive test kitchen ever created,” it was the site where recipes from Ebony food editors—from oyster gumbo to sweet potato pudding— came together for the iconic “A Date With A Dish” column. The multisensory experience features a soul-stirring soundtrack curated by musician, farmer, and chef Kelis, and video interviews with former Ebony food editors.

For more information and for tickets, visit www.theafricacenter.org.

Ebony Magazine’s Test Kitchen

(Clay Williams photo)

16 • February 24, 2022 - March 2, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T

Tonya Lewis Lee, Paula Eiselt talk Sundance doc, ‘Aftershock’

By JORDANNAH ELIZABETH

Special to the AmNews

Directors Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Eiselt present an entrancing new documentary about Black women’s maternal and reproductive health in America. This emotionally powerful film presents statistical and informational details about the increasing numbers of deaths of Black women by following the lives and deaths of two women: Shamony Gibson and Amber Rose Isaac. Both mothers were healthy and vibrant before entering the hospital to have their children.

The fathers of both children, along with other family members of the women, reveal their indescribably painful experiences of loss while the film expands to tell a number of stories focused on this public health crisis.

“According to the CDC, the maternal mortality rate was significantly higher in 2019 (754 deaths) than 2018 (658 deaths). The increase was statistically significant for non-Hispanic Black women, whose maternal mortality rate was 2.5 times that of non-Hispanic white women and 3.5 times that of Hispanic women. But both knew they would need to go beyond the statistics for their film to be compelling,” reports the Associated Press.

Both directors created ‘Aftershock’ to speak out against this serious epidemic of Black maternal death by offering a clear, potent and realistic view of the issues that are plaguing America today.

Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Eiselt spoke to the Amsterdam News about their journeys of making this film.

Amsterdam News: How did you find out about this chilling story?

Tonya Lewis Lee: For me, I can talk about how I found out about the U.S. maternal mortality crisis. In 2007, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked me to be a spokesperson for an infant mortality raising campaign they were launching here in the United States and I had the pleasure to travel the country. I did know about the health issues that this country had, but I did not know that Black babies were dying at three times the rate of white babies in this country. So, inevitably I found myself immersed in the world of women’s health, specifically the health of Black women and I made a film back then called “Crisis in the Crib” about the mortality issue and began hearing about Black women dying from childbirth complications. I talked to lots of women and inevitably someone would tell me a story about a friend, a cousin, a sister, someone who had died from childbirth complications. So, I’ve been wanting to tell this story but knew I needed a partner because it’s such a big issue. I didn’t want it to be a survey film and so I was really happy to meet Paula and come together with her creatively and make this film.

Paula Eiselt: I came to this story, the topic of maternal health, because of my own experiences in the maternal health system. I had traumatic experiences carrying and birthing my children so I was already tied in and felt a connection to the topic of maternal health. I also made a previous film that dealt with women’s health care called “93Queen” and women, especially marginalized women is something I’m specifically connected to as well. In 2017, I started reading about the U.S. health crisis when a slew of articles came out and when I was reading them, especially the story of Shalon Irving in particular, I realized that what I went through on an individual level is really endemic to Black women and that we are in a national crisis and I really wanted to use my skill set to help shed light and uplift the work that was being done to combat this crisis. So, I was a fellow at Concordia Studio and had a project for development funds and started to research the topic. And very early on in that process, at one of the very first shoots I met Tonya. We bumped into each other and I was thrilled to connect with her and one thing led to the next thing and we decided to birth this baby together. And here we are.

AmNews: What do you want audiences to take away from this film?

Lewis Lee: I think I want people to come away from this film really ready to have a conversation. My hope is that audiences think about what it means to give birth in America and I want people talking about why our birthing outcomes are so bad. We’re all in this together and we need to figure out how to come together. The way to do that is for us to talk about it and get into action.

Eiselt: We want people to feel inspired and empowered to take that action for themselves, their families and for others, and come away with some things that they didn’t know about before about the options that they have and the different routes they can take, and take the initiative to have conversations and do more research and do something about this.

AmNews: Talk about the aesthetic and how you wanted the film to look. Did you want it to be stark and realistic or stylized? What were your ideas on the visual aspect of the film?

Eiselt: We were really clear that our shared vision was a vérité film that followed families and real people and subject collaborators on the ground up and close. We did not want a “talking heads” expert film. We wanted to tell the story of the maternal health crisis, not just the topic of it. We wanted people to feel the consequences of it and also the power that you can have through one of our character’s birth experiences that we had there too. So, that was a very conscious choice that we made.

Lewis Lee: We wanted it to feel real more than anything. We wanted our interviews to look really nice but we wanted the film to feel real. We wanted people to go through the experience as we were experiencing them.

AmNews: How supportive was Sundance of this film? It must have been an exciting experience to be selected.

Lewis Lee: Sundance is a wonderful community. This is my second time at Sundance. As a producer, I brought my film “Monster” in 2018 and Paula and I also financed the film going through Sundance Catalyst so we’ve had a lot of support from Sundance. It is a wonderful community for artists and we really appreciate how respectful they are of our process and of the work. It’s thrilling to have our film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and Competition. We are excited that there is this virtual element so that there are people who may not otherwise have been able to see the film

Omari Maynard and Bruce McIntyre in “Aftershock,” a powerful new documentary directed by Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Eiselt.

Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster, and the cast of “The Music Man”

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

I felt such joy and nostalgia when I heard that “The Music Man” was being brought back to Broadway. I grew up with this musical and I’m sure that most fans of the show know the songs and the scenes by heart. Well, the opening night at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway and 50th Street, had a buzz of excitement in the air. The lead role of Harold Hill was to be played by Hugh Jackman, and Marian Paroo by one of the most vocally, comedically awesome, talented actresses Broadway has to offer— the one-and-only Sutton Foster. Everyone was thrilled to be there for this momentous event!

The energy in the air was shared by the entire company as number after number were performed flawlessly, starting with the amusing song performed by the traveling salesmen as they go to Iowa. Every word, every pitch and tone of their voices was just right. The song “Iowa Stubborn” was also beautifully performed by the company. “Goodnight, My Someone” was a lovely song sung by Marian and her student Amaryllis, performed by Foster and African American Kayla Teruel. “SeventySix Trombones” put chills in the air and got hands clapping. “Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little” performed by the gossiping women of the town and “Good Night Ladies,” performed by the School Board quartet, are some of the beloved numbers that I know I was looking forward to. When Foster sang “Till There Was You,” I sat there in stunned appreciation of her magnificent instrument! I love her voice “’til I die”! There was a delightful chemistry between Jackman and Foster. “The Music Man” is such a fun time at the Theatre.

What I truly loved and appreciated about this “Music Man” is that it depicts Black people in Iowa. Not only are they in Iowa, they are part of the School Board quartet—namely Phillip Boykin and Nicholas Ward. And, one of the most refreshing castings that I also noticed was that not only is Amaryllis a young Black girl, but so is the mayor’s daughter Zaneeta, marvelously played by Emma Crow.

My favorite moments were every single time that Sutton Foster sang. Foster is absolutely fantastic and her vocal instrument epitomizes what a Broadway caliber voice MUST BE! All the scenes with the School Board were also marvelous, not just because they were amusing, but these men’s harmonies were spectacular. The other two members of the School Board quartet included Eddie Korbich and Daniel Torres. Some other featured cast members include Jefferson Mays as Mayor Shinn and Jayne Houdyshell as Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn. The creativity for this musical was shining throughout the presentation, especially the scene with the Wells Fargo wagon. I just won’t give it away. Marie Mullen was absolutely adorable as Mrs. Paroo, Marian’s mother. Benjamin Pajak was priceless as Winthrop Paroo.

The feeling throughout the musical was one of fun and high spirits. It is charming to watch as conman Professor Harold Hill sells naïve Iowa residents positions for their sons to be in a Boys Band that he will lead, complete with instruments, music books and uniforms. Only to find that love finds him with his foot caught in the door. While I enjoyed this production immensely, I must admit that Jackman seemed to be straining as he performed from the first number to the last. Foster and the rest of the company, however, were TERRIFIC! “The Music Man” is a must! “The Music Man” has a book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson, and a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey, with fun choreography by Warren Carlyle and riveting direction by Jerry Zaks.

(Joan Marcus photo)

For more info and for tickets, visit www.musicmanonbroadway.com/

FEB 24-26  |  2022

Three nights of incredible music by bassist, vocalist, and songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello inspired by influences from jazz drummer Max Roach, to writer and activist James Baldwin, and a curated evening of music by Ndegeocello favorite, The HawtPlates. For $10 off your ticket, use code AMSTERDAM at checkout.