
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 21, 1992                   TAG: 9203210321
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KAREN L. DAVIS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`HENRY STREET!' CAPTURES MOODS OF `THE YARD'S' GLORY, FALL, HOPES

"What A Difference A Day Makes," performed by Brenda Harris, is a fitting solo opener for the homegrown musical revue "Henry Street!" which takes the audience on a song-and-dance tour from the 1920s through the present day and beyond.

There was a day when Henry Street was the famous and thriving commercial, social and entertainment center of Roanoke's black community. There was a day when blues, swing and bop jazz could be heard filtering through the eaves of the Morocco Club as musicians jammed until 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning.

But today, seeing Henry Street's boarded-up buildings and general urban decay, it is hard to believe that clubs on "The Yard," as the area just across the railroad tracks from downtown Roanoke was known then, once played host to musical greats such as Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Lionel Hampton and many others.

What happened to Henry Street? That is the question the show explores as it celebrates 50 years of Roanoke's black community and the hoped-for Henry Street revitalization project.

The racially mixed cast, all local talent, relives memories from each decade with loosely spun narrative and musical numbers. They keep the audience toe-tapping and clapping along through the Charleston in the Roaring '20s, straight through the '60s with The Swim, The Jerk, The Hitchhike and The Twist.

Mary Alice Bowling also pleases the crowd with her gospel number, "His Eye Is on the Sparrow." Karen Jackson, Charlene Cochran and James Pullen demonstrate the blues as a musical style with "Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean," "The Man I Love" and "Every Day I Have the Blues," respectively. And William Dixon does a sexy, romantic solo with "Misty."

Then, mourning the demise of Henry Street in the '70s, Laurice Hampton performs a lovely modern dance routine to an instrumental version of "There Ain't No Sunshine When You're Gone."

Rap artist Rob Webb portrays the prevailing spirit of hopelessness that haunts the housing projects where many black kids are growing up. His lyrics spell out a bleak and frightening future unless a community can reunite and revitalize itself.

The Chevys and Premiers, a legendary local rhythm-and-blues band that regularly played Henry Street's Ebony Club in the early 1960s, has come out of retirement to be in the show's revival, as it did when "Henry Street!" was first performed in 1986 at Mill Mountain Theatre.

The band's nostalgic renditions of "Get Ready," "Heatwave" and "Shout," as well as the show's other familiar tunes, such as "Unchained Melody" sung by Kenneth Clements and "Blueberry Hill" performed by William Penn against a painted backdrop of the old Dumas Hotel, remind us of the enormous cultural contributions black artists have made to our society.

Written and narrated by Greta Evans and co-directed by Evans and singer-pianist William Penn, "Henry Street!" is as much a tribute to a day that was as to a day that could be again.

Mayor Noel Taylor delivers a compelling speech on the Henry Street revitalization project and his hope that Henry Street will one day be a place where many races and cultures will convene. In his words, "Miracles do happen in Roanoke."

Sold-out performances of "Henry Street!" continue today at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Virginia Western Community College's Whitman Auditorium.

Karen Davis, who lives in Roanoke, has reviewed theater productions for the Roanoke Times & World-News since 1985.

by CNB