Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 15, 1994 TAG: 9403150107
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I feel like I'm at church, don't you?" Jeanette Law whispered to her friend.
Before the show even started, the emcee hollered to the audience, "Have a hallelujah good time!"
Clearly, this isn't your run-of-the-mill musical.
"Reverend, I'm Available," which played three times last weekend, is one in a string of gospel musicals to whiz through the Roanoke Civic Center Auditorium in recent years.
These shows - including "I Need a Man," "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "Whatever Happened to Black Love" - always draw large crowds, particularly if they're promoted well, said Bob Chapman, civic center manager.
By mainstream theater standards, these musicals are lowbrow follies.
Critics wonder why audiences pack the house to see these racy, low-budget, sparsely designed shows, where the only props are often a row of chairs, a lectern and a Bible.
Their scripts, critics have charged, are more sitcom than theater, relying on the same tried-and-true formula of fat jokes, gay jokes, sex jokes and bathroom jokes to get their points across.
But that's part of their appeal.
"One thing about these shows is they don't give you that lofty theater feeling," said Marshal McAden, associate artistic director for Lime Kiln Arts in Lexington.
"They're appealing because they're church-oriented, and you can be assured that what message it gives is very positive."
McAden concedes that the writing in these productions lacks depth when compared with a work like "Camelot," considered a masterpiece of musical theater.
But the gospel musical is a legitimate genre in its own right.
"The writing might not be great," he said. "But so far as entertainment value, it would throw any of them [mainstream productions] out of the water."
"Reverend, I'm Available" certainly is the type of show where you can let your hair down, loosen your girdle and kick off your shoes.
The show opens at the funeral of Mattie Griffin, the wife of the Rev. Grady Griffin. Before the woman is even laid to rest, three congregation members start throwing themselves at the minister in their quests to become the next Mrs. Griffin. Even a flamboyant gay choir member tries to woo the minister, baking him a pink strawberry cake.
Along the way, the minister sleeps with all of the women, but a moral lesson - that ministers must practice what they preach - is made at the end.
"It was very enjoyable, very spiritual," said Delores Dickerson, who attended the Saturday matinee. "It had a good message behind it, especially for the preachers."
McAden adds that many black audiences appreciate shows that reflect real life.
"We know that every preacher that's ever stepped in the pulpit has been tempted by the sisters," he said. "The first five pews of the church fill up with single, available women."
Another explanation for the popularity of these shows could be that there's not a lot of entertainment targeted to black audiences in Roanoke.
"It gives black people something different to do," said theater-goer Susie Whorley. "I know when I hear a play and there's black people in it, I'm all for it."
Rodney L. Clark, who wrote "Reverend, I'm Available," goes so far as to argue that gospel musicals not only resemble the church, they are becoming the church.
"There's a new wave of gospel-type plays," he said. "We feel it's a new way of ministering to people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
by CNB