REVIEWS & COMMENTS

REVIEW FROM BACK STAGE WEST

CRITIC’S PICK

                                                                                   

Reviewed by Hoyt Hilsman                   

September 01, 2010

The marvelously melodious bass voice of K.B. Solomon is the perfect instrument for this nearly operatic rendition of the life of the iconic Paul Robeson. Under the steady hand of director Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter, Solomon paints a captivating portrait of the outsized Robeson, highlighted with inspirational renditions of the most memorable songs that Robeson performed. For those who are unaware of the breadth of Robeson's career, the evening is a wonderful revelation, and for those who have long admired his life and work, it is a poignant and inspiring tribute.

Robeson was the only black student at Rutgers when he attended, then went on to become a professional football player, a graduate of Columbia Law School, and an acclaimed actor and singer, whose performances ranged from plays by O'Neill and Shakespeare to appearances in stage and film musicals, most notably "Showboat." Perhaps most significantly, Robeson was a fearless warrior for civil rights, not only for African Americans but also for workers and oppressed peoples around the world. Hounded for years by the FBI as a communist sympathizer, Robeson suffered mightily for his beliefs but never abandoned his convictions.

 

This stirring one-person show is set in the living room of Robeson's childhood home, where he has returned after death to reminisce about his life and career. As he narrates the events of Robeson's life, Solomon intersperses each event and accomplishment with some of Robeson's greatest songs, which range from "Old Man River" and "John Brown's Body" to "America the Beautiful" and a number of spirituals. As Solomon moves around the stage, which features portraits of great Americans from George Washington to Martin Luther King Jr., he engages in an animated soliloquy on the injustices in our nation's history, always punctuated by a famous song. Solomon's voice is powerful and rich, and his rendition of the familiar songs has a refreshing intelligence and purpose that renew the mind and the soul.

Not surprisingly, Solomon, who has performed principal roles in operas around the world, takes an operatic approach to Robeson's life. While this may be a bit stylized for some audiences, it is a terrific fit with Robeson's epic journey.

 

Presented by and at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.

Aug. 6–Sept. 5. Fri.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.

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KB Solomon brings to light Robeson’s political stand and reflects upon the price Robeson paid.   KB Solomon appears as Paul returned from “ The Time Untime “ to give an account of his stand and to address today’s America with inspiring dialogue, patriotic and popular songs, most of which Robeson recorded.  His rare basso profundo sound is astounding as he channels Paul Robeson back from the great beyond to set the record straight, I’m I an un-american?  I’m I a non-patriot?

I’m I a communist?

“There can be no greater tragedy than to forget one’s origin and finish despised and hated by the people among whom one grew up.  To have that happen would be the sort of thing to make me rise up from my grave.”  - Paul Robeson, 1938.

If that would happen, Robeson would certainly smile while sitting front row center in Speak Of Me As I Am. 

KB Solomon draws Paul Robeson back across stormy rivers and into present life in his amazing one man musical play, "Speak of Me as I Am."

Paul Robeson -20th Century Renaissance man, a hero in any century who fell into political disfavor, blacklisting and then non-personhood because he refused to remain silent about the economic and racial inequities in the world.

Robeson's story is  an important and particularly American tale. Today, that paradigm has changed. If music is the universal language, then Paul Robeson was its soul filled accent. Today, no one speaks the language more brilliantly than Basso Profundo, KB Solomon.

As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this.  

Paul Robeson

Article    http://www.losangelesjournal.com/new/articles-view-17-728

Old man Robeson keeps rolling along  12/21/2008

This year has been a year of progressive biopics, bringing Che Guevara, Harvey Milk and Richard Nixon back to life on the screen (lauding the first two, reviling the latter). Add to this distinguished company Speak Of Me As I Am, a leftist bio-play starring the stirring K.B. Solomon in an inspiring one-man show about Paul Robeson that is perfect for the holiday season.

The son of a slave, Robeson was a Renaissance Man, an all-star athlete at Rutgers who earned a law degree and went on to become an actor (his most famous role was as a character of the Renaissance, Othello, from whom the play's title is taken), singer and probably most importantly, a pro-Communist black militant who stood up to "whitey," be he a Southern racist or German fascist.

The first act of Speak of Me As I Am tells much of Robeson's story through film clips, songs performed live accompanied by a pianist and cellist and most of all by Solomon's commanding presence. We see how Robeson went from all-American to "un-American," the star of stage, screen and concert hall's annual salary of $100,000 reduced to $2,000 per year when he was blacklisted during the HUAC-McCarthy era.

Accused of being a Communist, Robeson was denied the right to perform at home, and his passport was seized by the State Department, preventing the internationally acclaimed celebrity from accepting the numerous gigs he was offered abroad. Although the play doesn't mention it, one of Robeson's greatest "crimes" was declaring during the Cold War that African Americans wouldn't fight for the USA against the Soviet Union, about 20 years before another black activist, Muhammad Ali, refused to serve in Vietnam because no Viet Cong had ever called him the N-word.

Robeson died in the 1970s, and for today's generation, the closest they'll come to "meeting" this extraordinary man is through this show written and produced by KB Solomon.

Solomon's performance is a marvel not to be missed. The towering basso profundo opera singer has the icon's stature, mannerisms and smile down, and his mellifluous voice is a delight that sometimes had the audience singing along to numbers such as "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night." Deftly cutting from the spoken to the sung word to tell Robeson's saga, Solomon's renditions of classics like "Porgy's Plenty of Nothing," "The House I Live In," "Danny Boy" and but of course, Robeson's signature tune, "Old Man River," shall have you tapping your tootsies and perhaps tearing up, as your inner self is transported heavenward. It's almost as if this life force, which tirelessly stood up for the "little people" against injustice, has come back to life.

Indeed, this is the premise of Speak of Me As I Am – Robeson returns from heaven (where Solomon wittily observes he can't find J. Edgar Hoover or Joe McCarthy) to tell his story. In particular, Robeson seeks to redeem himself against charges that he was unpatriotic, insisting that he was a real American in the revolutionary tradition of 1776, fighting for truth, justice and the democratic way. The play glosses over Robeson's relationship with the Communist Party and Soviet Union, which he was accused of being a stooge for. Indeed, during a visit to the USSR Robeson did confront the Stalinists over the imprisonment of an artist or intellectual, whom I believe was Jewish.

This incident is powerful ammunition against those who denigrate Robeson as a Stalin apologist, and could be incorporated into Act II. In this much shorter second act, which seems to be a work in progress, the modern day Robeson comments on today's recession and the election of America's first black president.

I called Speak of Me As I Am a one-man show, but in fact the play makes clever use of an enchained black mannequin onstage, so that at times it almost feels like a cast of two. Photos of famous radicals and infamous reactionaries, from Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglas and John Brown to Hoover, McCarthy and Harry Truman, also decorate the set and are also put to good use.

Speak of Me As I Am joins the illustrious company of Che, Milk and Frost/Nixon, as well as the play Marx in Soho by people's historian Howard Zinn as a work of art that brings great personalities and issues vividly back to life. This is one of the greatest things art can do. By the end of Speak of Me As I Am you, too, will feel Robeson and Solomon have got the whole wide world in their hands. Don't miss this life affirming theatrical experience, which will be performed from time to time in 2009 as KB Solomon seek to bring Robeson's thrilling story to a theater near you.

ACCESSIBLY LIVE OFF-LINE
(Vol. 15-No. 32-Week of August 9th, 2010)

It's a performance featuring some great renditions of musical numbers that only such a voice can sing them; A rich deep baritone vocal that not only harks out as an original, but showcases the talents that both individuals--the late Paul Robeson and K. B. Solomon possess! In fact, Solomon has the looks and voice of Robeson, a quality that very few performers can ever come close to! Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter directs this theater accomplishment that is both entertaining and informative. It's not a stage musical in the traditional sense, but one man's story on how becoming free and equal can lead up towards greater heights and ambitions.

Reviewed by Rich Borowy