NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Like a trumpet blast from the past, the Schoolhouse Theater will launch its 40th anniversary season on Friday, May 23, with Satchmo at the Waldorf, a powerful, one-man, three-character play celebrating jazz pioneer Louis Armstrong.
Written by Terry Teachout and directed by Bram Lewis, the production delves into the highs and lows of the trailblazer’s career and personal struggles.
Starring actor Wali Jamal, a legend in his own right on the Pittsburgh stage, the play’s action takes place backstage at the Waldorf Astoria in the final days of Armstrong’s life.
It explores the price of fame, the battle for respect, and other painful truths behind the music, shedding light on “the complicated legacy of a Black man who changed the sound of the world,” the theater said.
Jamal also portrays Joe Glaser, Armstrong’s white manager, and Miles Davis, American jazz trumpeter, band leader, and composer, who admired the cultural titan’s musical brilliance but had problems with his performance style.
“Wali brings something rare and beautiful to this role,” said Producing Director Bram Lewis. “He captures the fire and fragility of Armstrong’s spirit with breathtaking honesty. He doesn’t imitate -- he channels.”
As a young man, Jamal did standup comedy but didn’t start acting professionally until he was 36, according to blackpittsburgh.com.
He started out at Pittsburgh’s legendary Kuntu Repertory Theatre and went on to make dramatic and musical debuts on every major stage in the city, including performances in To Kill a Mockingbird, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Kinky Boots.
Jamal has been a featured extra in movies with Bruce Willis and Michael Keaton among other famed actors and played the drummer in the 1969 Copacabana scene in NBC’s The Temptations (1998).
Calling Satchmo at the Waldorf “a deeply moving and dynamic piece, Lewis said he couldn’t image “a better way to kick off our 40th season!”
Last year, the Schoolhouse Theater was the recipient of seven BroadwayWorld Awards, including Westchester’s Favorite Local Theater for the second consecutive year, according to Lewis.
(Satchmo also marks Lewis’s return to the director’s chair after a five-year pause.)
Watching Jamal “inhabit Armstrong is like hearing the man himself sing one more time,” said Artistic Director Owen Thompson.
The sets were designed by world-famous painter and local entrepreneur Tom Christopher and lighted by Tony nominee Dennis Parichy.
Satchmo at the Waldorf runs through June 8.
Next up on stage will be Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Christopher Hampton’s gripping adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos’ scandalous novel about seduction, power, and betrayal. Thompson will direct.
The theater plans to close out the season with and Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, written by David and Robert Goodale based on the 1938 novel The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse.
The Olivier Award-winning adaptation promises “an evening of side-splitting hilarity, mistaken identities, and classic British wit,” the theater said.
“After the dark elegance of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, we’re thrilled to bring audiences something completely different—pure, unfiltered joy,” said Thompson, its director. “Wodehouse’s world of wit and whimsy is a perfect fit for the Schoolhouse stage!”
Good to Know
The Schoolhouse Theater, Westchester's oldest professional theater, is located in the town's community center, 3 Owens Road in the North Salem hamlet of Croton Falls.
For tickets and subscriptions, visit www.theschoolhousetheater.org.
For more information, call (914) 473-7111.
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