Sister Carrie (Dawn Joyner, right) sings, “He’ll Be Your Strength” to console Doris (Faith Cochrane, who alternates in the role with Asa Sultan) at Reverend Winter’s funeral.
There are music lovers who embrace jazz, some who adore R&B, and others with a penchant for soul. Yet even among these aficionados, how many know that each genre is heavily indebted to gospel music, and to black churches, where ministers and choirs rouse their congregants in praise and in prayer? Mama, I Want to Sing collectively celebrates legendary black singers whose musical roots were embedded in gospel music and who broke through color barriers as performers. It does so indirectly by tracing the life journey of Doris Winter—stage name Doris Troy—an aspiring singer in a gospel-rich choir. The guide through this journey is the DJ/Narrator, played by Vy Higginsen, the real-life younger sister of Doris Winter. She and her husband, Ken Wydro, co-created the script.
Minister of Music (Carlton Ellis, center) and the choir sing at the funeral for Rev. Winter.
In post–World War II Harlem, young Doris (Asa Sultan at the performance I saw; she alternates with Faith Cochrane) is a feisty, charming, pigtailed 12-year-old with an exceptional vocal range. She’s also the apple of her father’s eye—he’s Pentecostal Rev. Winter (Richard Hartley). He encourages her to sing (in “You Are My Child”):
My first, my first-born child
In you I see
The gift of a song.
Follow the dream
Within your heart
Don’t be afraid
The dream is the start.
Doris’s godmother (Dawn Joyner), a choir star in her own right, acts as a buffer between Doris and her loving Mama (Letrice Cherry-Sturdivant), who loves Doris dearly but disapproves of her career on moral grounds. Mama, though, is no match for Doris when the latter sets her mind on something.
When Rev. Winter dies prematurely during a church service, his demise triggers a battle of wills between Mama and Doris, who calls out from the depth of her soul, and cries out, in full five-octave force, “Mama, I want to sing!”
The gospel choir surrounds Rev. Winter (Richard Hartley, center) after he collapses during services. Photographs by Carol Rosegg.
Director Ahmaya Knoelle, who is Vigginsen’s daughter, has channeled the cast’s energies into a celebratory cohesiveness for this 40th-anniversary celebration of Winter’s life and the power and community that church and gospel music provided her even in the work’s darkest moments. Perhaps Higginsen and Wydro’s script might have benefited from a more detailed portrait of Doris’s life and the ups and downs of the road to stardom, but the musicianship more than compensates for this drawback.
The musical is replete with extraordinary performances, beginning with Sultan’s Doris, who, aside from talent, exhibits resilience and a determination to sing. The Minister of Music (Carlton Ellen) is so lithe, exuberant, and demonstrative in conducting the choir that what is natural about him gives the erroneous impression of being carefully choreographed. Joyner’s Sister Carrie, as Doris’s godmother, mentor, and advocate, is a physically formidable presence, in part due to her flamboyant dress style. Yet she adds a humorous and joy-filled dimension to even the saddest moments in the musical.
As Mama Winter, Cherry-Sturdivant conveys a quiet integrity amid the heavy burden of single motherhood and her apprehension that a life in show business might tarnish her beloved child. The pastel spotlights that lighting designer Isaac F. Davis has employed in her scenes underscore the anxiety felt by Mama about her precious charge.
Curtain call with Vy Higginson (left), Carlton Ellen (center) and Dawn Joyner.
Doris and the other female members of a trio—The Halos—perform at the Apollo and win a recording contract. What ensues is climactic. Will Doris or won’t Doris defy her mother, leave home, and follow her dream? Sister Carrie is on her side to reassure Mama and warn Doris of the dangers. Ultimately, one can anticipate what is going to happen, and “Just One Look”—Doris’s signature song, a 1963 top-of-the-charts hit, validates that Doris has achieved that dream.
Also contributing heavily to the pleasure is Kevin Mckoy’s musical direction; it catalyzes a rush of energy in the choir. In addition to Sutton’s Doris, the 19 other members of the gospel choir at Rev. Winter’s Calvary Church, led in unison by Ellen’s Minister of Music, pierce the thresholds of sound and sway in harmony to the tunes in which much of Winter’s music, and that of other Black artists of the 1960s and 1970s, is rooted. Mama, I Want to Sing exemplifies a new Harlem Renaissance.
“Mama, I Want to Sing” runs through March 12 at El Teatro at El Museo del Barrio (1230 Fifth Ave.). Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; matinees are at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. To purchase tickets, or for more information, contact the box office at (212) 280-1045 or info@mamafoundation.org.
