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Jul. 31--In Jackie Taylor's Dionne Warwick revue, "Don't Make Me Over" at the Black Ensemble Theater, there's a scene set in a recording studio early in Warwick's career. "They're calling you a pop singer," says one of the wry supporting characters to the legendary African-American vocalist at the center of this musical biography, "which means white people like you too."
At Black Ensemble -- where black and white audience members come together and enjoy a collective sense of humor about a racial divide that somehow seems to stop at this theater's doors -- those kinds of lines always get a big laugh.
On Friday night, the biggest laugh came from Warwick herself.
Black Ensemble performs in a shabby basement theater in an old Hull House on a quiet residential street in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. And yet there, sitting quietly in a seat and holding off the heat, was the woman who charted nearly 60 hit songs over a 40-year period. Warwick had flown in from her home in New Jersey just for this show.
To say that Warwick's appearance caused excitement is a bit like saying Burt Bacharach knows his way around a melody. Celebrities occasionally have shown up here -- Eartha Kitt came to see the story of Katherine Dunham, and Martha Reeves appeared once for the Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell story -- but Warwick was something else entirely.
"This is the most awesome night at Black Ensemble. Ever. Ever. Ever," said Taylor, bouncing around on her heels like an overexcited 5-year-old.
For the first 20 minutes, the clearly nervous actors could barely get their lines out (Warwick is played by three different "Dionnes," representing different aspects of herself, which must have been a peculiar thing for her to watch). But folks eventually settled down.
The show is an affectionate look at its subject, to put it mildly. But it is performed with integrity and heart by people not only a long way from San Jose but also far removed from those self-serving, televised tributes.
At the end of the night, a clearly moved Warwick took the stage.
"It's very seldom that I am lost for words," she began, as tears rolled down the faces of a young cast mouthing "we love you" and reaching out their arms in Warwick's direction.
"My babies," said Warwick, who is 65, "you were magnificent."
Afterward, Warwick said that she was impressed by how well the show protected the integrity of the songs." Musical director Jimmy Tillman has re-created the original arrangements of her many hits, and Warwick clearly was not expecting them all to be so well sung. "Other than that," Warwick said, "the only thing that surprised me is that they seemed to get all the facts about me right."
Cjones5@tribune.com
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Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune
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