LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES BRINGS THE PARTY OF THE SEASON TO CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK’S THOMPSON SHELTERHOUSE, NOV. 7 – DEC. 20, 2015
(CINCINNATI) – The club may be closing for the night, but that’s just when the party heats up in Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman’s LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES, which sashays into the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Thompson Shelterhouse Theatre for the holidays, Nov. 7 through Dec. 20. A celebratory tribute to America’s great blues tradition, the show is a sizzling musical revue that features nearly two dozen songs pulled from the greatest hits of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Big Mama Thornton and more.
The LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES cast features Felicia P. Fields, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her role as Sofia in the original Broadway production of The Color Purple; Chic Street Man, a performer who composed the music for and starred in the off-Broadway hit Spunk; Caron “Sugaray” Rayford, who was nominated for two 2015 Blues Music Awards; and keyboardist Fred Kaplan, who played with such blues greats as Big Mama Thornton and Big Joe Turner during his tenure with the legendary Hollywood Fats Band.
Myler and Wheetman share a 30-year working history, and they’ve struck box office gold — together and separately — at the Playhouse in the past, with shows including Hank Williams: Lost Highway and Love, Janis. LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES is their latest collaboration, and it has already earned raves in Chicago and Milwaukee.
“The setting is a nameless South Side Chicago blues club,” said Myler, who’ll direct the production for the Playhouse. “It’s Saturday night, into Sunday morning. The linking dialogue is from actual blues artists that we interviewed, but it’s the music that drives the piece.”
In the show, a group of veteran musicians assembles for an after-hours jam session to swap stories and share their favorite tunes. Their hot rhythms and non-stop riffs celebrate the bawdier side of the blues.
“This show sort of came out of a show we had written called It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues,” said Wheetman, who also serves as the show’s music director. “The idea was to look at a very particular kind of blues — low down dirty blues. The early women’s blues music, especially, was very double entendre. That is how we started. As with anything it morphed into what it is today, which is a little broader.”
The double entendre in many of the show’s songs — including “Don’t Jump My Pony,” “My Stove’s in Good Condition” and “If I Can’t Sell It” — brings both humor and sensuality to the production. The stories that are interspersed between the songs add emotional resonance.
“It is a spicier kind of blues,” Wheetman said. “This was specifically about a kind of blues that has two sides to it. On one hand, it is a more intimate look, it is a smaller group and a smaller palate … This is not so much a historic thing; it is a story about the people, these people in this club and their stories, which includes the music but it is more of a personal talk about what brought them to where they are.”
The LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES creative team, in addition to Myler and Wheetman, includes set designer Vicki Smith, costume designer Gordon DeVinney, lighting designer Don Darnutzer and sound designer Jeremy J. Lee. Jenifer Morrow is the production stage manager.
LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES is sponsored by Margaret and Albert Vontz III and Moe and Jack Rouse. The cast sponsor is Bartlett & Co., and the design sponsor is the Geiler Co.
Ticket prices for LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES start at $35. Prices are subject to change, and patrons are encouraged to buy early for the best seats at the best prices. The show is appropriate for adult and older teenage audiences.
Returning this season is the popular Sunday College Night, with tickets to all 7 p.m. Sunday performances (not including A Christmas Carol) priced at just $10 with a valid student ID. Student tickets are just $15 on the day of the show for all other performances.
Discounted ticket prices for teens and students are available in advance for all productions for $30 and $45, depending on seat location.
The Playhouse’s new Tasting Series continues with a Soul Food Juke Joint beginning at 6:30 p.m. before each Friday night performance of LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES. Inspired by the after-hours nightclub setting of the show, this catered event will feature live music by local blues artists and a soul food dinner served at 6:45 p.m. in the Playhouse’s Room with a View. The cost is $22 per person; for reservations, call the Box Office at 513-421-3888.
Previews for LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES are at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7; 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10; and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11. The official opening night is Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m.
Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays.
Free Meet the Artists programs that allow audiences to interact with the cast and others associated with the production will be held after the following performances: 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15; 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 25; and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10.
The Playhouse is fully accessible. Audio enhancement receivers, large print programs and complete wheelchair access are available.
Tickets to LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES are on sale now. For more information, call the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888 (toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800-582-3208) or visit www.cincyplay.com. Call 513-345-2248 for Telecommunications Device for the Deaf accessibility.
The 2015-16 Thompson Shelterhouse Theatre Series is presented by the Heidelberg Distributing Company, and the Thompson Shelterhouse season design sponsor is the Allan Berliant and Jennie Rosenthal Berliant Family Fund. The season sponsor of new work is The Lois and Richard Rosenthal Foundation.
The Playhouse is supported by the generosity of the community contributors to the ArtsWave campaign.
The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Playhouse with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
The Playhouse also receives funding from the Shubert Foundation.
