The Court Theatre’s production of Satchmo at the Waldorf, starring Barry Shabaka Henley and directed by Charles Newell, opens tomorrow night in Chicago. After eight public previews, we’ll be as ready as we’re going to be.
As for me, this is my seventh opening night for Satchmo, and I’m just as excited as I was in Orlando, Lenox, New Haven, Philadelphia, New York, and Beverly Hills. It doesn’t get old.
In preparation for the great moment, I present—as I always do before my opening nights—the following clip, which I first saw on TV as a child and which in recent years has become ever more relevant to my life.
Break a leg, everybody: