Palm Beach Dramaworks’ production of Satchmo at the Waldorf closed yesterday afternoon after a month-long run. The occasion was necessarily darkened, for me and everyone else, by what happened elsewhere in Florida over the weekend, so I will say only that my professional directing debut, about which I wrote in detail immediately after the fact, was and will always be one of the great events of my life.
What comes next? We’ll see. For now, though, it’s enough to say that my heart overflows with gratitude to everyone who made the production possible, starting with Bill Hayes, the company’s artistic director, whose idea it was for me to direct Satchmo, and Barry Shabaka Henley, who played the triple role of Louis Armstrong, Joe Glaser, and Miles Davis with incomparable charisma and imagination. Blessings on you all.
In case you’re wondering, two brand-new productions of Satchmo will be opening in August, at Sacramento’s B Street Theatre on August 20 and at Washington’s Mosaic Theatre on August 25. I’ll do my best to be there. You come, too.
