Joyous ‘Big Sexy’ celebrates lively music of ‘Fats’ Waller at WBTT

Leon S. Pitts II has been entertaining Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe audiences for more than 20 years, often in supporting roles that allow his big voice and personality to stand out in front of any size crowd.

With the company’s season-closing production of “Big Sexy: The Fats Waller Revue,” Pitts now gets a starring role of his own, sharing a bit of his own story and connection to the theater in a revue that features two dozen of the many songs that Waller either wrote or recorded during his all-too-brief career, which ended with his death at 39 in 1943.

WBTT founder and Artistic Director Nate Jacobs created a show built off Pitts’ charisma and his easy way of charming an audience while sharing tidbits about Waller’s life and career, his struggles with racism and his womanizing ways. Some of the information leads more naturally than others into the songs, many of which are familiar because they became standards. Others were “rediscovered” in the 1978 Tony Award-winning revue “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” which WBTT has presented more than once. Pitts appeared in the company’s first production of the show.

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Pitts plays a dramatized version of himself channeling Waller, while the other four cast members portray a variety of curiously named characters who weave in and out of Waller’s life. He opens the show on a dynamic level with Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf’s “I’m a Great Big Baby,” and keeps up the energy through a number of solos and duets, including “I’m Going to Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” and a sensuous “Viper Drag.”

He is joined by a frequent co-star, Ariel Blue, as the singer Devenae Darling, who commands attention early on with a rousing version of “(Won’t You Come Home) Bill Bailey.” She also shines in “Why Don’t You Do Right?” “Nothing for Nothing” and a couple of duets with Pitts. As befits Devanae’s self-proclaimed diva status, costume designer Adrienne Pitts has Blue in a different, glittery and shimmering dress for almost every song.

Newcomer Ulric Alfred Taylor as Leroy Levanthall  is another comedic charmer who can shimmy, strut and jiggle his jowls in effective ways through such songs as “Living in a Great Big Way” and “Zoot Suit,” as well as leading an audience sing-along to “All That Meat and No Potatoes.”

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As Sherry Sunshine, Andrea Jean sparkles with personality and a big smile. The other characters joke about Sherry’s squeaky and screechy voice, which might prepare us for an underwhelming version of the playful “Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now.” Jazzmin Carson is sweet and engaging as Henrietta Hash, who can be sassy, saucy and serious in “Stormy Weather” and “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling.”

The show is staged on a relatively simple set by Jeffrey Weber made of several platforms decorated with piano keys, that provide a home base for the lively five-piece band led by musical director Matthew McKinnon. It’s the first time since WBTT’s Donnelly Theatre opened in 2020 that the band has appeared on the stage instead of in an upstairs space.

The arrangements are generally powerful and sprightly, and a few are replicas of how the songs were heard in “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” notably on the tender and mournful “Black and Blue,” as well as “Honeysuckle Rose” and “Your Feet’s Too Big.”

But they are all performed with a joyous spirit that should put a smile on the face of even the most jaded audience members.

‘Big Sexy: The Fats Waller Revue’

Created and directed by Nate Jacobs. Featuring the music of Thomas “Fats” Waller. Reviewed April 25 at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange Ave., Sarasota. Through May 28. Tickets are $50, $20 for students and active military. 941-366-1505; westcoastblacktheatre.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: ‘Fats’ Waller songs create lively spirit in WBTT’s season-ending show