THEATER: Ain't Misbehavin' opening at Weekend Theater

The joint — also known as The Weekend Theater — will be jumping this weekend with the opening of Ain't Misbehavin'.

The musical revue celebration of Fats Waller and the other black musicians of the Harlem Renaissance features a string of swinging, big band-type hits such as "The Joint Is Jumpin'," "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and, of course, the title tune.

"I'm really looking forward to that one," says marketing and public relations coordinator Tracy Courage. "I think it will be a really upbeat, energizing show that people will enjoy."

The show, with book by Richard Maltby Jr. and Murray Horwitz, is directed by Danette Scott Perry with music director Jonathan Doram.

It's also the last musical of the season for The Weekend Theater and, appropriately though coincidentally, falls during Black History Month.

"We didn't specifically plan it that way," Courage says. "But it turns out that was when it was available. It fits nicely with Black History Month."

Courage says The Weekend Theater is a theater with a mission: "All of our shows, they all have a message that we hope audiences will think about and maybe be inspired by later. We like to call ourselves a theater that produces socially significant work. Some of them are kind of heavy-hitting."

That's certainly true for the final show of the season, The Survivor. The drama, coming to the stage in May, follows a group of teenagers fighting against the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto who make a pact that anyone who survives the struggle will tell the group's story.

Before that, there are two productions:

• The Best Man by Gore Vidal follows two presidential candidates trying to secure their party's nomination, March 22-April 6.

• Then there's a special production, Lincoln's Dream. The play by Phillip McMath was originally written and performed as a reader's theater in 2016. Now, the story of what President Lincoln might have dreamed in the week before his assassination is being fully staged.

McMath is a longtime theater supporter and a member of the board of directors, and Courage says, "Phil is really excited" about the four performances, April 11-14.

And the theater is already looking ahead to next season, which will get off to a funny, fuzzy and decidedly off-color start this summer with Avenue Q.

First-time visitors to The Weekend Theater will find thoughtful, sometimes fun, sometimes serious performances in an intimate, black box theater setting.

"We stage many works that may not be in the mainstream," Courage says. "Our productions are designed to inspire thought about social issues affecting our community, or historically."

Weekend on 02/21/2019