Jazz at Cafe Society at Tricycle Theatre

An exciting new musical revue telling a story for our times. Cafe Society was a legendary New York nightclub which promoted racial equality and progressive causes during the 1940s – and played host to some of the finest musical talent of the 20th century, including Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie and many others.

Part-musical, part-drama, Jazz at Cafe Society is narrated by DJ and BBC Radio presenter Max Reinhardt, who plays idealistic club owner Barney Josephson. It features a stellar cast of vocalists: Gwyneth Herbert, Alexander Stewart and Paris-based China Moses (daughter of jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater). ...

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An exciting new musical revue telling a story for our times. Cafe Society was a legendary New York nightclub which promoted racial equality and progressive causes during the 1940s – and played host to some of the finest musical talent of the 20th century, including Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie and many others.

Part-musical, part-drama, Jazz at Cafe Society is narrated by DJ and BBC Radio presenter Max Reinhardt, who plays idealistic club owner Barney Josephson. It features a stellar cast of vocalists: Gwyneth Herbert, Alexander Stewart and Paris-based China Moses (daughter of jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater).

Josephson took on the Mafia and ‘Jim Crow’ America at a time when entertainment was strictly segregated. Singer and civil rights activist Lena Horne called working at Cafe Society, ‘the sweetest job I ever got in my life.’

This swinging show follows the progress of the venue from its idealistic Left-wing beginnings, through all its struggles and triumphs, to its eventual demise in the anti-Communist hysteria of the late 1940s, when New York’s powerful press columnists turned against the club as a ‘nest of communists’ and hounded Josephson out of business.

Researched and scripted by musical director Alex Webb with the help of Josephson’s widow, Terry Trilling-Josephson, the show has an irresistible soundtrack, including representations of performances by Billie Holiday, Big Joe Turner, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nellie Lutcher and Lucienne Boyer. Accompaniment comes from the Cafe Society All Stars – a group drawn from the cream of UK jazz talent.

Jazz at Cafe Society was premiered at the London Jazz Festival in November 2011 to a sell-out audience at the South Bank’s Purcell Room.

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