WCPT 820 Interview: Sheldon Epps and Alan H. Green of "Play On"

0:00catch out Chicago every Sunday 11 to 1 on WC PT 820. As you know, school is back. Schools back. Schools back has been going on for I guess almost about a month already. And I thought to be a really good time to check into with the folks at the alliance. They're an incredible organization that is looking out for LGBTQ plus youth across Illinois. And before we do that, I, I cannot tell you how freaking excited. I am about this show because you've got Duke Ellington and Shuckle Spur. Two great tastes, the taste great together. I mean, come on. If music be the food of love, play on that's Duke Ellington's timeless jazz tunes are set, set the score for this exuberantly joyful musical inspired by Shakespeare's gender bending romantic comedy 12th night. Joining us now is Sheldon Epps, the shows director and the shows original creator.

1:03And we get to welcome back to out Chicago actor Alan H. Green, Sheldon and Alan. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Good evening. Good evening. I know and good morning to you. You're you're in previews. So thank you for taking time out to join us today. Sheldon, how are previews going? They're going very well. I love the Chicago theater community. And already we've had great response of audiences, very enthusiastic. They get the Shakespeare, they get the Duke Ellington, they get everything in between. So it's all going well. And we have a wonderful cast, including Alan and so many others. So all is good. Yeah. Again, as I said, I am so super excited about this. I remember when it was at the Goodman in the 90s memory before transferred to Broadway. I mean, I just remember the like all of the, there was that giant yellow suit.

2:05Was that Paul of the stove all in that yellow suit? But there was somebody. Yeah. And it was like, oh, yeah. And now it's out. And now it's out. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, uh, Sheldon, what was the, the inspiration for combining Duke Ellington, like the music of Duke Ellington and the world and words of William Shakespeare? It was really a production. I saw of a play called Time and of Athens, not one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, but I saw it in New York. And it used Duke Ellington's Shakespeare sweet music. Duke Ellington, surprisingly, was a great lover of Shakespeare. Love the sonnets, love the plays and wrote a lot of music inspired by Shakespeare. So I thought originally that I would do a production of 12th night and try to use Ellington music as an underscore. And I decided that wasn't quite ambitious enough or crazy. Of course, raise the bar.

3:06So I said, I'm going to go about a different way and just write a whole new musical. And if I can validly use Ellington songs to tell the story, I think that could be pretty exciting. And because there were so many Ellington songs to choose from, it really came together well. How did you choose which particular Ellington songs to use for moments in the story? Well, I'll, I'll tell you, I made myself a rule that if I couldn't find Ellington songs that validly told the story and define the characters that I wasn't going to do it. I didn't want to just put together something that threw Ellington songs together in a, in a nonessential way. So it was a lot of research. It was a lot of great listening to every Ellington album ever recorded. And there are a lot of them. But if he kept digging and digging, I was able to find all of the songs that really told the story. Yeah. I'm again, very excited. And Alan, Alan, you were, you were in the original Broadway cast, right?

4:11People use the word surreal and full circle all the time. This is truly a surreal full circle from moment for me. I was cast initially as the standby for the two leads. By Sheldon, on Broadway, 29 years ago was my debut. I had literally just moved to the city. I had recently hosted a show with a symphony and Mercedes Ellington was the choreographer. And so that's how I got, that's how I got the audition because Mercedes choreographed the Broadway production. And I literally had been in New York for about a month. And I was initially high to standby for the two leads. Then Sheldon ended up adding me to the show. So I had all these little features. And then to think 29 years later, I'm now playing one of those parts. It literally, I have to kind of pinch myself that like, oh, there's, oh, yeah, there's Sheldon. The man who gave me a card. I know, but it seems like a broken consumer of the show. Right. Well, Alan, you know, since we spoke with you earlier this year when you were doing the Wiz,

5:13it seems like your career just keeps having these full circle moments. You know, of like, it wasn't the Wiz. It was little night music. Oh, sorry. Other night music. That's right. I'm so sorry. But the other, the other magic about it is that when the offer came in, I was already in Chicago doing it. And so if I had been any and the jobs overlapped, so I had to start rehearsal for play on while I was doing my last week of my life. So if I had been working anywhere else, it may not have worked out. So all of the stars just aligned. And when I say surreal, you know, six months ago, I didn't even know this was an option. And Sheldon, I have worked together over the years, but it wasn't like we got in a corner and were like, hey, let's do, let's do play on again in 29 years. It just happened and I happen to be near and available. And it's, it's just so exciting and the joy that's on stage, you know, the shows just about people trying to find love. And everybody can relate to that. I love the fact that we're a community of human beings who happen to be black.

6:18And so it is very universal. Everybody can see themselves on stage and the talent. And what Sheldon, you know, he, he humbly said about picking the music. The magic of what Sheldon did is that he picked the songs for certain moments. And it almost seems like Duke Ellington wrote those songs for these specific moments in 12th night. It's just, it's the whole thing is kind of unbelievable. Alan, is it challenging to try and make those songs your own when there's been iconic performers that have done them over the years? And, and I know when, and is there a favorite song that you always, that you do that just makes you feel, especially, you know, look forward to doing it. Well, it's interesting. The thing about these jazz standards is that we're not singing them as ourselves. We're singing them as these characters. And so when you take it from the perspective of the character, it becomes clear what it is. This isn't me trying to sing it. This is the rev story. And so, and then the other thing I'll say is the song I'm beginning to see the light.

7:22That's, that's the yellow suit moment. Okay. Yeah. I got Luther Henderson to transcribe that arrangement for me 29 years ago. And I have been singing that song literally for 29 years in my 20s and 30s. It booked me most of my jobs. I sing it at Gala's. I just sang it in my cabaret two weeks ago. And so now to finally sing that song as the character and not myself. It, it again, I'm standing there in that suit. The curtain opens and I'm like, I cannot believe this is happening. That's fantastic. It does happen. It happens and the problem doesn't beautifully. Does the whole role. It's better. Well, and so the rev is basically the Malvolio character. Correct. So, uh, Sheldon, for folks who might not be 12th, thanks for my favorite Shakespeare play. Probably. Yeah. Hamlet. I'm too. Hamlet. That's real cute. But there's something about 12th night that just really just hits a strikes accord within me. Uh, for folks who might not be quiet as up on their Shakespeare, what can you briefly tell?

8:27Like, what is the story of play on? Well, I guess as you've taken 12th night into well, in 12th night, 12th night is the story of the young woman who through a shipwreck actually has to make a journey through a place called a Luria, the magical kingdom of a Luria. And so, you know, when you play on its viola based on the character viola into in 12th night, who has to become Vi man because she comes to Harlem, not to be a singer, but a songwriter. And that's verboten in the 30s, a woman. Oh, yeah. So she has to turn herself into a man. And then it addresses a man in order to fulfill her dreams, her desires. And that gets her into all kind of crazy situations with a character called the Duke and Lady Liv who's based on Olivia. And then the parallel story is the Malvolio in 12th night Mariah, Sir Toby Belch story.

9:32It's a Rev Allen's character and Miss Mary and sweets and gesture. And Allen is the Malvolio character who is the stern sort of head of the club, very pious, very conservative, who through his love of Lady Liv, the great Harlem singer, transforms himself into this zuceted monstrosity. And then the first one, of course, it all goes bad. So as you, during the rehearsal process, did you make any script updates or changes? I mean, this is an astound, but like we said, it's, I can't believe 29 years ago. But I can't believe it either. Right. Have you been, did you make any adjustments or tweaks or updates or anything with that? I did Cheryl West, who is the book writer that I worked with on the script after I came up with a concept.

10:33We've done a lot of work here in Chicago, actually. We've had two recent productions, one in the UK and London and one very successful production in DC. So we made a lot of changes in advance of those productions. So there were a lot of, a lot more injection of Shakespeare's actual language in the play, a lot more highlighting of the gender issues in the play, sexual identity, all of that. And then there always come up big things or little things with new people in a cast. And I try to attune my ear not to what I've heard before, but what I'm hearing from the people in front of me this time. And small things that come up that just need clarity or more specificity or just come out of the cast more naturally in this case from these particular actors. It's really evolved in a beautiful way, but I just want to add the one thing that still is definitely the same.

11:34Another thing that I would say is kind of magical about the show is that it really, and not to sound hokey in 2026, but I really mean this. It really brings people together. Yeah, because you're going to have the people coming who really, really know the Shakespeare. And then you've got a whole group of people who may or may not know Shakespeare, but definitely know Duke Ellington. And so that's just great to be a part of something that's bringing folks together and everybody can have a good time together. Yeah, and the last, the last song in this show is in a mellow tone. And in some ways, the show is all about this group of characters trying to get to the mellow tone. And God, do we need that in our country? Yes. Wow. Sorry, I thought you were raising a thing. So when people go see play on that is getting it's incredible revival at Chicago Shakespeare. What do you hope people take away from it?

12:34Well, number one, if you know it or if you don't know it, I hope you'll just relish in these beautiful, beautiful, incredibly brilliant Ellington songs. And they're all over the map. There are art songs, there's blues, there's jazz, the breadth of his music is just incredible. And then what we've just talked about, a sense of joy, a sense of coming together, and a sense of understanding that we can all find true love if we just be our true selves. If we just let our maths drop, whatever those maths are, and be honestly and sincerely who we are, we'll all find the mellow tone. There's nothing wrong with that. Come on, we only the mellow tone. You know, it's so funny, I think it's really interesting. So our good friend, actor and writer, Tonya Rashard, she just opened up her solo piece in Chicago called Black Girl from a White Suburb, in which she tracks how the theater helped her find her voice.

13:36And she points out how we all are the same in terms of like, if you've got problems seeing that people like want to love want to be there authentic self, and you can't see that because the actor is black, there's a big problem right there, and she's confronting that. And I love reading the press materials, Sheldon, you were very quintessential saying like, were you putting forward like right up front, black joy and black excellence, and I think that is really important in this day. Absolutely, we are all one, but there are there are specifics that become the universal in all great art, and that's certainly true of the show, you know, the specifics of these black performers, this great black composer, the creators of the show delivering this universal message, which everybody seems to want to celebrate. Well, look, I'm I, I Friday cannot come soon enough. I'm so excited. I can't even tell you make sure you folks don't miss the revival of play on directed and conceived by Sheldon, and stirring Alan H. Green in a beautiful yellow suit.

14:55I just remember, oh, yeah, see, I haven't even seen it. And there are images that have like imprinted on my brain for all of these years. So there we are. It's going to be now playing at Chicago Shakespeare theater through October 18th for tickets and for more information, go to Chicago shakes.com. Sheldon Epps, Alan H. Green, thank you so much for taking time out today because I know you're in previews. It is a it is a process. And I got half hour in and out. All right. There you go. Well, then break legs break legs. I'm looking forward to meeting you a person. I know. I can't wait to see you both on Friday. Break all the legs. Learn all the things that previews are meant to teach you. And again, thank you so much for this gift that you're giving to our wonderful city. Thank you for having us. Thank you for you with us.