Kurt Elling Goes ‘Big’ in new Radio Drama
The Big Blind Debuts at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater
Photos by Lawrence Sumulong
One of the most admirable qualities of true artists is a willingness to push the envelope beyond their comfort zone in tackling new projects. Grammy-nominated singer and perennial poll-winner Kurt Elling has done precisely that with The Big Blind, a unique musical/old-fashioned live radio drama that had its premiere at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater on March 1 and 2. Partly drawing on his own experiences of performing frequently over the years at Chicago’s Green Mill, a popular cocktail lounge with a rich and notorious history that goes back to the Prohibition era and involves Al Capone’s gang, The Big Blind is also inspired by the 1957 Paramount film The Joker Is Wild starring Frank Sinatra about real life singer-comedian Joe E. Lewis, who had his throat slashed by the mob after refusing to renew his contract with the Green Mill because he had been offered more money by a rival gang to appear at their own club, The New Rendezvous.
In Elling’s iteration, set in 1957 rather than 1927 as was depicted in The Joker Is Wild, he plays Jack Lewis, charismatic lounge singer cast in the mold of vintage Sinatra, circa his mid-’50s trilogy of recordings—Swing Easy!, Songs for Swingin’ Lovers and A Swingin’ Affair!—Lewis is caught between the promises of his current, longtime manager and part-time lover Veronica Legrand (played with show-stopping gusto by NEA Jazz Master songstress Dee Dee Bridgewater) and his would-be manager, the nefarious Tony “The Mongoose” Bonilla (played with oily delight by the U.K. jazz singer-actor Ian Shaw). Two-time Tony Award winning Broadway legend Ben Vereen plays Jack’s main sideman, saxophonist Eddie Freeman.
While Veronica envisions a future for Jack in Paris, The Mongoose pitches greener pastures in Las Vegas. All this is set against the backdrop of the Green Mill, with Elling exuding pizzazz in front of the 23-piece Ulysses Owens Jr.’s New Century Big Band conducted by British trumpeter-arranger Guy Barker with featured soloist Eric Alexander on tenor sax. Underscoring the competitive jousting by the two would-be managers is the story of Jack’s budding interracial romance with a young newcomer to the Windy City named Jilly Redford (played by Allison Semmes), whom he meets by chance on Chicago’s ‘L’ and pursues with typically audacious charm. Enraged with jealousy, Veronica slashes Jack’s throat, effectively ending his singing career and foiling both her plans as well as The Mongoose’s in the process.
While The Big Blind (the title is a poker term that refers to a bet you have to make not knowing any of the cards in your hand; a reference to Jack not truly understanding all the cards that are in his hand) is very loosely based on the true story of Joe E. Lewis, Elling and writing partner Phil Galdston have been developing their own unique take on the story for quite a while. “I’ve been carrying this thing around in my pocket for 15, 16 years at this point,” said Elling before the show’s premiere. “It takes the stars being in alignment. It takes my own maturity. It takes the opportunity and the right assortment of support people and the team that you need to be able to pull it all together. And thanks to my great manager Bryan Farina and Jazz at Lincoln Center, there’s a deadline, which is probably the most important thing that is needed.”
Elling added that his initial attraction to radio drama goes back to his childhood in Chicago. “I used to listen to CBS Radio Mystery Theater with E.G. Marshall on WGN,” he explained. “They always scared the bejesus out of me as a kid, and I loved them. I still listen to those things on podcasts. It’s theater of the imagination.”
