We are fortunate living half way between Fort Lauderdale and Coconut Grove.  We also have the great good fortune to live near Lincoln Road in Miami Beach where the New World Symphony is quartered.  We have inexpensive parking that is close to the theaters and, of course, there are a great many great eating places right near by.

But, it is the performances that make us aware that Broadway has nothing on the shows here in South Florida. This might be because those Broadway shows and the actors and actresses playing in them come right down here and we get to enjoy them at a fraction of the price.  Yesterday we were privileged to see and hear two great female performers reawaken history to tell the story of “the music and times of Alberta Hunter”.  These are Ernestine Jackson who is much larger than Janice Lorraine who is a little bitty thing. Neither is a household name and I bet you didn’t know you were watching Ernestine on Law and Order and the West Wing television series. I didn’t know who they were before this performance but I certainly will remember them.

There is something tragic in the telling of the story of Alberta Hunter.  I remember when she had a “comeback” in Greenwich Village after a long absence from the stage and singing because times changed and she changed what she was doing. She studied and became a practical nurse and worked at this for twenty years until she was dismissed because she was over the age limit.  A nightclub producer got her back and she sang well into her eighties.

The voices were great and the songs mostly all remembered.  What I particularly liked was the talent of the little girl-sized woman, Janice, who played the part of the young Alberta and other parts including amazing transformations into a man at different times in his life.

I have two things I want to talk about here.  One, the fate of performers of “color”, is that there are so few parts for them.  The other is that we know very little about talented performers who have no chance to show YOU what they can do.  These two ladies showed us what they can do and they did it with unflagging energies for the entire afternoon performance – and then, they were to go on to perform for the evening audience who would come along after.  It was a great performance.

I originally typed this in WORD PERFECT and I could not successfully send it out. Anybody know how?