Go see Satchmo at the Waldorf if you're in NOLA.

Went and saw it Sunday afternoon at Le Petit de Vieux Carre by Jackson Square. Play was really good.

Barry Shabaka Henley owned the role of Louis Armstrong. I mean friggin owned it. Even sounded like him. He easily switched to playing Miles Davis and Michael Glaser. Even sounded like Miles and had the New York Jew dialect down pat.

He brought out the poignancy of Louis Armstrong. Loved by the white folks but Tommed by his own people and how that affected him. There were times where the audience cracked up and others where it was spellbound by the depth of Armstrong's emotions. Satchmo was in sort of a no-mans land and Henley did a great job of bringing that out in his performance.

It's a one man show, one act, 90 minute play.

LINK

Youtube link