If you’re interested in hearing some superb gospel singing, don’t miss Sharon E. Scott in Just As I Am: The Life, the Times, The Voice of Mahalia Jackson.
But the title is misleading: in fact, Scott’s script leaves out huge chunks of Jackson’s life and times, leaving audiences pretty much uninformed about more than a few important events in the great vocalist’s biography. Not that it matters too much: the attraction here is Scott’s soulful, stirring singing, which would be phenomenon enough even if there were no accompanying play.
With songs like “Lord, Don’t Move That Mountain,” “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands” and “There Will Be Peace In The Valley,” Scott proves once again that she’s an area treasure, a super-talented actor/singer who possesses deep reserves of spiritual honesty, and great charisma to boot. So what if we hear next to nothing about Jackson’s two failed marriages, about most of her encounters with racism, about her movie appearances? Just to hear Scott sing “We Shall Overcome” is reason enough to be glad you saw the show, and “There Is No Color Line Around the Rainbow” speaks volumes about the civil rights struggle.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2009.