Fantasia in Broadway's 'After Midnight'
The title “After Midnight” is all-purpose enough to leave you totally in the dark. An Eric Clapton musical? A vampire thriller? The latest talkathon with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy droning into the wee hours? No, no and no. Broadway’s new arrival is a dazzling musical revue that jets audiences back to Harlem’s jazzy 1930s heyday. It’s an exhilarating joyride all the way.
If you saw “Cotton Club Parade” in 2011 or ’12, that’s no shocker. That production, the first partnership between City Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center, is the basis for “Midnight.”
The leap to Broadway has brought changes: There’s the new name (due to licensing issues), gorgeous costumes by desiger Isabel Toledo, plus a rotating cadre of new performers, including Fantasia Barrino (who headlines through Feb. 9.)
But the structure and song list remain intact. Returning director and choreographer Warren Carlyle knows a good thing when he’s staged it. Duke Ellington’s music, including “Daybreak Express” and “Creole Love Call,” forms the spine.
Tasty classics by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields (“I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”) and Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler (“I’ve Got the World on a String”) add spice.
Numbers have been assembled with loving care and smarts by music director Wynton Marsalis. In the ensemble of 25 vocalists and dancers, it’s easy to pick a favorite: It’s whoever is on stage at any given moment. But the silky moves of Julius (iGlide) Chisolm and Virgil (Lil’ O) Gadson (both r.) — alums of “So You Think You Can Dance” — are especially fun and memorable.
The show’s not-so-secret weapon is the amazing Adriane Lenox, whose sass and brass on “Women Be Wise” and “Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night” send the show to dizzying heights.
“Psych” star Dulé Hill shows off his tap talents and threads Langston Hughes’ verse throughout the show. The poetry adds heft and gravity to a revue that might just float untethered. Fantasia shades her numbers with something special: baby softness for “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” bluesy pain for “Stormy Weather” and, best of all, a playful randiness for Cab Calloway’s “Zaz Zuh Zaz.”
The Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars orchestra cooks hot. Fittingly, it gets the last showcase to send the audience out on a high note.
jdziemianowicz@nydailynews.com
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