Once again, the History Theatre has introduced me to a local historical figure I'd never heard of. Singer Doris Hines performed in Minneapolis and around the world for decades, interacting with stars like Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and Della Reese but never rising to their level of fame and name recognition. She was one of those hardworking journeyWOman performers who loved to entertain people, and never stopped pursuing her dreams. The new play with music
Don't Miss Doris Hines, written by
The Playwrights' Center Affiliated Writer Tylie Shider, covers over three decades of her life, through which we get to know the artist and the human.
See it at History Theatre in downtown St. Paul through October 12.
Act I follows Doris from a difficult childhood in foster care, to her early marriage, her husband's deployment oversees during WWII, and the birth and raising of her six children. Throughout it all she continues auditioning and performing in local talent shows, looking for her big break. Her husband is less than supportive, insisting that she should say home with the children. All of this happened in New York, so by intermission I was wondering what the Minnesota connection was. The answer comes in Act II when her manager gets her a gig at the Sheraton-Ritz in Minneapolis (a swanky hotel with a prestigious performance space that opened in the early '60s and closed in the late '80s), and she eventually moves here with her family, taking up a residency at the Sheraton-Ritz and also traveling all over the world as an "international nite club star." The play touches on several hardships in her life, such as the racism she faced and the death of a child, but doesn't delve too deeply into any of them. Instead we get an overview of her life through the 1970s, after which she continued performing until her death in 2015.
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the happy newlyweds (Comfort Dolo and Darius Dotch)
(photo by Rick Spaulding) |
Comfort Dolo is a revelation as Doris. She has the heart, spirit, and determination of the character, and also has a beautiful voice singing the classics that Doris favored. This is not a musical, but we get to hear Doris sing on auditions or in her various gigs, accompanied by music director Aaron VanDanacker on piano. Having live accompaniment is such a smart choice and makes the music so much richer than having a recorded track, because music is integral to Doris' story.
The strong supporting cast includes Darius Dotch, great as always in the husband role; Ashawnti Sakina Ford who is a hoot as Doris' sister in law and friend (with some really funny one-liners, perfectly delivered); Neal Beckman as Doris' longtime manager; Charlotte McDaniel in multiple roles.
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Doris and her sister-in-law are on TV! (Comfort Dolo
and Ashawnti Sakina Ford, photo by Rick Spaulding) |
Vanessa Brooke Agnes directs the piece, and does well with the many time shifts, as well as incorporating the music into the story smoothly. The only physical set is a charming detailed kitchen used in all the home scenes. Then when Doris hits the stage, a curved curtain of thin white strips is drawn across the kitchen and becomes a scrim upon which images of various locations are projected. There are also four tall narrow screens with projections as well, many of them historical photos and all of them giving us a sense of time and place. Next to these tall narrow screens are four tall banks of lights, which also help transform the space into a music performance stage. The play spans the '40s through the '70s, and all of those decades are represented in the costumes. Doris in particular has a fantastic array of dresses, including some glamorous performance dresses that are almost as stunning as Doris' actual custom-made gowns on display in the lobby. (Scenic design by Ursula K. Bowden, props design by Kirby Moore, video design by Leslie Ritenour, lighting design by Bill Healey, sound design by Charlotte Deranek, and costume design by Meghan Kent.)
If you're interested in local music history, then listen to Nat King Cole and
Don't Miss Doris Hines. Who, BTW, is the mother of local music legend Gary Hines, the founder and music director of the Grammy Award-winning local group
Sounds of Blackness. So yes, Doris is still here.
