By John Orr
1997
When the San José Repertory Theatre decided to open its brand new building with a blues musical, "Thunder Knocking on the Door'' by Keith Glover, director Timothy Near did a really smart thing:

She hired the great Chris Cain to lead the band, and to write new music for the musical.

Imagine that: Capturing a real, live blues guy and bringing him back alive to put him on stage in a musical.

I am a big fan of Cain, respect his musicianship greatly, and have seen him live many, many times, in blues clubs and on festival stages.

But how would he do in the constraints of a big musical, where he's in the band, but it's not his show? Where he has to do the same things, night after night?

Well, I wondered, so coughed up the bucks to buy a couple of tickets, and made a phone call or two to arrange taking a picture of him on stage, after the show, and chat with him a bit.

To cut to the coda, Cain was great. He fronted a band that included Joe Hodge on drums, Mel Nelson on keyboards and Ron Johnson on bass. Those four guys together would make for a great blues set anywhere, anytime.

And, the five principals of the cast were all good singers. They all had at least a few great moments each, and a couple of them -- Natalie Venetia Belcon as Glory Dupree, and Yvette Cason as Good Sister Dupree -- were good as gold vocally all through the show.

Cason, left, and Belcon. San José Rep photograph. Click on it to see larger version.

Lots of great singing, a couple of clunkers among the tunes, but mostly excellent musicianship going on at every level.

It was fun for me to listen to Cain and the band playing the incidental music, the background stuff, and recognize melodies from Cain's albums.

The weirdness of it, and the weakness of the show, is that blues music is alive and dynamic -- ever been to a good show at a club or a festival and get caught up in the music? It moves you with power!

But this show didn't capitalize on the strength and the power of the blues; it would get a little something going, then wimp out in some way or another.

Part of the problem is the affectionate but lightweight script by Glover; part of it was insipid direction by Near. All those fine musicians up there, with too much silly stuff between the great music.

It is possible to make a musical with blues music and other black-influenced music of the South and keep it alive and exciting -- look how well Gershwin did with "Porgy and Bess," for instance, and consider "Gospel at Colonnus" (I can't remember who put that together off hand) which managed to blend gospel, blues and Greek tragedy and make for a great show.

But, "Thunder" does not live up to that promise.

And, one thing that grated for me was that apparently no dialogue coach was hired. The play is about superstitious black people in Alabama in the early 1960s; all these actors -- Belcon, Cason, and fellas Robert Barry Fleming, Nathan Hinton and Harry Waters Jr. -- are black, but they are all sophisticated, trained theater actors, and that's what they sound like -- sophisticated actors. They don't sound anything like the sort of people who'd go to great lengths to deal with "shape-shifters" and "devils" and "imps" and people who "ain't human."

It was like listening to William F. Buckley saying "I been knowing." Bad grammar with perfect enunciation. Ha. That one error made it impossible to feel anything consistent about this show. Is it a comedy musical? Is it a serious musical? Is it a revue? Is it just lightweight puffery?

And, twice -- notably when Hinton, as Marvell Thunder, was singing Willie Dixon's "Hootchie-Cootchie Man," the music was so softened and badly arranged that we kept waiting for Pat Boone or Debbie Reynolds to step out on stage and finish for him. My hope and guess was that those two instances were the work of Michael Butler and Near, not Cain. But, I don't know.

But ... there were some other nice touches. Fabulous choreography on a love dance between the blind Glory Dupree and the sneaky Thunder ... and ... a sort of nice twist on the story of the shape-shifter.

The plot is that Dregster Dupree (Waters) has lost one of two special guitars to Thunder in a cutting contest. The other guitar belongs to his sister Glory. Thunder, who made some kind of deal with some kind of poorly defined power, has to win that guitar from Glory in a cutting contest, or he will turn to stone.

This, of course, is another variation on the "crossroads" myth that grew up around Robert Johnson's song of that title.

(It's interesting to me that so much slick nonsense has been made of that myth, powered no doubt by the success of the Cream version of that song. That goofy movie starring Ralph Macchio, for instance [which at least made a paycheck for Ry Cooder, who did the actual playing], and now this goofy musical.

The other day I got to visit with John Lee Hooker [to take him some cookies for Christmas], who grew up in deepest Mississippi, and I asked him if he ever heard any of that crossroads stuff when he was a kid growing into a blues man, and he said no, he'd never heard any of that stuff until he came out to California. He said it rather dismissively, I thought.)

The variation on that over-played myth that I liked is that Thunder the shape-shifter gives Glory back her eyesight before their cutting contest. The deal is, if he beats her, he gets the guitar and doesn't turn to stone, but she goes blind again; if she wins, she keeps the guitar and her eyesight, but he turns into the Rock of Bluesalter (my joke).

But they fall in love.

That I liked. Does he turn to stone, or does she go blind? Decisions, decisions!!

Hinton. San José Rep photograph. Click on image to see larger version, with Belcon in the background.

Another thing I liked is that Near and the Rep didn't pretend anybody but Chris Cain was REALLY playing guitar on that stage. The "guitars" the actors carried are big, convoluted things that look sort of like elongated giant soft pretzels. They dance around while Cain is in clear view, cutting the real licks.

And his playing was magnificent -- which no longer surprises me ... but, I wonder if people who go to see this who are not blues buffs really understand how GREAT his playing really is.

Cain got his share of ovations, which were well deserved.

My main interest was Cain -- although it was a pleasant surprise to hear the great singing from the cast -- and my original intention was to photograph him after the play, then return soon to talk with him about the experience.

That didn't happen ... the holidays and lots of other life stuff intruded for him and for me.

But I'm glad I saw the show. It's always a treat to hear Chris Cain, and I certainly hope I get to hear Belcon and Cason sing again sometime.

Maybe someday Cain and I will have a chance to discuss his role in staging this musical. If so, I will update this page.

Update: The show closed in San Jose, and Chris Cain has been playing blues dates around the nation and in the Far East. For his itinerary, keep an eye on his web site.