There were people testifying in the middle of Geva Theatre last Tuesday night. Let me be more specific: there were audience members standing up, spreading out their arms, and joyfully shouting "A-men!" during a blistering take on "God Bless the Child" in the middle of Act I of "Three Mo' Divas," the show currently winding down its run on Geva's main stage. It was an odd sight for the usually staid local theater, but not that night. As part of the impromptu revival atmosphere the show whips up, audience members spontaneously stood and shook their junk, loudly sang along to the score, and just generally had themselves a good ol' time. All I could do was sit back, shake my head, and smile at the displays of pure, unadulterated ecstasy.
As a rule, I hate musical revues. Certainly they offer up an entertaining night out, but from a critical standpoint, there's not a lot of meat there. No story. No character development. No sets. Just - hopefully - talented performers singing a set of reliably crowd-pleasing songs. There may even be some audience interaction, which I downright despise. But I loved "Three Mo' Divas." While the show still suffers from a few of those standard revue clichés, like the medleys that mash together a bunch of completely disparate songs in 30-second intervals, it is unrelentingly joyful, and led by three knockout performers who each give bravura performances.
The promo materials refer to the three divas in the title as Jamet "Smooth and Sexy" Pittman, "Super" Nova Payton, and Laurice "Take No Prisoners" Lanier. But I would simply refer to them as Classy, Sassy, and Brassy respectively. All three of them have years of classical training, which serves them well as they burn through songs in 10 musical styles, including opera, Broadway, r'n'b, jazz, soul, disco, and gospel. But they each bring very different strengths to their group and solo numbers, leading to some truly memorable vocal performances worthy of New York's vaunted Apollo Theatre, where the show played prior to its Rochester tenure.
Pittman - who also impressively tackles the piano for "Everything Must Change" - has a voice that drips with soul, and yet interestingly also excels at the opera numbers. (Four opera pieces open the show, and while they ably demonstrate the incredible abilities of each of the ladies, it's difficult to connect with the songs, sung in Italian, without subtitles, performed without any context from their stories.) Pittman applies just the right amount of coloratura to all of her songs to give them a personal touch, but never goes overboard with the runs and trills, as so many self-indulgent musical divas do nowadays (paging Christina Aguilera).
Nova Payton's voice is as high and bright as a clarion call, and is put to spectacular use in one of the biggest numbers of the show, her rendition of the classic "Summertime" from "Porgy & Bess." "Summertime" is a show-stopper by its very nature, but Payton wrangles every scintilla of soul and passion out of the song in a surprisingly sexy turn. She's equally good on "My Funny Valentine," a song that normally leaves me cold. She is less successful in her solo take on "Defying Gravity" from the Broadway musical "Wicked," but I think that's less her fault - the vocals were spot on, and it's a demanding piece - and more an issue with the direction. That song is about rebellion, about harnessing your inner power no matter what the odds. In this show it's downright chipper, with Payton's smile beaming throughout, and even a cheesy faux-highwire act in the middle.
The final diva, Laurice Lanier, recently returned to the Geva production after falling ill toward the end of July (a week of performances were cancelled to accommodate her illness). Watching her perform last week, I cannot even imagine how you could do this show without her. I suspect that if you looked inside Lanier, you would find a small hole that would somehow be connected to God's walkie-talkie. Because it is staggering that that voice - guttural, almost otherworldly, yet beautiful - could come out of a human being.
Lanier is the definition of diva in all the right ways: she is remarkably talented and totally captivating on stage. The woman has the bearing of a queen, I swear to you. The row of older black women behind me hushed one another every time she sauntered on stage and said variations on, "Uh oh; here she comes now." It's no surprise that she presided over two of the most momentous numbers of the evening, Act I highlight "God Bless the Child," and the Act II finale, the spiritual "His Eye is On the Sparrow." I am not a religious man, but I she almost converted me with that one song.
Unfortunately, Lanier is also heavily involved with one of the show's more bizarre moments, the momentum-killing second act combination of "Lament" (a haunting, angelic wail provided by Pittman) and the blues song "Strange Fruit," a fairly graphic song about lynching. It's easy to understand what show creator Marion J. Caffey was thinking by including the piece - you've enjoyed all these musical genres that spun at least in part out of the African-American experience, but there's a lot of other, deeply troubling facets of that history that white folks in particular aren't keen on talking about. But for a summer show that's heavy on the light and frothy or the spiritually moving, a despairing melody and lyrics about blood-soaked tree roots and birds pecking out eyeballs is the theatrical equivalent to being hit in the face by a frying pan.
3 Mo' Divas: Smashing Musical Barriers
Through August 9
Geva Theatre Center, 75 Woodbury Blvd
$25-$49 | 232-4382, gevatheatre.org.