Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies

Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies is a musical revue based, as you might have surmised, on the music of Duke Ellington.

It’s not a normal theatre experience –  Sophisticated Ladies uses music and dance to showcase Ellington’s influence throughout the decades, leading up to present day.

Maurice Hines stars and does a fantastic job, both vocally and physically, as do all members of the cast.  The costumes perfectly represent their intended time period, and the projected images give a good backdrop, though it’s best seen from the balcony and the back of the orchestra.

I had gone into Sophisticated Ladies expecting a plot, with characters and scenes and spoken dialogue, not understanding the concept of the show. Which brings me to the reason you should see it.  Tap dancing.

I wouldn’t consider myself a tap dancing aficionado, having a vague memory of taking a class one summer when I was six.  A roomful of little girls in miniature tap shoes being my last tapping visual, I might not be an expert on tap dancing.  But the tap dancing in this show is fantastic, stupendous, magnificent. Is that enough adjectives?  I would have told you I have little interest in tap, but I was completely enthralled for the entirety of this performance.  If you think it’s possible you might find some of that interest inside you too, I’d highly recommend checking it out.

Sophisticated Ladies is showing at Arena Stage’s Lincoln Theatre, and you have through June 6 to catch it.

Wishing I knew how to tap,

Megan

Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies

Tagged as: D.C. is my favorite city near where I live, I *am* pretentious enough to spell it theatre