Leaving the Blues by
The real-life Alberta Hunter was a singer/songwriter to be reckoned with. Born in poverty in Memphis in 1895 she was an international star by 1917; starred on Broadway by 1928 and by the 1940s she'd written and recorded innumerable blues songs. This play looks at why she succeeded, why she retired and why she made a come back in her 80s. To capture the story she travels backward through time with a ghostly...
The real-life Alberta Hunter was a singer/songwriter to be reckoned with. Born in poverty in Memphis in 1895 she was an international star by 1917; starred on Broadway by 1928 and by the 1940s she'd written and recorded innumerable blues songs. This play looks at why she succeeded, why she retired and why she made a come back in her 80s. To capture the story she travels backward through time with a ghostly, Vaudeville conductor to relive her triumphs and her heartbreaks. Reputed to be acerbic and tight-fisted the play examines what a Black, female entertainer/ entrepreneur had to be to succeed in the early part of the 20th century. With a few (6) songs, a little tap dancing and many laughs we meet her fellow entertainers and her lover who sustain her through the decades.