Theatre review: Ain't Misbehavin'

Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby Jr’s 1978 show Ain’t Misbehavin’ was something of a precursor to jukebox musicals, celebrating songs written or popularised by Fats Waller between the wars, becoming one of the first people to bring jazz to a wider audience. Southwark Playhouse’s revival sees two people better known as performers making their debuts telling other people what to do: Tyrone Huntley as director and Oti Mabuse as choreographer. Adrian Hansel, Renée Lamb, Carly Mercedes Dyer, Landi Oshinowo and Wayne Robinson take on all the performance duties in a show that runs through thirty of Waller’s hits in under two hours. I’ve seen it described as a “revue-style musical,” although in reality it’s a straightforward revue without much connection to a traditional musical – there’s no thematic link between the songs, takis’ set recreating a glittering nightclub in which Alex Cockle’s band are ensconced to back up the five performers.

Which isn’t to say Huntley and Mabuse don’t create stories out of some of the individual songs – and with a choreographer best-known for Strictly Dancy McDanceface it makes sense that she’d be good at building a storyline out of a short piece of music.

This is mostly a show with the emphasis firmly on fun, although there’s more serious moments – “Black and Blue” tackles racism, while Huntley’s production acknowledges how downright creepy “Squeeze Me” is; on a lighter political note Lamb and Oshinowo get wryly comic looks at the things people had to give up during the Second World War with “When the Nylons Bloom Again” and “Cash for Your Trash.” And on the other end of the scale entirely Waller and his regular lyricist Andy Razaf clearly had a downright weird side in songs like “Your Feet’s Too Big,” or the cast getting the audience to sing along to “Fat and Greasy” (which in a show about a man nicknamed after his morbid obesity is… fitting?)

There’s a bit of a running gag of the other performers not expecting much of Dyer and thinking she can’t manage a solo (surprise, turns out she can, albeit with an eccentric comic style when it comes to “Yacht Club Swing.”) Being closer to cabaret than theatre there’s not much more I can really say about Ain’t Misbehavin’ except it succeeds in providing an entertaining night and showcasing Waller’s music, and the five-strong cast never cease to impress.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ by Thomas “Fats” Waller, Andy Razaf, Murray Horwitz, Richard Maltby Jr, Harry Brooks, Lester Santly, Porter Grainger, Everett Robbins, Harry Link, Billy Rose, Clarence Williams, J.C. Johnson, George Marion Jnr, Herman Autrey, Ed Kirkeby, Jimmy McHugh, Ted Koehler, Roy Turk, Fred E Ahlert, Ada Benson, your mum, Fred Fisher, Nat King Cole, Charlie Johnson, Joe Young, Hoagy Carmichael, Frank Loesser, Dorothy Fields and Billy Mayhew is booking until the 1st of June at Southwark Playhouse’s Large Theatre.

Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Pamela Raith.