DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended
"... Often I find that the productions in our area that interest me the most are ones that take a lesser-known story, concept, or theme, bring it to life with extraordinary actors, and entertain local audiences while educating them about historical events that continue to shape who we are as a nation today. Cheryl L. West’s Pullman Porter Blues, now playing at Arena Stage is one of the shows. This world premiere co-produced with Seattle Repertory Theatre (which staged the show in October 2012) is successful in nearly every way – from the story and acting to the production values, which enhance the telling of the already interesting and important story."
DCist - Recommended
"... But you do feel, along the two-plus-hour journey, like you’re being pulled toward some unsettling business (aided by some nice pacing and excellent lighting work). When we arrive at that place, director Lisa Peterson gives us one haunting final image, reminiscent of another final moment that sticks to your ribs—the solitary prisoner in Sam Mendes' 1993 revival of Cabaret—right before the curtain drops."
Talkin Broadway - Recommended
"... Both Marshall and Derricks have done notable work in musicals on Broadway, and they retain their elegant dancing skills and impassioned singing voices while projecting genuine stage magnetism. Butler shines in a flashy role that allows her to wear a gorgeous red velvet gown and also wrestle with a recalcitrant girdle—all the while singing like a fallen angel. Constanza Romero designed the costumes."
Washingtonian - Recommended
"... Pullman Porter Blues is a play with music, and director Lisa Peterson moves along the proceedings with fine Midwestern numbers such as “Sweet Home Chicago” and “New Orleans Hop Scop Blues.” The atmospheric songs showcase the formidable musical theater chops of all the players. Marshall is a graceful dancer with an arresting voice, while Derricks’s rich, powerful singing is on full display in the tortured “Grievin’ Hearted Blues.” The songs feel like an organic part of the action, as Sister Juba’s backup band is stationed in one of the train cars, and the band becomes an important plot point when Cephas stumbles on a harmonica-playing stowaway, Lutie Duggernut (Emily Chisholm), who challenges his preconceptions."
ShowBizRadio - Somewhat Recommended
"... Playwright West has an interest in history. So we get a good deal of exposition about Pullman porters, who were the aristocrats of the black working class in the early 20th Century. We learn about one of the protagonist’s efforts as an organizer of what was to become America’s first black union, the Sleeping Car Porters of America. We also learn about the grandfather’s father, a slave laborer forced to lay the very tracks on which the Panama Limited runs. We also learn about the Chicago Defender newspaper’s role as a pioneering force in African American liberation and empowerment."
Afro - Recommended
Playwright Cheryl L. West captures the fastidiousness of the Pullman workers, the fascination of their legacy, and the racially tinged reality in this emotionally charged new work, produced by Arena Stage in conjunction with Seattle Repertory Theater.The most endearing passages are the musical numbers when all three men share the stage with their tight harmonies and high-jinks steps. All three are versatile performers – Derricks originated the role of Jimmy Thunder Early for Dreamgirls on Broadway and can croon up a storm, Pops Marshall is a stage veteran with old school moves and style that still packs a punch, and Miller has an electric smile that matches his slide. The camaraderie between them is palpable, and when they hit their stride, they light up the room.
The Georgetowner - Somewhat Recommended
"... The melodrama gets in the way of what we’re seeing and hearing: the blues, for sure, but also a picture of what it was like to live in America as an African-American, particularly an African-American man trying not just to get by like everyone else, but to get to within hollering distance of that elusive American dream -- without being beaten, lynched, unjustly jailed or just ending up in a ditch. When we see that part of the play, we’re appalled, but amazed by the fortitude, the dogged courage and the inventiveness displayed by the characters and by the echoes we hear to our times: that what happens in our lives today comes from those days as surely as anywhere else."
Curtain Up - Somewhat Recommended
"... The elements are there: a good story line – four generations and their relationship to the railroad – and glorious Blues songs such as “Sweet Home Chicago,” and “Trouble in Mind” played by an onstage quartet. But Pullman Porter Blues gets sidetracked by extraneous characters such as Lutie Duggernut, the stowaway (a vigorous performance by Emily Chisholm) and repetitive exposition."
