The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith at Atlas Performing Arts Center

The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith

Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H Street NE Washington

Iconic blues singer Bessie Smith's life was as large and outrageous as her talent. Live it with her as The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith takes you back to a 1937 Memphis "buffet flat" where the partying, laughter and bawdiness reach a crescendo after Bessie and her band are turned away by a whites-only theater. Starring Miche Braden, reprising the role she originated off-Broadway, the musical is packed with a trove of Bessie's all-time hits, including "I Ain't Got Nobody," "St. Louis Blues" and "Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do." Get rowdy with a musical legend when Mosaic Theater Company's production of The Devil's Music comes to D.C.'s Atlas Performing Arts Center.

Thru - Sep 24, 2017

Thursdays: 8:00pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 3:00pm & 8:00pm

Sundays: 3:00pm & 7:30pm

Box Office: 202-399-7993

www.mosaictheater.org/the-devils-music

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The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith Reviews

Average Rating based on 7 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...The huge reservoir of outrage from which Smith draws her profane interpretive power — and on which she focuses her lung power — comes through in Braden’s subversively raunchy portrayal, too. In such numbers as “T’aint Nobody’s Bizness If I Do,” “St. Louis Blues,” “I Ain’t Got Nobody” and “I Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl,” the expressions of tragedy, pain, passion and seduction allow an audience to sense the presence of Bessie’s devils as well as her better angels."

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- Peter Marks

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...This is a production in which the audience is an integral part of the show. I urge you to see it – and to join the crowd that is laughing, clapping and stomping its feet and singing along with the blues."

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- Ravelle Brickman

MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended

"...It would be tough to name who is the bigger draw in Mosaic Theater Company’s regal production of The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith. Both Smith, the pioneering Empress of the Blues, and Miche Braden, the show’s star, musical director and arranger, put forth a strong case for dropping your own blues at the door and grabbing a seat for this musical confessional."

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- Andre Hereford

MD Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended

"...On Monday August 28th 2017, the Mosaic Theater Company of DC opened its third season with a spectacular performance of “The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith, “ starring Miche Braden. Mosaic Theater Company’s first musical, “The Devil’s Music” provides audience members an in-depth view of the life of Bessie Smith in the most imaginative, creative, and entertaining way possible."

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- Brittney Allen

Theatre Bloom - Highly Recommended

"...You wanna sing the blues? Then you’ve gotta pay the dues! You gotta live, you gotta love, you gotta hurt, you gotta sing, and you gotta roll with it! Mosaic Theater Company of DC sure is rolling with it as they roll on into the start of Season 3 with the area premiere of The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith. Conceived and Directed by Joe Brancato, this wild and wicked tale extrapolates on the final moments inside the mind and music of The Empress of Blues, Bessie Smith, with her larger than life persona animated by solo performer and musical arranger Miche Braden. A powerful evening of nostalgia, deeply moving blues music, and a stunning performance given by Braden and the trio of instrumentalists on stage with her, The Devil’s Music is a firecracker of a start to the company’s third season."

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- Amanda Gunther

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

"...The enjoyable and emotional songs (such as “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do”) fit Bessie Smith’s life and story, an unsurprising fact considering she selected most of them and even wrote a few herself. The success of the show is demonstrated by its many high points. The diverse standout numbers range from the rocking “St. Louis Blues” in which Braden dances seductively during Nelson’s hot sax solo to the powerfully mournful rendition of “I Ain’t Got Nobody.”"

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- Steven McKnight

BroadwayWorld - Recommended

"...Braden brings an oversized personality and has more than enough to keep attention as she recalls Smith's remarkable ups and downs. And the key to Smith's success is also the key to her's: The songs reflect her own hard times and striving and makes it especially easy to turn to just the right song amid the autobiography."

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- Roger Catlin