Photography courtesy St. Louis Shakespeare Festival
This weekend, one of the best-known plays of William Shakespeare is getting an update, in more ways than one.
Shakespeare in the Streets is back, this year in The Ville neighborhood—and the music alone is worth catching the performance, with The Legend Singers providing soul-stirring gospel and Broadway songs alongside the original Hamlet-inspired play.
Linda Schulte
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The Ville: Avengeance! is written by Mariah Richardson and directed by Thomasina Clarke. Created after years of research with residents of The Ville, the play uses the device of Hamlet’s ghost story to tell the story of The Ville: its vibrant past as incubator for legendary Black talent, the life stories of present-day residents and business owners, and hopes and dreams for the future of the neighborhood.
The musical portion of the production features a, well, legendary piece of living Ville history. The Legend Singers, the country’s longest continually performing African American choral group, performs two traditional spirituals in the first segment of the play: “Witness,” arranged by Jack Halloran, and “Every Time I Feel the Spirit,” arranged by the group’s founder, Kenneth Brown Billups. In the second segment, soloist Adrienne Dillon sings “Summertime” from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and soloist Donald Hutcherson and the ensemble perform “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”
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Kenneth Brown Billups founded the Legend Singers in 1940 at The Ville’s Sumner High School—the first Black high school west of the Mississippi and the institution that produced legendary graduates including Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Arthur Ashe, and Dick Gregory.
“We’re now in the 81st season,” says Legend Singers director Dwayne Buggs. “Part of our mission is to preserve the music of African American composers, musicians, and arrangers, so we do quite a few community projects, school events, and annual spiritual festivals. Because of the history of The Legend Singers, it has been a staple in St. Louis for many years.”
The production, taking place outside the Annie Malone Children’s Home, includes additional original music by Tre’von Griffith (Tre-G). The cast features Michelle Dillard, Brandon Ellis, Arthurine Harris, Alex Jay, Tylan Mitchell, and Shakespeare Festival veterans Victor Mendez and Carl Overly, Jr. Community organization 4theVille and Sumner High School were close partners with St. Louis Shakespeare Festival.
“I’ve seen the script; I think it’s very well done,” says Buggs. “I think it’s going to be very exciting to hear the history of The Ville.”
“The Ville: Avengeance!” will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday outside the Annie Malone Children’s Home, at 2612 Annie Malone Drive. Admission is free, but bring a chair or blanket.
