Like a time capsule, cracked open and spilling forth treasures from the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, Live . . .At The Rossonian enlightened those of us who have been curious about the gilded history of that wonderful venue – probably the most famous club between Kansas City and San Francisco – for Black audiences of music, dance and comedy. Live let us feel the magic that was the original Rossonian, when Black folks were limited in where they could enjoy that magic and its presentation.
The Rossonian Hotel is located at the intersection of 27th Street, Welton Street, 26th Avenue and Washington Street, which form the historic Five Points that define and name the neighborhood. On the National Register of Historic Places, the building was opened in 1912 as the Baxter Hotel, named after the owner of the Baxter Cigar Company.
In the early 20th century, the hotel became the center of social and commercial life in Five Points.The Baxter was acquired in 1929, by a small group of Black men who generally worked on the railroads as waiters and porters. It became the stopping place for other railroad workers and for Black travelers who, as a rule, could not stay in white hotels until after World War II and into the second half of the century. It was renamed the Rossonian after A.W.L. Ross, who managed the hotel for the group of owners.
The hotel gained a well-earned reputation for being the center of authentic jazz not only due to its location in the United States but also due to the prodigious numbers of jazz musicians, singers and comedians who stayed there. After gigs at other Denver venues, they would perform at the Rossonian and then spend the night.
The list of greats who stayed and played there is too long, but includes Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, George Shearing, Ella Fitzgerald, and so many others. The Rossonian attracted not only great jazz musicians and those of other musical styles, but also the literati of the day, such as king of the beat poets Allen Ginsberg in 1956, giant of the beat poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1958, William Burroughs in 1959, and Jack Kerouac, who lived for many years nearby in Curtis Park.
Kerouac, in his American Classic On the Road, spoke of the Rossonian and of the Five Points area in his dream-like vision of what made the area so wonderful, and so preferable to any other area of Denver.
He wrote: “At the lilac evening I walked with every muscle aching among the lights of 27th and Welton feeling that the best the white world had offered was not enough ecstasy, not enough life, joy, kicks, darkness, music, not enough night.”
Live brings that golden, ecstatic, magic past to the stage at The Crossroads Theater, just a few feet from where the giants performed and hung out at the Rossonian. The exciting cast quickly captures that past. The costumes are exquisite and wonderful time pieces for the 1958 setting of the show. The songs presented by the cast and the humor offered by comedian Gary Carnes, in performance as Jerry Lewis, are right out of the Rossonian’s magical era. The performances truly take you back to the day.
If you were alive at that time, then you know as you sit in the audience today about the love expressed back then. Live reprises the lyrics of true love, which suggested all of the possibilities that you might wish to conjure up, not lyrics of hard, physical, mean, work-like love suggested by so many of today’s musical offerings. These were songs that made everyone a king or a queen because such was the nature of the man or woman singing the songs, and singing them only to you and no one else. Nostalgia is in giant supply at Live, and baby, get your nostalgia on.
Live is an idiom for the oasis where Black folks could repair for a soul-satisfying drink of high-class entertainment at a time when society was beating them down. And for those who could not have been there in the magic years, this show offers a look back and the chance to feel something our mind and body tell us we missed big time.
Award-Worthy Performances Of Yesteryear
Linda Theus-Lee was fabulous as the gorgeous, catty, sexy, French-accented Josephine Baker, a wonder in all the ages of performance arts. Both in her singing and dancing, Theus-Lee was a breath of fresh air reminiscent of the talent singers and dancers of those days. Her singing range was a delight to behold, and her talents were seemingly unbounded.
On that same level were Sheryl Renee as Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Louise Lee as Billie Holiday, Shiva Maxey as Nancy Wilson, Jennifer Ehrle as Doris Day, and Frank Baier as Tony Bennett. Renee is well known for her ability to sound like any singer, and she was at her best in this show. Her scat tune left one wondering if Ella was really backstage – a performance that should win an award. Maxey’s Wilson was so cat-soft and dramatic that you just sit there remembering the beauty of Wilson’s songs and the life force of her lyrics.
Lee’s Lady Day was just amazingly authentic, harking back to her virtuoso performance as Lady Day in a Shadow Theatre production a few years ago. The haunting specter of Lee as Lady Day in her troubled years of performing while under the influence of drugs was frightening yet exhilarating in its reality.
Ehrle presenting as Doris Day helped one to understand why Day was an Oscar-winning singer. The innocence she and the songs portrayed was somehow very refreshing. And Baier as Tony Bennett was a refreshing reminder of what crooners were in a bygone era, and how they worked to make a song just get all over you in an a most sensual way.
Carnes as Lewis was at a disadvantage because the humor that worked in yesteryear is not well understood today. However, he certainly portrayed Lewis as the frenetic nut that he conveyed. Tom Sandquist as Tommy Sands, the pianist and music director, and the playing of the other musicians, were also excellent.
If there was a weak link, it was Anthony Demmer as Buddy Ross (as in Rossonian), the M.C. He was authentic as a period piece, with conk in place, and the Kool cigarette always in evidence as a cool symbol and a live commercial for Kool Cigarettes, the ostensible sponsor – something done often especially with cigarettes in those days. But, Demmer seemed to lack the creativity and spark that marked the other performers. The old-fashioned microphones were nice touches, but Demmer let them get out of control, at one point stepping on Wilson’s microphone cord and inhibiting her ability to walk out toward the audience. Additionally, if he had said, “Let’s hear it one more time for. . .” one more time, the audience might have screamed. A few more original questions and some creative fill by Demmer would have provided the point on the exclamation mark of an outstanding show.
The show will run through July 27, on Sundays, with curtain at 7:30 p.m. Each night, you never know which performers will show up. Frank Sinatra may appear, or Dinah. But it will be a wonderful show, on that you may rely. The admission is reasonable and the enjoyment is immense. Who knows, afterward, Billie or Ella or Nancy may let you buy them a drink; it is really intimate in there. And Tony may buss you on the cheek. If you have ever wondered what the magic of the Rossonian was, Live will clue you in.
Editor’s note: The article’s author gathered the historic information in the first half of the story from the following sources: Colorado Historical Society Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, HelloDenver.com, and Fort Lewis College.
