Now onstage at Black Ensemble Theater: a hard-charging, gotta-dance, groovilitastic celebration of the genre of superfreaks and pile-driving downbeats. If you’ve ever sung about (or in fact are) the kind of girl “you don’t take home to mother,” this show is yours.
As in all BET shows, there are a lot of expositional breaks between songs—in this case, mostly delivered by Neal as he offers bullet points for the artists on display. What helps makes Funk fly (in all senses of the word) is the lack of dramatic scenes reenacted (or imagined) from the lives of the artists on display. Instead, we get Neal mostly alone between songs, offering history and insights. He’s charming, goofy, and charismatic enough to keep the party pulsing. Add the talented cast’s megacommitment to the material and you get an electrifying production.
In real life, funk was co-opted early: by 1976, “Love Rollercoaster” was in heavy rotation at cafeteria dances in my 99 percent white Wheaton junior high. Whether you understood and embraced funk’s rebellious attitude early or took a few decades to catch on, there’s no denying the power of the funk deployed at BET. As this cast proves, you can’t fake funk. Either you’ve got it, or you don’t. This ensemble does, in all its eye-popping freakazoid glory. v
Through 9/22: Thu 2 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Black Ensemble Theater, 4450 N. Clark, 773-769-4451, blackensembletheater.org, $55-$65, $49.50-$58.50 students and seniors.
