Noise/Funk: Fo' real Black theatre on 'Da great White way - play 'Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk' on Broadway

African American Review, Winter, 1997 by Elmo Terry-Morgan

Having seen Negro Heaven, the Kid rushes off for his audition. After being coached by a White director on how to do appropriate cooning (a la Robert Townsend's Hollywood Shuffle), the Kid is ready to deliver "Just Flash," "No Beat." 'Da Singer laments the spiritual death of the Kid:

Your Shimmy Don't Sham

Like It Used To Do ....

You Got That Lost Beat Swing ...

Yeah!

The next movement is a somber education: "Green, Chaney, Buster, Slyde" (master, but unknown, tappers). This section offers a rare and intimate opportunity to witness an expert tapper dance around/under/over/on top/inside of 'Da Beat. As Wolfe notes,

There are these old black tap dancers,

who were taught by the old black tap

dancers before them, and so on. All

those guys then passed that information

on to Savion, and it landed in his

feet, and his being, and his soul.

In this quiet and elegantly uncluttered moment, Savion Glover, the man and artist, is the embodiment of Noise/Funk. He is style and substance, a respectful and intelligent inheritor of a noble tradition. He is an educator. His voice-over, which pulls the great names of Black tappers out of the dust of obscurity, works in perfect harmony with his movements and tapping.

The harmony is achieved by his simultaneous creation of music and dance through the phenomenon of tap. Once the tap hits the floor, the music begins. (The Noise brings the Funk.) The tapper controls the rhythm, intensity, and length of the organic music which is produced by dance, and this moment takes us behind the minstrel mask, behind the Hollywood absurdities, and matter-of-factly tells the audience that Sambo is a creation that has nothing to do with being Black Me.

The next movement, "Street Comer Symphony," is performed in four parts: "Them Conkheads (1956)," "Hot Fun (1967)," "Blackout (1977)," and "Gospel/Hip Hop Rant (1987)." This section attempts to tell the story of how one Harlem block changed from community to desolation over four decades. In order to understand this movement fully, you need to have an in-depth knowledge of the external factors which contributed greatly to the plight of the Inner City. "Street Comer Symphony," deviates from the Noise/Funk thesis and, therefore, should be revisited by the creators in order to re-establish clarity. This is where I would "red-ink" one of my student's papers.

"Street Comer Symphony" tells the downside of the story, but does not reveal the beauty making and durability of these Black folks, as it did in act one. Against drug infestation, municipal neglect, White gentrification, and economic strangulation, Black Harlemites are still fighting the Great Battle. The cosmic power of 'Da Beat needs to be reinforced in this section so that the audience is not left thinking these Black folks are solely responsible for their demoralized condition.

A lot of Noise and Funk was happening in those forty years: the Civil Rights Movement, Black Arts Movement, Motown, Women's Movement, Gay Movement, Viet Nam, Desegregation, Integration, Disco Era, Rap/Hip-Hop, Reconstruction II, Death of Reconstruction II, Jim Crow II. And, through all of this, 'Da Beat was the life force which sustained Black folks. All of this represents a critical moment in the historical thesis of Black America, one which Noise/Funk could do more effectively with its demonstrated, innovative use of tap, song, language, slide projections, and staging.