One-of-a-kind musician and composer Stevie Wonder gets a bio-musical cabaret treatment that’s become typical at Florida Studio Theater. A narrative of Wonder’s life punctuates a revue of his prodigious achievements in creating and performing modern music. All lead to his meriting “A Place in the Sun” of undeniable artistry.
What Wonder lacked in sight, he more than made up for in sound and insight. Starting already farther than usual into professional status at age 13, he achieved top status on Billboard and never fell back or down professionally. It’s great that lead singer and keyboard artist Joshua Pyram distills the essence of Wonder’s music and performance style through decades. As his co-leader, stressing appreciation of these and especially Wonder’s lyrics, often narratives, Ben Senneff adds to a complete picture and often rendering of Stevie Wonder’s musical importance.
Probably the greatest hits of Wonder’s early decades (‘60s to ‘80s) find audiences spontaneously clapping or swaying in their seats at FST. Outstanding among these are “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Isn’t She Lovely?” which gets a popular reprise later. In both life and onstage, Wonder paired with Syreeta Wright, who became his wife. She’s portrayed in essence by a smooth singing Hannah Taylor downstage center, moving from her musical accompanying further back. (Her usual position lines up on house right with enthusiastic pianist Sean Holland on left, whose “singing” amounts to a few chorus-type bits throughout the show.)
Even though the Stevie-Syreeta marriage lasted only about two years, they remained friends, at least musically. She probably inspired his lovely “My Cherie Amour” and maybe other love songs of his prolific ‘80s. At FST they include the “If You Really Love Me” and the now-classic “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” “Ebony and Ivory” done by Wonder with Paul McCartney in this period led to Wonder collaborating from then on with many other outstanding musical performers on stage, in albums, and on TV.
Wonder’s life has included three marriages and a large number of liaisons producing children. The FST script highlights, though, his constant devotion to his mother, whose death affected him greatly, as if depriving him of a necessary female love. He did turn to a love of unbiased humanity and anything he might do in song and in his lifetime to counteract poverty, racism, abuse of any disabled person or people, and other such causes. He has earned praise and honors from the White House and other places in America and internationally for his humanitarian efforts. FST stresses that these are paralleled by a series of unprecedented Grammy Awards, especially for albums of songs of which some are presented in the Goldstein Cabaret.
It’s a good thing that Catherine Randazzo has had much experience in directing FST original cabaret shows as well as giving artistic oversight to imported shows. The Goldstein Cabaret has FST’s smallest stage and she has accomplished a fine feat in making a cramped-with-instruments space and very loud sound appear as intimate as possible to audiences. The constantly light-and-color-changing stretched curtains make a set that expresses different moods and eliminates any sense of clutter. No clashes with extravagant costumes occur, either.
It’s also apparent that A Place in the Sun could be amplified further, should audiences persuade FST to explore Stevie Wonder’s later albums and up-to-date musical achievements beyond the present Tribute.
