Grammy-winning composer, actor, singer Keb' Mo' knows the Blues better than anyone. He encapsulates contemporary Delta and folksy Americana. His songs, while easy listening, have a quiet depth, an emotional tug that speaks to the universal. You can hear the deep Mississippi and the people living along its banks flowing through the music. It's basic and true.
This is handled with mundane dialogue and some sort of kitchen-sink realism, or as real as a TV show will allow, until Marvell Thunder appears from the shadowy gloom, dripping charms from his watch fob, wearing zoot suit and spectator shoes. It's a star turn for sure. Washington eats up the stage with magnetism, a silky and ripe baritone, and enough villainous cackles that he should be sued by Disney. He's one evil genie, obviously not human, as everyone rightly observes.
Although this Stages version borrows from Minneapolis' Ten Thousand Things Theater's 2022 production, the vocal and musical arrangements have been altered by music director Ronnie “King” Mason, Jr. so that the “cutting contest” between Thunder and Glory sounds like hard rock instead of Delta blues .