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Sydney Charles (Nina Simone)

Deanna Reed-Foster (Sarah) and Sydney Charles (Nina Simone)

Ariel Richardson (Sephronia) and Melanie Brezill (Sweet Thing)

Ariel Richardson, Sydney Charles, Melanie Brezill, Deanna Reed-Foster

Cast of Nina Simone: Four Women

Sydney Charles as Nina Simone

Cast of Nina Simone: Four Women

Production photos by Michael Brosilow, Promotional photos by Greg Inda

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

by Chris Jones
February 4, 2019

3 Stars

‘Nina Simone: Four Women’ at Northlight Theatre is the singer in the ’60s, in church bombing aftermath

Nina Simone seemed happy in the 1980s, singing in Ronnie Scott’s swinging London jazz club, a resident European star in front an adoring audience, wowing with the incomparable diversity of her repertoire, enjoying her still-potent influence on any number of signature artists from the Beatles to Elton John. Finding warmth but still embodying cool.

You could imagine a concert-style stage show about the Simone of that era, a piece about a troubled genius who finally had started to enjoy her public, and maybe even come to terms with the disparity between the music she loved and the music she could sell.

The Simone song that most interests Ham is her self-penned “Mississippi Goddam,” an anthem that didn’t so much express pain as raw anger at the Old South — as concisely expressed by two words as any lyric from any song in that era. Over the years, the song has come to occupy a similar place to “Strange Fruit” in the cabaret repertoire of many a blues singer. It is a moment when people stop talking, swallow their drink hard and, in some cases, feel their own complicity. It’s a song that banishes any and all romanticism; it was as if Simone barely could set it to music, barely could bother with the requisite notes, so much does the lyrical sentiment overtake anything dangling underneath.

“Mississippi Goddam,” which Simone, all the way up to her death, said was held against her, similarly is the centerpiece of Charles’ performance. It is a formidable rendition; one among many.

Charles has come up through Chicago’s storefront movement and she is remarkably well cast in director Kenneth L. Roberson’s production. She doesn’t, as would some, have Ronnie Scott’s veneer to shake off. On the contrary. She is naturally intimidating and goes right to where Simone would have been in that moment.

Read the full review

CHICAGO NOW

by Rick and Brenda McCain
February 4, 2019

Highly Recommended

The Woman Behind the Music

Christina Ham brings a profound story to the stage about the most honest woman in America during the civil rights movement era with Nina Simone: Four Women. Based on the part of the title of the play “Four Women” a song written by Nina Simone about four different African American women with varying tones of skin ranging from light to dark and how each one represents an African American stereotype in society is the framework for the play.

Set in the aftermath of destruction where a terrible act of white supremacist terrorism took place on Sunday, September 15, 1963 where a church bombing took place in Birmingham, Alabama, four girls Cynthia Wesley (14), Denise McNair (11), Carol Robertson and Addie Mae Collins (14) lost their lives at 16th Street Baptist Church. In a profound segment of this play, the ladies speak these four little angels souls back to life as they proudly echo their names so history would never forget them.

Leading this powerful cast of ‘Black Girl Magic’ is award-winning actress Sydney Charles (Flyin’ West, Father Comes Home From The War, and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner) who played the influential recording artists Nina Simone. Charles is phenomenal as Simone, she nailed this role with the mannerism and style. If awards are given, she deserves top honors for this performance. The cast which includes Melanie Brezill, Deanna Reed-Foster, Ariel Richardson, and Daniel Riley are exceptional and make Nina Simone: Four Women at Northlight Theatre a 5-star play.

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WTTW

by Hedy Weiss
February 4, 2019

Highly Recommended

How Nina Simone Tapped into the Pain of African-American Women

Christina Ham’s play, “Nina Simone: Four Women,” now in a feverishly acted Northlight Theatre production directed by Kenneth L. Roberson, is the anatomy of a song. And by extension, it is the anatomy of the angry, emotionally wounded singer, songwriter, pianist and civil rights activist of the title who wrote it, and who is seen at a pivotal moment in her life. It also is a vivid reminder of a horrific, galvanizing moment in the life of the civil rights movement itself.

The time is September 1963, shortly after four members of the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on a Sunday morning, leaving four young black girls blown to bits and many other people injured. (Christopher Rhoton’s remarkable set, with its wall of shattered stained glass windows and its splintered wood floorboards, captures the carnage of the scene to haunting effect.)

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Of course the primary force that drives the story here is the already semi-famous Simone, whose profoundly troubled marriage, troubling role as a mother, and self-exile to Europe and Africa is yet to come, but whose mix of self-hatred and exceptionalism is expertly channeled by Charles, an actress-singer of smoldering intensity who rips the stuffing out of each of her songs. (Something wonderful also happens when the four women join voices to create superb harmonies.)

That said, there are countless reasons to see “Four Women,” and to be reminded of just how ahead of her time Simone herself happened to be.

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PERFORMINK

by Sheri Flanders
February 7, 2019

Highly Recommended

‘Nina Simone: Four Women’ at Northlight

Very many shows are about Black women, but Northlight Theatre’s production of “Nina Simone: Four Women” is also for Black women. This does not preclude all other audiences from enjoying playwright Christina Ham’s deeply satisfying ride of tragedy, soul, and ultimately triumph; this is simply a story written in the Mother Tongue.

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Sydney Charles, one of Chicago’s most talented actors, pays spectacular homage to Simone, subtly adopting her regal carriage and often brusque manner without becoming a caricature. She morphs chameleon-like into the complex portrait of a woman whose genius and promise has been robbed by the cruel hand of colorism and sexism, the bitter manifestation of what happens to Langston Hughes’ dream deferred. Her haunting voice spreads lushly through the room, crooning heartbreaking iconic songs from Simone’s canon like “Brown Baby.” When she sings the words “It makes me glad you gonna have things that I never had/When out of men’s heart all hate is hurled/Sweetie you gonna live in a better world/Brown baby brown baby brown baby” she sings hope for a future she will never see, and that nearly 60 years later, has yet to be realized.

The characters coalesce in the aftermath of the 1963 16th Baptist Church bombing that killed four little girls, grappling with the immediate and devastating emotional impact of the Black community, and the visceral need to decide how to respond. Ariel Richardson is electrifying as Sephronia, blindly propelled to the front lines by righteous anger and the class advantages of colorism that confer membership to the elite “Talented Tenth,” and slight cover in the face of violence. Deana Reed-Foster is heartbreakingly powerful as Sarah, a woman who cannot afford the luxury of revolution because her family must eat. Through her, we see the insidious side of the ever-changing meaning and legacy of the moniker “Auntie,” currently back in vogue through the popularity of Maxine Waters. And Melanie Brezill is raw and vulnerable as Sweet Thing, a woman on the wrong side of respectability politics; the type of loose woman for whom the revolution does not acknowledge.

Read the full review

“Thanks to a gifted cast, the numbers shine like jewels” – Newcity Stage

“The cast is fearless” – Chicago Sun-Times

“Northlight’s production is a thrill. Top-tier design, incredible cast” – Storefront Rebellion

Related Events

Arts & Activism: From Nina Simone to Steve Schapiro

February 13, 2019, 7:00 pm

A collaboration from the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center and Northlight Theatre, learn about the intersection of art and social activism through a discussion of the music of Nina Simone and the photography of Steve Schapiro.

Read More

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OPEN CAPTIONING – Nina Simone: Four Women, February 23, at 2:30pm
This performance will be open captioned. All seats do not provide a clear view of the captions. Please indicate your need for captioning when purchasing your tickets by phone 847.673.6300 to be seated in the correct area, or use the “Purchase by Seat” option when buying online (select the LEFT section and look for the symbol indicating seats for open captioning).