My 70 year-old best friend love plays and musicals. Every chance we get we’re trying to go see one. This time we boarded the Greyhound to Chicago to see FANNIE: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer.
Inspired by the life of famed civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer and performed and sung by Chicago’s E. Faye Butler, this passionate rally cry defines what it means to be a true revolutionary.
Fannie Lou Hamer, the 1960s civil rights activist whose bravery, humor and grit reminds us that there’s courage in the face of fire, hope in tomorrow and that we all have a stake in our country. Replete with music and spirituality, this electric, immersive call to action defines what it means to be a true revolutionary. A Goodman commission, Ms. West’s play appeared in the 2019 New Stages Festival, and in abridged form, Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It!, in Chicago parks in fall 2020.
Originally co-commissioned and developed by Goodman Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre, with additional development by Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
From the amazing curtain speech, or pre-show announcement, you could feel this was gonna be a powerful experience. Staged in the Owen Theatre — which features three flexible levels of courtyard seating surrounding a large stage. The Owen is typically home to more intimate Goodman productions, but is also a sleek location for lectures, conferences and other presentations on a more modest scale. This location worked perfectly for this production. With a runtime of 75 minutes (with no intermission), this show packed a serious punch in a set amount of time.
E. Faye Butler delivers a powerful, poignant performance that is timely, pointed, and loving. From each song sung, story told, and silence observed — you can feel like you’re going back in time and feeling Hamer’s pain with each assault.
Written by Cheryl L. West, the one-woman show tells the story of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, detailing the events that led her from her life as the daughter of a share cropper in Mississippi to co-founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. The production stars E. Faye Butler with direction by Henry Godinez and music direction and arrangements by Felton Offard.
Hedy Weiss at WWTTV writes: “Now, the complete show, deftly directed by Henry Godinez, is on the stage it deserves, with a set by Collette Pollard that drapes the theater’s proscenium and balcony with the American flag, with lighting by Jason Lynch, and with far better acoustics. Butler’s clarion voice can now be heard in all its glory in more than a dozen songs – the spirituals and anthems that became a galvanizing soundtrack throughout the civil rights movement years, from “We Shall Not Be Moved” and “This Little Light of Mine” to “I Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” and “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.” And the actress’s own irrepressible spirit fires up the stage with Hamer’s refusal to be denied her right to register, vote, and demand change, and to be a force behind the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The punishment Hamer endured all along the way was brutal. But her relentless spirit and powerful voice ultimately triumphed even if, as noted in a recent New York Times review of two newly published books about Hamer (“Walk With Me,” by Kate Clifford Larson, and “Until I Am Free,” by Keisha N. Blain), “she remains largely unacknowledged in popular narratives of the civil rights movement, which still train most of the spotlight on its male leaders.””
I’m beyond speechless. “Fannie” encouraged us to sing along as participants on this historical ride through time. Moving through Hamer’s adult life uncovering why at age 44 she finally got the opportunity, by force, to register to vote. The pain she endured getting folks to realize what they were owed.
During one of my absolute favorite moments, Butler delivers a stirring sermonette that would rival any Sunday morning worship service. Closing with a song and leaving the stage — Butler returns with thanks and gratitude for the return to the stage and offers an opportunity to give back and help other performers find their way back to the stage through — SEASON OF CONCERN CHICAGO, visit their website for more information, seasonofconcern.org
Treat yourself to this show before it’s gone for the season. Visit the Goodman Theatre for more information, goodmantheatre.org/fannie
