The Spirit Of Harlem

Prepare to be transported back to the days of the Cotton Club and the Harlem Renaissance.

The rollicking Fats Waller musical “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” which rolls into town Friday, is an intense 30-song trip back to that heady time. It promises to be a lively, bawdy celebration of stride piano and good-time jazz.

This tour is a production of New York’s Irving Street Repertory, and it features Vivian Jett in one of the lead roles. Jett is a veteran of the show’s original smash Broadway production, which she joined in 1980, two years into its run.

Spokane audiences may already be familiar with this show from previous tours and from a production at the Spokane Civic Theatre. It’s essentially a revue, using song after song to create a musical portrait of the great Fats Waller. The show is light on story (there is little or no dialogue) and heavy on song, dance and comedy. If nothing else, “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” should remind you why jazz became America’s prime cultural export during the ‘20s and ‘30s.

According to reviews from previous stops, this five-person cast performs the show with suitable high spirits.

“They sing, they stomp, they shout, they sweat, shimmy, mug and bump-and-grind,” wrote Misha Berson in the Seattle Times.

This group is in the middle of a whistle-stop tour taking them to cities both large and small in the Northwest, including Walla Walla tonight, Richland on Saturday and Omak on Sunday.

The Spokane show is at 7 p.m. Friday at The Met. Tickets are $27.95 to $22.95, available at Street Music, all G&B Select-a-Seat outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT.

‘New Stage V’

The fifth annual version of the Valley Repertory Theatre’s new playwright’s showcase, “New Stage V,” will have a new twist this time around.

All of the one-acts will be by the same playwright, Janice Kennedy of Seattle. Kennedy has already won numerous awards for her work, including first place in the Regional Playwriting Contest at the Theatre at Lime Kiln (Virginia).

Her full-length plays and one-acts have been produced by numerous theaters around the country, including the Theatre Off Jackson and the Jane Doe Theatre in Seattle, the Stark Raving Theater in Portland, and the Inner-Space Theatre in New York.

The show opens at 8 p.m. and continues Saturday, Sunday, March 27-29 and April 3-4. All shows are at 8 p.m. except Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $8 general admission, $7 for seniors and $6 for students. Call 927-6878 for reservations. The Valley Rep is on the southwest corner of Sprague and Pines in the Valley.

‘The Brain’

Express Theatre Northwest will stage a benefit performance of its multi-media play, “The Brain,” on Friday.

This play, which is the brainchild (you might say) of Frank B. Sullivan, executive director of Express Theatre NW, is a view of what it feels like to have a brain disorder. The cast and crew is composed mostly of “mental health consumers” or family members of same.

It premiered in Spokane last fall. Now, there will be a benefit performance and silent auction Friday at 8 p.m. at the Spartan Theatre of Spokane Falls Community College Theatre, 3410 W. Fort Wright Drive.

Tickets are $10 in advance, available by calling 624-8073, or $12 at the door.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo