In the one-man show “Satchmo at the Waldorf,” John Douglas Thompson vividly resurrects Louis Armstrong as he reminisces about a life that spanned a vast cultural divide.
Andy Webster, NY Times
March 20, 2014
There is a wonderful Milt Hinton photograph of Louis Armstrong in 1954, standing by his beloved reel-to-reel tape recorders, which he took with him everywhere to record performances and memories. It’s this Armstrong — relaxed, intimate and gregarious — that John Douglas Thompson vividly resurrects in Terry Teachout’s “Satchmo at the Waldorf,” a one-man show at the Westside Theater.
It is March 1971, just months before Armstrong’s death, and from stage right an autumnal shaft of light pierces a dressing room at the Waldorf-Astoria (Lee Savage designed the splendid set) before Mr. Thompson makes his appearance. Stooped, shuffling and dabbing his forehead with his ubiquitous handkerchief, Armstrong is short of breath after a performance and uses an oxygen tank. Over the evening, he tapes his reminiscences as he metamorphoses from a tuxedoed trumpeter to the casually attired homeowner of Corona, Queens, where he lived with his wife Lucille. […continued]
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