European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Ain t geniality and jubilation on broadway1 by Sid Schapiro is new York Bureau the joint is jumping Jivin Low Down an when did you last hear those terms nostalgically they describe the exuberant goings i at the Longacre theater where the Tony award winning musical Ain t misbehaving " has become one of Broadway s hottest  show also won the 1978 new York drama critics Urcle award for Best  rousing tribute to jazz great Thomas fats Waller As hailed by the critics is a beguiling evening of song dance and delicious laughter a show bursting with bewitching geniality and jubilation and capturing the spirit and style of the great musician in a Way that must have pats trucking and chuckling in his  there Are five Lusty voiced and dexterous Singer dancers strutting sashay in and Dancin in the uninhibited Harlem style of the 1920s, 30s and Early 40s Veteran jazzman Luther Henderson on piano and a six piece backup group in a set resembling an old time speakeasy. In spirit despite a foray into the wartime 40s. It evokes the late Days of the prohibition Era when vipers smoked reefers and Bootleg booze could be the worst or Best depending on your source of Supply. The cast has a real Ball with a compendium of fats Waller songs warming up with the show s title song engagingly performed to honeysuckle  from Cash for your trash to your feet s too big and Black and  in All there Are some 30 songs written by or made famous by Waller. Pick any number and you 11 come up with a Winner. There s Nell Carter who won her own Tony As top Fea tured actress in a musical Armelia Mcqueen. Charlaine Woodard Andre do Shields and Ken Page. Henderson As the Mobile pianist conductor As Well As the orchestral or Arranger is there throughout at the movable upright which is a major component giving out the stride piano style characteristic of Waller. His White hair tufting out from under a Derby and garnered sleeves reaching out from a Vest the singers obviously have tremendous affection or Waller s music one critic noted. With such All round excellence it seems unfair to play favourites but it is hard to avoid singling out Carter whose voice has the sexy Sassy Quality of a Brash muted trumpet and who has a powerful stage presence. Another critic put it this Way she has a voice that could sound reveille for an entire regiment or croon it to  Carter a Chunky woman has a sly style All her own which adds volumes of innuendo to Cash for you trash and Heartbreak to mean to  she uses her hands most eloquently As she sings i be got a feeling m  pleasingly plump Mcqueen s tiny voiced rendition of squeeze me turns it into a riotously funny number. And she lines out some advice for Young ladies with find out what they  Woodard the slender one sings songs both hot and Cool turning she s keeping out of mischief now into a wry comment on love. She jitterbugs sashay and sways with practice ease but says simply i Don t dance i move Well crediting Arthur Faria who staged the show s musical numbers with making her look like a dancer. Woodard says she came into Ain t misbehaving " knowing very Little about either fats Waller or Harlem in the period before world War ii. I had heard Billie Holiday s recording of t Ain t nobody s Biz Ness if i do which was the first song re corded by fats Waller but that s All. I had to do re search really zoom in on that  de Shields a up onus life who s All Snake hips in slow " concentrate on the Melody fats advised if it s Good you Don t have to shoot it out of a Cannon " fats Waller musical hit of the i Page 12 the stars and stripes