Twenty years after it opened the first National Black Theatre Festival, Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope is back. It opened Monday night at the Stevens Center.
The musical revue was first performed in 1971 in Washington, and it then moved to Broadway, where it was nominated for four Tony awards. This rendition is by the N.C. Black Repertory Company.
The cast includes several veterans of the 1989 production that opened the NBTF, among them John Heath, whose deep voice and poignant delivery elevates such songs as “So Little Time” and “Fighting for Pharaoh.”
The songs are energetic, covering such genres as jazz, rock, blues and gospel, and the dancing is well-choreographed. One performance flows into the next with very few pauses. The stage is bare except for two ladders, which don’t get much use; the focus is on the performers themselves.
The subject matter in the first act covers a wide variety of topics about the human experience in general and the black American experience in particular. Highlights include “Time Brings About a Change,” which touches on everything from busing and integration to the changing terminology from “negro” to “black” to “African-American”; “They Keep Coming,” about black historical figures; and the play’s title song.
A few songs have subjects that hearken back 38 years ago, including “Show Me That Special Gene,” about women’s rights, but other songs have been updated to include such current topics as President Obama, Michael Jackson and the reality-TV series The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
The second act of the play is more focused on uplifting gospel music, and it also includes some comical flourishes and a rousing performance that spills out into audience.
■ Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope will be performed at 8 p.m. today and Thursday at the Stevens Center. Tickets are $42. Call 723-7907, or visit http://www.nbtf.org.