SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF
PORTRAIT OF A JAZZ LEGEND
SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF is a one-man, three-character play in which the same actor portrays Louis Armstrong, the greatest of all jazz trumpeters; Joe Glaser, his white manager; and Miles Davis, who admired Armstrong’s playing but disliked his onstage manner. It takes place in 1971 in a dressing room backstage at the Empire Room of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where Armstrong performed in public for the last time four months before his death. Reminiscing into a tape recorder about his life and work, Armstrong seeks to come to terms with his longstanding relationship with Glaser, whom he once loved like a father but now believes to have betrayed him. In alternating scenes, Glaser defends his controversial decision to promote Armstrong’s career (with the help of the Chicago mob) by encouraging him to simplify his musical style, while Davis attacks Armstrong for pandering to white audiences.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:
RICHARD & JULIE HILOVSKY
HAL & KYRA HUBIS
“By the show’s end, you sense the profound fortitude that lay beneath the avuncular surface of this giant, and you are newly appreciative of his singular place in history.”
“A complex and finely shaded picture…of an artist coping with racism.”
“A deep, impassioned bio-play about a jazz legend…a work of insight and power.”
“...directed with scorching honesty by Ted Lange...What a wonderful world. What a beautiful play.”
“...a not-to-be missed evening of live theatre at The Stage!”
“TheatreStorm rarely gives a 5-star, must see rating. I’d give this show more stars, if I had them to give...Director and Oakland native Ted Lange guides this production to perfection...”
“‘Satchmo’ arrives in San Jose at a propitious moment [and] offers another opportunity for reflection on Black-Jewish ties.”
CAST
CREATIVES
TED LANGE | DIRECTOR
GUILIO CESARE PERRONE | SCENIC DESIGN
ASHLEY GARLICK | COSTUME DESIGN
MAURICE VERCOUTERE | LIGHTING DESIGN
STEVE SCHOENBECK | SOUND DESIGN
BILL VUJEVICH | SCENIC PAINT
JUSTIN TRAVIS BUCHS* | STAGE MANAGER
ARTIE PERLAEZ | PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
MORGAN BOHAC | PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
VICTOR KOLBE | PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
TED LANGE certainly exemplifies the Renaissance Man Theatre Award that he received from the NAACP in Los Angeles and the Heroes and Legends HAL Lifetime Achievement Award. A prolific author, educator, and director and actor of stage and screen comprise the talents that have created a revered career and worldwide recognition. On May 10, 2018, Lange received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of his Contribution to the History of Television for his work on The Love Boat.
A graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lange has written twenty-five plays and has been labeled The Black Neil Simon, The Brown Bard, and The Footnote Historian. These nomenclatures reflect the nature of the plays that he has written and produced around the country in black theatres to rave reviews and numerous awards. Lange is passionate about comedy, Shakespeare, history, and character driven theatre. His quest is to weave the African American experience into stories that entertain and educate by using current events as the touchstone for timely stories and characters, by discovering little known historical facts and bringing alive lost moments of black history, and by using the timelessness of Shakespearean tales to reflect what is still relevant in today’s culture.
His most recent theatre works includes directing the Country Western musical, ‘Hank Williams, Lost Highway’, for the Timber Lake Playhouse. He has also directed his pal Fred Grandy in ‘Give ‘Em Hell Harry’, for the Wagon Wheel theatre.
His Shakespearean based play written in verse, The Cause, My Soul, the Prequel to Othello, won the NAACP Theatre Best Play of 2017, and was presented at the Odyssey Theatre on the 400 th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and at the North Carolina Black Theatre Festival. The Tears of Shylock another Shakespearean based play was read at the Matrix Theatre in April 2019.
Lange’s play, Blues in My Coffee, is a relationship comedy/drama that entertains and enlightens audiences in the relevant political issues surrounding Black Lives Matters. His most recent play, ‘I Don’t Remember That!’ was read at the Actor’s Theatre in New York City in October 2022.
Lange’s historical based plays have been produced around the nation and at the National Black Theatre Festival to rave reviews. His American historical trilogy includes George Washington’s Boy, the story of George Washington’s favorite slave, Billy Lee, The Journals of Osborne P. Anderson, the story of the five black activists that were a part of John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry and Lady Patriot, the tale of a Union spy in the Confederate White House. George Washington’s Boy, was rated by the Denver Post as one of the top most important American plays.
As an educator, Lange has lectured on the life of Ira Aldridge at the University of Lutz, Poland. He was named an adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Cinema/Television at USC, where he taught a weekly course in film directing. In addition to this, he currently lectures on Shakespeare and acting at high schools and colleges across the nation.
An award-winning theatrical director, Lange received the Artistic Director Achievement Award, as Director of an Original Play for his comedy Lemon Meringue Façade and the Dramalogue Award for outstanding directing of The Visit, which was later turned into a film. Lange also received the Oakland Ensemble Theatre’s Paul Robeson Award and the James Cagney Directing Fellow Scholarship Award from the American Film Institute. He most recently directed Satchmo at the Waldorf starring L. Peter Callender for the American Stage in Florida.
Other highlights from his stage directing include: an interracial Hamlet starring Glynn Turman, an avant-garde version of Richard III, Driving Miss Daisy, a one man show- Big Daddy’s Barbecue starring Jeff Wayne and The Heart of Biddy Mason, a jazz musical which he co-wrote with noted jazz musician Gerald Trottman. He directed the independent feature film For Love of Amy. In 1989, he directed and starred in the film, Othello. Behind the Mask – An Evening with Paul Laurence Dunbar is Lange’s one-man show, which toured to sold-out houses at Ohio State University, San Jose State and Indiana State University. Four Queens – No Trump played garnered critical acclaim in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Omaha, and Chicago and won the NAACP Best Play – 1997. The Valley Theatre Awards nominated his play, Lemon Meringue Façade, in five categories and played off Broadway in New York at the New Perspectives Theatre. Another respected play, Soul Survivor, was staged at the National Black Theatre Festival at the 1996; The Olympics in Atlanta, and at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Hollywood, which co-starred Yolanda King. Evil Legacy – The Story of Lucretia Borgia was nominated by LA Weekly for Best One-Woman Show. Also written, directed, and produced by Lange was Born a Unicorn, a rock ‘n roll musical depicting the life of Black Shakespearean actor, Ira Aldridge. Lange made his Broadway acting debut in the musical hit Hair and his theatrical acting careers spans over fifty plays including South Coast Repertory’s Piano Lesson, Sunshine Boys, Biloxi Blues, and a national tour of Driving Miss Daisy. Lange was bestowed The Best Actor 2001 by the NAACP for his work in Louie and Ophelia. His passion for Shakespeare has led to the roles of Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew, Bottom in Midsummer’s Night Dream, Falstaff in Henry the IV Part 2 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and leads in MacBeth, King Henry VI, and Romeo and Juliet. Other credits include Othello, in which he directed and starred in the stage version at the Inner-City Cultural Center and was later produced as an independent film. Lange directed the one man Show; Satchmo at the Waldorf for American Stage. Org. Also sixty episodes of Mr. Box Office, and The First Family, as well as multiple episodes of Are We There Yet? He has directed Eve, Dharma and Greg, Moesha, Mike Hammer, and In the House. His directing expertise also encompasses a pilot he co-created for NBC, Big Daddy’s Barbecue.
As a star of the television classic The Love Boat, Lange’s ten seasons as Isaac Washington earned him global recognition. His television acting career also includes That’s My Mama, Mr. T and Tina, and guest appearances on Evening Shade, Half and Half, Family Matters, In the Heat of the Night, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He hit the reality TV genre running on Celebrity Fit Club. Combining all his talents, Lange wrote, acted, directed, and produced his play, Let Freedom Ring in Los Angeles. A historical dramedy about how the Liberty Bell was cracked. The play is based on a true story…almost. Most recently Ted starred in ‘Willie and Esther’ with ‘Good Times’ Star Bernadette Stanis. In celebration of Esther Rolle in her home town of Pompano Beach,Florida. In March of this year 2022, he did a reading of his play, Lady Patriot in CharlotteNC. And In April he directed, ‘Our Town’ in celebration of the 50 th Anniversary of the Inner-City Cultural Center Production, of its Multi-racial production at UCLA.When asked about the diversity of his career, Lange states, “The duty of the Artist is to find his muse, then let her rip.”
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
TERRY TEACHOUT (February 6, 1956 – January 13, 2022) was an American author, critic, biographer, playwright, stage director, and librettist. He was the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, the critic-at-large of Commentary, and the author of "Sightings,” a column about the arts in the U.S. that is published biweekly in The Wall Street Journal. He weblogged at About Last Night and wrote about the arts for many other magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times and National Review. He was a co-host on Three on the Aisle, a monthly podcast about theater in the United States, hosted by American Theatre magazine, which ran from September 2017 to December 2021.