Today’s LA Times reports that the family of Ray Charles is not particularly pleased with the Pasadena Playhouse production “Ray Charles Live! A New Musical.” The work, penned by Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks, opened to mixed reviews last week (Variety raved; the Times didn’t approve). It portrays Charles not so much a genius as a womanizer and buffoon, according to the family:
“Everybody is pretty outraged,” said Mary Anne den Bok, who is representing his children. “Ray Charles was a genius in many ways, not just musically, and this is just an attempt to exploit him.
It does Ray Charles a great disservice, and does not capture any aspect of his real life. If we had our way, the producers would do a complete rewrite.”
The family was particularly upset over a scene in which Charles meets the queen of England. The singer, played by Brandon Victor Dixon, uses his “Braille” method of checking out women — caressing their wrists and arms — when he meets the queen. “The choice to depict Ray Charles as a buffoon . . . is just one of many tasteless moments in the play,” Den Bok wrote.
The article unfortunately omitted the letter’s numerous detailed points objecting to the egregious, calculated, wholly inaccurate Braille-fondling of various Diet Pepsi cans during the “You Got The Right One, Baby” number which, when combined with 74 additional Braille-fondling scenes interspersed throughout the production, results in an historic and loving tribute to the genius.
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