By Paul Babin / Contributing Writer
Posted Jun 16, 2019 at 4:25 PM
Updated Jun 16, 2019 at 4:40 PM
PROVINCETOWN —“The Soul Session” is a present in the wrong package.
This latest production from Oversoul Theatre Collective, which runs every Saturday this summer at the Focsicle, advertises itself as a “funky musical comedy” that revives the spirit of 1968, but Saturday’s performance played more like a concert with some spoken word poetry thrown in.
Sure, the bandleader and master of ceremonies known as Mwalim DaPhunkee Professor (he’s a professor at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) started by recounting some of the events of that turbulent year, including Martin Luther King’s assassination and the rise of the counterculture. But most of the set list consisted of original songs and groovy renditions of post-60s hits like “Love Shack.”
The good news is that Mwalim is a brilliant showman and his Grammy-nominated funk band, the GroovaLottos, brought the house down. I was knocked out by several of the band’s original tunes, especially “Temple of a Sacred Clown,” featuring drummer Eddie Ray Johnson cackling with glee during each reprise. When Mwalim wasn’t singing or playing his keyboard, he would grab a pair of sticks and trade riffs with Johnson on his drum set or with a young prodigy known as “The ZYG 808″ on his cocktail drums. At just 16 years old, ZYG 808 has the chops and stage presence to be a star. At times, he drummed with such finesse that his hands seemed to disappear into the sticks. He’s a natural.
Richard Johnson was also impressive on bass, perhaps the most important and easily overlooked instrument in any band. It’s difficult to point out a particular moment where he shined, because, as with most bass players, his contributions were less pronounced. As the heartbeat behind the melody, his influence is pervasive even as it seems invisible.
Still, my favorite performance belonged to a remarkable spoken word poet named Tamora Israel, who joined the band onstage near the start of the second act to perform a series of original poems called “No Time.” Her delivery seemed as achingly sincere as the words she invoked, and when she stared into the audience and solemnly intoned, “I don’t want your pity,” I believed her.
“The Soul Session” may not evoke 1968, but I didn’t mind so much once the performers had me under their spell. The GroovaLottos’ funky sound, paired with Israel’s poetry, is irresistible.
